Reconstruction:Proto-Finnic/hän

This Proto-Finnic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Finnic

Etymology

From Proto-Finno-Ugric *sän, *sen. The initial sound change *s > *h is irregular; a similar sound change is regular between the second and third syllables, and the relative lack of sentence stress given to personal pronouns appears to have motivated a similar change (also seen in *hek). Cognate with Proto-Samic *sonë.

Pronoun

*hän

1. he, she
2. (possibly) it, for inanimate objects

Inflection

Inflection of *hän

Note: The Proto-Finnic declension system is yet to be reconstructed in detail. What is presented here is only one possibility.
		singular	plural
nominative		*hän	—
accusative		*hänen	—
genitive		*hänen	—
partitive		*häntä	—
inessive		*hänessä *hänehnä	—
elative		*hänestä	—
illative		*hänehen	—
adessive		*hänellä	—
ablative		*häneltä	—
allative		*hänelen *hänelek	—
essive		*hännä	—
translative		*häneksi	—
instructive		*hänen	—
comitative		*hännek	—
abessive		*hänettä	—

Descendants

In Southern Finnic (Estonian, Livonian, South Estonian incl. Võro, Votic), the pronoun has been repurposed as a reflexive pronominal stem, while *tämä is used as the third-person pronoun. Even in Finnish, hän was historically mainly logophoric, which suggests the pronoun may not have been a general third-person pronoun in Proto-Finnic either.

• ⇒ Estonian: enda (< partitive singular *häntä, later reanalyzed), enese (< genitive singular + possessive suffix, *hänensäk)
• Finnish: hän
  • Kven: hän
• Ingrian: hää, (dialectal) hän, hään
  • → Votic: hän, hään
• Karelian:
  • North Karelian: hiän
  • South Karelian: hiän
• ⇒ Livonian: eņtš (< with partitive and possessive endings, *häntänsäk)
• Livvi: häi
• Ludian: häin
• Veps: hän
• ⇒ Võro: hindä (< with partitive and inessive endings, *häntähen, later reanalyzed)
• Votic: (inflected forms of ize) ene