A man remains a man when he gets married, but a woman becomes a wife, wondered HS reader in his opinion piece and suggested a huuspa instead. Answer the survey, which would be a suitable name for a spouse.
When a man and a woman get married, the woman can be called wife. However, a man remains a man.
Unlike in many other languages, Finnish does not have the same marital title for a man as for a woman. Helsingin Sanomat recently wondered this in his opinion piece from Tampere Miitta Ojell-Järventau after getting married in early summer.
Read more: A man remains a man when he gets married, but a woman becomes a wife: What if the man becomes a woman?
Ojell-Järventaus says that this causes conflicting feelings in her, although she says that she likes the title wife.
“A man was a man even before he got married, and now he got a wife. A woman, a wife, on the other hand, is defined through titles, again through a man. This seems like a big deal these days,” he wrote.
Ojell-Järventau says that on the day after their wedding, she and her spouse discussed a suitable title for her husband. One of them survived: scream.
“Slightly borrowed English roots, but suitably Finnish in color and at least a gentle and slightly absent-minded character that describes my own family,” he says.
The designation has remained in everyday use for the couple. Ojell-Järventau regrets that the name cannot be used in situations other than one-on-one, because others do not know its meaning.
Ojell-Järventaus emphasizes that he does not mean that old words should be abandoned if one does not want to.
“Each generation creates its own meanings for words. Before we got married, we also used the name spouse”, says Ojell-Järventausta.
“All relationships describing family relationships have their own words. The man also has a designation in all other relationships that change with marriage, such as brother-in-law and son-in-law. But for the spouse, a man remains only a man. It seemed strange to us.”
The language office editor-in-chief of the dictionary Minna Pyhälahti The center for domestic languages thinks huuspa is a funny name, but considers it more suitable for internal family use.
“In common parlance, spouse and partner are good and gender-neutral designations that do not take a position on whether it is a marriage or cohabitation,” says Pyhälahti.
“Then there is also perhaps the already forgotten name siippa, which in the Kielitoimisto dictionary is a somewhat playful expression for a spouse.”
Different dialect areas can also have their own names, says Pyhälahti.
“In many dialect areas, the word akka is used for spouse, which does not have such a colorful meaning as in common language.”
Other words meaning spouse in dialects include, among others, sipakko and söy.
Why then the wife has her own title, but the husband is just a man?
“This should perhaps be asked of a linguist who knows the history of designations. However, the language is not always terribly logical in all respects”, Pyhälahti reminds.
The names describing marriage and family relationships in general are very old and therefore also quite established.
If huuspa becomes more common and it starts to be used more widely and more commonly, for example in different age groups, it could end up in the Kielitoimisto’s dictionary as well. However, Pyhälahti does not think it likely.
“We always add new words to our watch list and see if they become common and established,” Pyhälahti reveals.
Thus, the word bonus child has already entered the dictionary of the Language Office, which means children of a spouse in a new family.
What kind of do you have titles for each other as spouses? Answer HS’s survey.
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