-ssa

See also: ssa, SSA, and ssą

Finnish

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *-ssa, from earlier *-s-na, from *-s- (internal locative infix, of uncertain origin but possibly from the lative ending *-s (traditionally held theory), from Proto-Uralic *sɜ or a contraction of Proto-Uralic *sekä (“inside, interior”)^[1]) + *-na (locative case suffix). Cognate with Erzya -со (-so), -сэ (-se).

Suffix

-ssa (front vowel harmony variant -ssä, linguistic notation -ssA)

1. The marker of inessive case; in, inside

   talo > talossa sg, taloissa pl

   metsä > metsässä sg, metsissä pl

   Onko hän talossa?

   Is he in the house?

   Ehdin tehdä sen kahdessa tunnissa.

   I managed to do it in two hours.

   Ja nyt putket ovat tyystin öljyssä.

   And now the pipes are covered in oil, through and through.

   Peruna on aivan iduissa.

   The potato is totally covered in sprouts.

Usage notes

• See the appendix on Finnish nominal cases for more information on how the inessive case is used.
• Dialectal forms include -s, -sa (especially in Western Finnish);.^[2] the form -ssa was adopted from the eastern dialects into the standard language.

References

1. Ylikoski, Jussi. The origins of the western Uralic s-cases revisited: historiographical, functional-typological and Samoyedic perspectives. FUF 63: 6–78 (2016)
2. Lauri Kettunen: Suomen murteet III A. Murrekartasto, Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki 1940. Map #104. (Online link http://kettunen.fnhost.org/html/kett104.html)

Greenlandic

Pronunciation

• (Nuuk) IPA^(key): /-ssa/, [-s.sa]

Suffix

-ssa (v-v^?, truncative^?)

1. Marks the future tense.
   • 1992, “Usuni kipigaa”, in Atuagagdliutit:

     Nammineq tissassarluni inersinnaannginnerluni anisuualu qanoq ililluni anisassava?

     I wonder if he will be unable to stimulate himself to an orgasm, and how will the semen leave?

2. Marks logical necessity.

Further reading

• Vestgrønlands Grammatik, p. 128, F.A.J. Nielsen, 2014
• Vestgrønlands Grammatik, p. 130, F.A.J. Nielsen, 2014