Etymology

Hakkapeliitta

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Today it means: A Finnish light cavalryman during the Thirty Years' War. Full definition →

Finnish hakkapeliitta ← Swedish hakkapelit ← Proto-Finnic *pää
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The story

  1. Proto-Finnic*hak'at'ak
  2. Finnishhakata
  3. Proto-Uralic*päŋe
  4. Proto-Finnic*pää
  5. Finnishpää
  6. Finnishpäälle
  7. Finnishhakkaa päälleder.?
  8. Swedishhakkapelit
  9. Finnishhakkapeliitta
  10. English todayHakkapeliitta

Borrowed from Finnish hakkapeliitta, probably from the Finnish war cry hakkaa päälle (literally “hack on; hit on”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.