The Finnish Korean Connection: An Initial Analysis

Abstract

This paper proposes that the Finnish and Korean languages, although at present separated geographically by over 10,000 kilometres, may more closely related than has previously been considered. In this paper a sample of the numerous lexical and grammatical similarities that exist between the two languages will be illustrated and analysed in order to find possible origins and reasons for the similarities. In a number of cases the examples sited may be merely coincidental, while in certain other cases the closeness of form and semantics seems too great to be a result of coincidence. Most notable are the verbs "kayda"(Fin) and "kada"(Kor) meaning "to go", and the adverbs "taas"(Fin) and "tashi"(Kor), and "kohta"(Fin) and "kot"(Kor), meaning "again" and "soon" respectively. Structural similarities are numerous, especially concerning the inflected endings of nouns.