Cognate Explorer

Browse 4,913 Estonian-Finnish cognate pairs from the Finnic runosong corpus, grouped into word families, with corpus frequency data.

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Estonian–Finnish cognate pairs: a static overview

The strongest cognate pairs linking the Estonian (ERAB) and Finnish (SKVR, JR, KR) runosong corpora, identified from shared translations, etymological roots and spelling. The table shows the top 120 of 4913 pairs by combined score.

Estonian	Finnish	Type	Shared meaning (English)
turve	turve	shared	into the peat, to peat, of peats, into peats
villakandja	villakantaja	bridged	wool-bearer
liköör	likööri	near-exact	liqueur
salasäng	salasänky	bridged	in secret bed
painaja	painaja	shared	from the oppressor, nightmare spirit, from presser, nightmare
manner	manner	shared	to the mainland, on the mainland, on the continent, continents'
isandaparka	isäntäparka	bridged	poor master
sitikmust	sitikka_musta	bridged	beetle-black
peräkaar	peräkaari	near-exact	stern arches
ketrus	kehrus	near-exact	spinning
viis_kuus	viisikuusi	bridged	five-six
kuninglik	kuninkaallinen	bridged	royal
kuussada	kuusisataa	bridged	six hundred
viinamari	viinimarja	bridged	grape, grapes
vasksaapad	vaskisaappaat	bridged	copper boots
tinarist	tinaristi	near-exact	tin cross, tin crosses, tin-cross
kähara	kähärä	bridged	curly
tuulekohin	tuulenpuhina	bridged	wind-roar
teemant	timantti	bridged	diamonds, diamond
seitsekümmend	seitsemänkymmentä	bridged	seventy
viimati	viimeksi	bridged	lastly, last time, finally, last
hapanud	hapantunut	bridged	soured
jeruusalemm	jerusalem	bridged	in jerusalem, to jerusalem, jerusalem's, from jerusalem
kaunistus	kaunistus	shared	adornment, decoration, decorations
seletus	selitystä	bridged	explanation
puhkepaik	lepopaikka	bridged	resting place
paradiis	paratiisi	bridged	to paradise, paradise, in paradise, into paradise
kaasaline	kumppaniksi	bridged	as companion
kuldaruun	kultaratsu	bridged	golden horse, golden steed
sõbralik	ystävällisesti	bridged	friendly
sõrmeküüs	sormi_kynsi	bridged	fingernails
puhasvesi	siivovesi	bridged	clean water
vaskisarv	vaskisarvi	near-exact	copper horns, copper-horned, copper horn
vaenuvanker	vihollisvaunu	bridged	war-chariot, enemy wagon
pikalisti	pitkittäin	bridged	lengthwise
leskmees	leskimies	bridged	widowers, widower
hukatu	tuomittu	bridged	condemned
lehapiim	lehmänmaito	bridged	cow's milk
pikkamisi	hitaasti	bridged	slowly
toaseinad	huoneenseinä	bridged	room walls, room-walls
ülespoole	ylöspäin	bridged	upward, upwards
sinirind	sinirinta	bridged	blue-breasted, blue-breast, blue-chested
ehatäht	iltatähti	bridged	evening-star, evening star
viissada	viisisataa	bridged	five-hundred, five hundred
aleksander	aleksanteri	bridged	to alexander, alexander's, alexander
kuldakala	kultakala	near-exact	golden fish, goldfish
poolteist	puolitoista	bridged	one-and-half, one and half, one and a half, one-and-a-half
verikoer	verikoira	bridged	bloodhound's, bloodhounds, bloodhound
hõbepäitsed	hopeapäitset	bridged	silver bridles, silver bridle
sinel	sineli	near-exact	overcoat, coat
kivi_hammas	kivihammas	near-exact	stone-tooth
apostel	apostoli	bridged	apostles, apostle
vaskisarv	vaski_sarvi	bridged	copper horns, copper-horned
taevas	taivas	near-exact	heavens, heavens', in heaven, to the sky
viiskümmend	viisikymmentä	bridged	fifties, with fifty, on fifty, fifty's
tsaar	tsaari	near-exact	tsar, tsar's, tsars
merevesi	merivesi	near-exact	seawater, with seawater, on sea water, sea water
tinatukk	tinatukka	near-exact	tin-haired
kanavaras	kanavaras	shared	chicken thief, hen-thief, chicken-thief
vesilind	vesilintu	bridged	water bird, water birds, water-bird, waterbirds
nurk	nurkka	bridged	in (the) corner, of the corner, to-corner, from-corner
ristitants	ristitanssi	bridged	cross-dance
kanamuna	kananmuna	near-exact	hen-eggs, to hen's egg, chicken eggs, chicken-egg
kaunisti	kauniisti	near-exact	beautifully
vasksepp	vaskiseppä	bridged	coppersmiths, coppersmith
veripunane	veripunainen	bridged	blood-red's, blood-red
kiitlemine	kerskua	bridged	boasting
sinisiib	sinisiipi	bridged	blue wing, blue-wing, blue-winged
kalaluu	kalanluu	near-exact	from fish bone, fish bones, fish bone, from fish bones
kivi_rist	kiviristi	bridged	stone cross
tunnistaja	todistaja	bridged	as witness, witnesses, to witnesses, witness
ameerika	amerikka	bridged	from america, to america, america
kesköö	keskiyö	bridged	at midnight, midnight
jõgi	joki	bridged	to-river, as a river, of the river, on river
saunatee	saunatie	near-exact	sauna paths, on sauna path, sauna road, to sauna path
sepp	seppä	near-exact	of smith, at smith, to the smith, at smith's
vihmavesi	vihmavesi	shared	rainwater
kutsuma	kutsua	near-exact	invite!, invites, were invited, were called
käsivars	käsivarsi	near-exact	to arm, on the arm, to arms, in arm
orjaparka	orjaparka	shared	poor slave
kuulma	kuulla	near-exact	hear!, i heard, didn't hear, without hearing
ristiisa	ristiisä	near-exact	godfathers, godfather
vargus	varkaus	bridged	theft
vaskirist	vaskiristi	near-exact	copper cross
lihapäts	lihalimppu	bridged	meat-loaf, meatloaf
saksamaa	saksanmaa	near-exact	from german land, of germany, germany's, in germany
panema	panna	bridged	would be put, we put, are put, be put
siber	siperia	bridged	siberia, siberian, in siberia, siberia's
rehapulk	rehapulgad	bridged	rake-sticks
kolmkümmend	kolmekymmentä	bridged	thirty's, thirty
sein	seinä	near-exact	of walls, in walls, as a wall, onto wall
laulma	laulaa	near-exact	to-sing, without singing, sing!, in singing
võõras	vieras	bridged	from foreign, on foreign, to foreign, strangers'
kuldasukas	kultasukka	bridged	golden sock, golden socks, golden-sock
tinarind	tinarinta	bridged	tin chests, tin-breasts, tin-chests, tin-breast
mesine	mesinen	near-exact	honey-like, honeyed
unekott	unikontti	bridged	sleep-bag, sleep sack, dream-bag
kuldakägu	kultakäki	bridged	golden-cuckoo, golden cuckoo
vesipisar	vesipisara	near-exact	water-drops, water drops, water drop
taaralane	taaralaisten	bridged	of taara's people
meremees	merimies	bridged	seaman's, seamen, seaman, as sailor
väsimus	väsymys	bridged	fatigue, weariness, tiredness
kuldkaev	kultakaivo	bridged	golden well, gold well
kuulutus	kuulutus	shared	proclamations, proclamation, announcements, announcement
tuttav	tuttava	near-exact	to acquaintances, from acquaintances, familiarly, as familiar
pajupuu	pajupuu	shared	willow-tree, willow trees, willow tree, willow's
pime	pimeä	near-exact	in-dark, dark-ones, on dark, to darkness
neer	munuainen	bridged	kidney, kidneys
vaskraha	vaskiraha	near-exact	copper money
lihaleem	lihaliemi	bridged	meat broth's, meat-broth, meat broth
kolistama	kolistaa	near-exact	to rattle, to clatter, rattles, rattle
paik	paikka	bridged	on spot, to-place, in places, at place
aken	ikkuna	bridged	of windows, into windows, at window, on window
samuti	samaten	bridged	likewise, similarly
olevipoeg	olevinpoika	bridged	olev's son
moskva	moskova	near-exact	muscovite, from moscow, of moscow, in moscow
pajupill	pajupilli	near-exact	willow flute's, willow-flute, willow pipe, willow flute
tee	tie	near-exact	onto the road, onto road, from the road, from road
kuningriik	kuningaskunta	bridged	kingdom's, kingdom, kingdoms
põrgupiin	pirunpiina	bridged	from hell's torment

This is a static summary — the full, searchable dataset is in the interactive explorer above.

Cognate Explorer Help

Keyboard Shortcuts

/Focus search SShare URL to clipboard XExport CSV ?Toggle this help RRandom family 1All Pairs tab 2Word Families tab 3Frequency tab JNext family (in Families tab) KPrevious family (in Families tab) EscClose panels / exit compare

What are cognates?

Cognates are words in Estonian and Finnish that share a common origin. In runosong, cognates reveal the deep shared vocabulary of Finnic oral poetry.

How pairs are scored

Three signals are combined: Translation overlap (IDF-weighted, 55%) checks if both words share English translations. Etymological root (15%) checks shared proto-Finnic roots. Orthographic similarity (30%) measures character-level resemblance.

Pair types

Exact: identical spelling. Near-exact: minor spelling differences. Translation-bridged: matched via shared English meanings. Orthographic: similar spelling only. Shared: the same form used identically in both Estonian and Finnish traditions (attested in both corpora).

Word families

Families are connected components: if A is a cognate of B and B of C, then A-B-C form one family. The largest has about 30 members — a cluster of look-alike kuul-/kuu- words (Estonian kuulma, kui; Finnish kuulla, kun), connected by cognate links rather than a single shared meaning.

POS filter chips

Click the part-of-speech chips below the search bar to filter by grammatical category. Multiple chips can be active simultaneously. Active chips are filled green; click again to deactivate.

Score filter

Use the "Min:" number input to filter pairs by minimum score (0-100). Pairs with a combined score above 80% are strong cognates; 50-80% are moderate; below 50% are weak or orthographic.

Frequency tab

The Frequency tab shows corpus frequency data for 4,876 cognate pairs. It displays POS and dominance distributions, top-20 most frequent pairs, and the most ET-dominant and FI-dominant pairs by log-ratio. Dominance categories: balanced (ratio near 1), ET>FI / FI>ET (moderate skew), ET>>FI / FI>>ET (strong skew).

Frequency column

The "Freq" column in the pairs table shows the pair's total corpus count followed by a dominance symbol: ↑ more frequent in the Estonian corpus (ET>FI or ET>>FI), ↓ more frequent in the Finnish corpora (FI>ET or FI>>ET), = balanced (similar frequency on both sides), — no frequency data for this pair. Hover over a symbol to see the exact category, e.g. whether the skew is moderate (ET>FI) or strong (ET>>FI). Sort by this column to find the most or least frequent cognates.

Per-corpus breakdown

When you open a pair's detail panel, the corpus-frequency section shows two stacked bars — one for the Estonian lemma (ET), one for the Finnish lemma (FI) — split across all four source corpora: SKVR, JR, KR, and ERAB. Segment width is each corpus's share of that side's total; hover a segment for the exact count and percentage. This reveals, for example, whether a word's attestations concentrate in the Estonian ERAB corpus or spread across the Finnish SKVR/JR/KR collections.

Compare mode

Click the Compare button in the search bar, then click two pairs in the table to view a side-by-side breakdown of their signals, scores, and shared glosses. Press Esc or click Exit Compare to leave this mode.

CSV export

The exported CSV includes columns for both lemmas, POS tags, the combined score, pair type, shared English glosses, family ID, total frequency, and dominance. The export respects your current search filter, type, and POS selection.

Network graphs

In the Word Families tab, clicking a family card reveals a force-directed network graph. Blue nodes are Estonian words, red nodes are Finnish words. Edge thickness reflects the pair score; dashed edges indicate orthographic-only or shared-form connections.

Data source

Cognate pairs are extracted from the RunoVerse corpus of 439,746 lemmas across Estonian (ERAB) and Finnish (SKVR, JR, KR) runosong traditions. The cognate detection pipeline uses multilingual embeddings, dictionary lookups, and phonological rules to identify related word pairs.

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