Reconstruction:Proto-Finnic/tarkka

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

Original sense "sharp". Has the variant *tarkëda, *tärkedä. If related to Erzya тарка (tarka, “place”) and Erzya тарго (targo, “week”), possibly from Proto-Finno-Permic *tarka, but this is uncertain due to the semantic gap. Has also been compared with Proto-Germanic *starkuz, but the semantic and phonetic differences seem insuperable. More recently, another Germanic word has also been put forward as a potential origin: Proto-Germanic *strakaz.^[1]

Adjective

*tarkka^[2]

Inflection

Inflection of *tarkka

	singular	plural
Note: The Proto-Finnic declension system is yet to be reconstructed in detail. What is presented here is only one possibility.
nominative	*tarkka	*tark'at
accusative	*tark'an	*tark'at
genitive	*tark'an	tarkkadën tarkkoidën
partitive	*tarkkada	*tarkkoida
inessive	tark'assa tark'ahna	tark'oissa tark'oihna
elative	*tark'asta	*tark'oista
illative	*tarkkahën	*tarkkoihën
adessive	*tark'alla	*tark'oilla
ablative	*tark'alta	*tark'oilta
allative	tarkkalën tarkkalëk	tarkkoilën tarkkoilëk
essive	*tarkkana	*tarkkoina
translative	*tark'aksi	*tark'oiksi
instructive	*tark'an	*tark'oin
comitative	*tarkkanëk	*tarkkoinëk
abessive	*tark'atta	*tark'oitta

Descendants

Estonian: tark
Finnish: tarkka
Ingrian: tarkka
Karelian: tarkka
Livvi: tarku
Ludian: tark
Veps: tark
Võro: tark
Votic: tarkkõ

References

^ Metsäranta, Niklas: Ein Fall für zwei (oder drei) – Liquid metathesis substitution in Germanic loanwords in Finnic: old and new cases. E litoribus Balticis etymologiae. pp. 105–115. Uralica Helsingiensia 15. Helsinki 2024 [1]
^ Kallio, Petri (2020–) “*tarkka”, in Yhteissuomalainen sanasto [Common Finnic Vocabulary]‎^[2] (in Finnish)