Reconstruction:Proto-Finnic/hëhku

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

Alternative reconstructions

• *ëhku

Etymology

Sound-symbolic origin. Compare Erzya эжемс (ežems, “to heat”).

Noun

*hëhku

1. breath, exhaled air

Inflection

Inflection of *hëhku

Note: The Proto-Finnic declension system is yet to be reconstructed in detail. What is presented here is only one possibility.
		singular	plural
nominative		*hëhku	*hëhkut
accusative		*hëhkun	*hëhkut
genitive		*hëhkun	*hëhkudën *hëhkuidën
partitive		*hëhkuda	*hëhkuida
inessive		*hëhkussa *hëhkuhna	*hëhkuissa *hëhkuihna
elative		*hëhkusta	*hëhkuista
illative		*hëhkuhën	*hëhkuihën
adessive		*hëhkulla	*hëhkuilla
ablative		*hëhkulta	*hëhkuilta
allative		*hëhkulën *hëhkulëk	*hëhkuilën *hëhkuilëk
essive		*hëhkuna	*hëhkuina
translative		*hëhkuksi	*hëhkuiksi
instructive		*hëhkun	*hëhkuin
comitative		*hëhkunëk	*hëhkuinëk
abessive		*hëhkutta	*hëhkuitta

Descendants

• Estonian: õhk, (dialectal) hõhk
• Finnish: hehku
• Karelian:
  • South Karelian: hehkuo
• Livonian: ȭ’g
• Võro: õhk

Further reading

• “õhk”, in [ETY] Eesti etümoloogiasõnaraamat [Estonian Etymological Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2012
• Itkonen, Erkki, Kulonen, Ulla-Maija, editors (1992–2000), “hehkua”, in Suomen sanojen alkuperä [The origin of Finnish words]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online version; note: also includes other etymological sources; this source is labeled "SSA 1992–2000"), Helsinki: Institute for the Languages of Finland/Finnish Literature Society, →ISBN