selg
‘back’ · runosong lemma · Estonian and Finnish noun
| English gloss | back |
|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun |
| Language | Estonian and Finnish |
| Total occurrences | 8,269 |
| By corpus | SKVR 0, JR 0, KR 140 poems, ERAB 8,122 |
The counts in this table cover all attested spellings of this lemma, not only the headword form; all are word occurrences, except the KR figure in the By corpus row, which counts poems.
Full dictionary entry · Search in the corpus · Geographic distribution
Attested wordforms
selga, selja, selgas, selgä, säläh, seli, selg, seljan, seljaliste, sellan, sälg, seljasta, säljan, seljali, selläs, seljassa, seljä, seljakille, selgajani, sellu, säla, seljakile, selgi, sälja, selile, selgu, sälüle, seljassasa, säljast, seljalisti, selgist, seljassane, sellassagi, säligä, sälähn, seela, seigas, selgäje, seljaassa, seljäst … and 182 more of 222 attested forms
In Estonian dictionaries
Definitions are shown in Estonian: the source dictionaries are Estonian-language works.
EKSS
selg · selja 23
- 1. inimese keha tagaosa õlgadest tuharateni
- 2. loomadel keha ülaosa (hrl. turjast sabajuureni)
- 3. kuju, asendi v. ülesande poolest selga (1. täh.) meenutav osa esemel, kehaosal v. loodusobjektil
- 4. ühesugune laiuv vee- v. maismaa-ala
Idamurre
selg
- selg
Sources: EKSS — Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat, Eesti Keele Instituut (CC BY 4.0) · Idamurde sõnastik, Eesti Keele Instituut
English senses in context
How the AI analysis rendered this lemma in English, as a share of the entry’s analyzed uses. The analysis groups a lemma with its variant and cognate spellings, so close cognates can share one profile.
| Sense | Share |
|---|---|
| back | 82.7% |
| onto | 16.6% |
| back's | 6.8% |
| backs | 3.8% |
| backwards | 2.3% |
| surface | 1.0% |
| stripe | 0.9% |
| clear | 0.4% |
| notch | 0.3% |
| mark | 0.2% |
Example verses
- mart tab särki selga suada (AES, MT 3, 6 (15)) read in context
Mart wants a shirt on his back to get, - suud tema annab selga püörab (AES, MT 3, 21) read in context
He gives his word, then turns his back, - küitu kündis selga nõkkus (AES, MT 4, 2) read in context
The harrow plowed, back bent, - selga võtan seenapalgid (AES, MT 25, 13/6) read in context
Shouldered mushroom logs, - kolmas istus kotka selga (Kalevipoeg 1) read in context
Third sat on eagle's back, - pani siis selga siidisärgi (Kalevipoeg 2) read in context
Then put on a silk shirt, - karu selga katteeksi (Kalevipoeg 3) read in context
As covering for the bear's back; - siruteli väsind selga (Kalevipoeg 4) read in context
Stretched his weary back,
Companion words
Words that co-occur with this lemma inside the same verse line more often than chance predicts, ranked by log-likelihood (G²) over verse-level co-occurrence in SKVR, KR, JR and ERAB; only pairs seen at least 3 times.
| Word | Association (G²) | Co-occurrences |
|---|---|---|
| siidisärk | 3,998 | 396 |
| särk | 2,706 | 442 |
| panema | 2,421 | 819 |
| kuub | 2,276 | 421 |
| surmasärk | 1,515 | 133 |
| sadul | 1,470 | 235 |
| siig | 1,170 | 151 |
| pöörama | 1,028 | 189 |
Song types
Song types of the poems attesting this lemma, as catalogued per poem in the source corpora (ERAB type names are in Estonian, SKVR names in Finnish; JR and KR poems carry no song-type record).
| Song type | Poems |
|---|---|
| Venna sõjalugu | 158 |
| Öösel üksi | 134 |
| Sõjalaul | 114 |
| Kiigele ehtimine | 76 |
| Oleks see mees minu! | 73 |
| Nekrutilaul - ÜLD | 61 |
| Oleks | 54 |
| Nekrutilaul | 53 |
Collection places
Where the poems attesting this lemma were collected; each count is the number of attesting poems recorded at that place.
| Place | Poems |
|---|---|
| Haljala | 184 |
| Kuusalu | 151 |
| Kolga-Jaani | 132 |
| Karksi | 131 |
| Paistu | 126 |
| Setumaa | 122 |
| Tõstamaa | 119 |
| Ambla | 108 |
| Tarvastu | 103 |
| Halliste | 101 |
Attestation over time
Poems attesting this lemma by decade of collection or publication; undated poems are not shown.
| Decade | Poems |
|---|---|
| 1820–1829 | 2 |
| 1830–1839 | 1 |
| 1840–1849 | 6 |
| 1850–1859 | 5 |
| 1860–1869 | 50 |
| 1870–1879 | 317 |
| 1880–1889 | 968 |
| 1890–1899 | 1,170 |
| 1900–1909 | 277 |
| 1910–1919 | 336 |
| 1920–1929 | 342 |
| 1930–1939 | 400 |
| 1940–1949 | 24 |
Collectors
The collectors who most often recorded poems attesting this lemma.
| Collector | Poems |
|---|---|
| Karl Voldemar Rosenstrauch | 126 |
| Karl Viljak | 114 |
| Mihkel (Tori) Ostrov | 110 |
| Gustav Vilberg (Vilbaste) | 81 |
| koguja teadmata | 80 |
Poems attesting this lemma (60 / 4,196)
- KR: Kalevipoeg 1, Kalevipoeg 2, Kalevipoeg 3, Kalevipoeg 4, Kalevipoeg 7, Kalevipoeg 8, Kalevipoeg 11, Kalevipoeg 12, Kalevipoeg 13, Kalevipoeg 15, Kalevipoeg 17, Kalevipoeg 19, Kalevipoeg 20, KR 42:2944, KR 50:19, KR 53:168
- ERAB: AES, MT 3, 6 (15), AES, MT 3, 21, AES, MT 4, 2, AES, MT 25, 13/6, AES, MT 36, 3/5, AES, MT 40, 23 (29), AES, MT 43, 51, AES, MT 62, 17, AES, MT 62, 19/20, AES, MT 84, 1/2, AES, MT 88, 38, AES, MT 102, 30 (5), AES, MT 141, 18, AES, MT 141, 25/6, AES, MT 174, 37/8, AES, MT 230, 1/2, AES, MT 257, 8/10, AES, MT 261, 33/4, AES, MT 262, 5, ARS 1, 388/91 (2), ARS 1, 483/7 (3), ARS 1, 543/4 (1), ARS 1, 552/3 (3), ARS 1, 651/2 (1), ARS 1, 807 (1), ARS 2, 7/11 (2), ARS 2, 286 (54), ARS 2, 303 (71), ARS 2, 327 (94), ARS 2, 699/704 (1), E A 5/6 (6), E A 8/9 (12), E A 19/20 (2), E A 32/3 (52), E A 34 (54), E A 49/50 (90), E A 50/1 (93), E A 77/8 (143), E A 81/2 (152), E A 108 (28), E A 117/9 (2), E A 125/6 (1), E A 151/2 (7), E A 197 (1)
Related lemmas
- Finnish cognate: selkä
About this profile
The counts and examples on this page come from the lemmatized text of four Finnic runosong corpora: SKVR, JR, KR and ERAB. English senses come from an AI analysis of the corpus; song types, collection places, collectors and dates follow each poem's own catalogue record.