Where does “maalitolppa” come from?
maalitolppa (Finnish) comes from Finnish maali, from Old Swedish māl, from Old Swedish māla, from Old Norse mála, from Middle Low German mālen, from Old Saxon *mālōn, from Proto-West Germanic *mālēn, from Proto-Albanian melana — to strengthen; to bind; to change, exchange.
maalitolppa (Finnish): A goal post
Definitions
- A goal post
Ancestry of “maalitolppa”, step by step
maalitolppa traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via Finnish maali
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finnish | maali | paint; target; goal |
| 2 | Old Swedish | māl | measure, amount; sign |
| 3 | Old Swedish | māla | to paint |
| 4 | Old Norse | mála | to grind |
| 5 | Middle Low German | mālen | to draw, paint; to paint |
| 6 | Old Saxon | *mālōn | — |
| 7 | Proto-West Germanic | *mālēn | to paint |
| 8 | Proto-Albanian | melana | black |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | melh₂-n- | dull black |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | melh₂- | to grind, to crush |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | mel- | soft; tender; weak; to deceive; to rub |
| 12 | Proto-Indo-European | mey- | to strengthen; to bind; to change, exchange |
via Finnish tolppa
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finnish | tolppa | post, pole, stilt; bollard; Short for maalitolppa |
| 2 | Finnish | torppari | crofter; By extension, any person who is in a... |
| 3 | Swedish | torpare | one who lives in a "torp", a small cottage,... |
| 4 | Swedish | -are | Regular construction of comparative: ful →... |
| 5 | Old Swedish | -are | a suffix used to create agent nouns from verbs; such as væriare, from væria |
| 6 | Old Norse | -ari | a suffix used to create agent nouns from verbs;... |
| 7 | Latin | -ārius | er |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | *-āzios | Forms relational adjectives to nouns (and rarely numerals) |