Finnish Genealogical Word List

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Finnish is related to Estonian and distantly related to Hungarian. It is not related to other European languages. The official languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish. Until the end of the 1800s, records were kept in Swedish. For help reading those records, see the Swedish Genealogical Word List. Some Latin phrases also appear in older Finnish parish registers. For help, use the Latin Genealogical Word List.

This list contains Finnish words with their English translations. The words included here are those that you are likely to find in genealogical sources. If the word you are looking for is not on this list, please consult a Finnish-English dictionary (see the "Additional Resources" section at the bottom of this page).

If you would like to learn more about the language characteristics see the article Finnish Language Characteristics.

Alphabetical Order

Written Finnish uses three letters in addition to the twenty-six letters used in the English alphabet: ä, ö, and for Swedish names, å. Finnish dictionaries and indexes, this word list, and the Locality Search of the Family History Library CatalogLook this term up in the glossary. all use the following alphabetical order:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z å ä ö

The letters v and w are frequently alphabetized as the same letter.

Key Words

To find and use specific types of Finnish records, you will need to know some key words in Finnish. This section gives key genealogical terms in English and the Finnish words with the same or similar meanings.

For example, in the first column you will find the English word marriages. In the second column you will find Finnish words with meanings such as marry, marriage, wedding, wedlock, unite, legitimate, joined,and other words used in Finnish records to indicate marriage.

General Word List
This general word list includes words commonly seen in genealogical sources. Numbers, months, and days of the week are listed both here and in separate sections that follow this list.

In this list, optional versions of Finnish words or variable endings are given in parentheses. Parentheses in the English column clarify the meaning.

Additional Resources
This word list includes only the words most commonly found in genealogical sources. For more help, use a Finnish-English dictionary. Several such dictionaries are available at the Family History LibraryLook this term up in the glossary. in the Scandinavia collection. Their call numbers begin with 494.541321. The following dictionary is also available on microfilmLook this term up in the glossary. for use in Family History CentersLook this term up in the glossary.:

Alanne, V. S. Suomalais-englantilainen suursanakirja [Great Finnish-English Dictionary]. 3rd ed. Porvoo: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö, 1968. (FHL film 1224706 item 3.)

Additional dictionaries are listed in the Subject Search of the Family History Library Catalog under FINNISH LANGUAGE - DICTIONARIES or in the Locality Search under FINLAND - LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES - DICTIONARIES.