Perkele

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pronunciation

Perkele is an alternative name of Ukko, the chief god of the Finnish pagan pantheon. In modern Finnish, the interjection "perkele!" is a common profanity, approximately equivalent to "the Devil!" in meaning and "fuck!" in intensity.

Origins

The name is of Indo-European origin. Related gods from other areas are Perkūnas (Lithuania), Pērkons (Latvia), Percunis (Prussia), Piarun (Belarus), Peko or Pekolasõ (Estonia) and Perun (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech republic, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia).

Use

It has a history of being used as a curse: a cry for the god for strength. It still is a common curse word in vernacular Finnish. To a Finn, the word entails seriousness and potency that more lightly used curses lack. Also, when the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland held a popular contest to nominate the "most energizing" word in the Finnish language, one of the suggestions was Perkele because "it is the curse word that gave the most strength for the reconstruction of Finland after the wars." However, the popular vote was won by the word "Aurinko", sun.[1] For comparison, "Parom" a corrupted form of the name "Perun", is used as a mild curse in Slovak and Czech languages - "Do Paroma!" is roughly equivalent to perkele in Finnish.[citation needed]

Introduction of Christianity

As Christianity was introduced to Finland, the church started demonizing the Finnish gods. This led to the use of "Perkele" as a translation for "devil" in the Finnish translation of the Bible, thus making the use of the word a sin. Later, in 1992 translation, the word is switched to paholainen.

Uses in popular culture

Many Finnish heavy metal bands like Impaled Nazarene and Norther use the word perkele for emphasis and to reference Finnishness. The Swedish Oi! band Perkele is also named after the Finnish swear word.

In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home a Finnish whaler can be heard exclaiming 'Perkele!' after the Klingon Bird of Prey decloaks ahead of the whaling vessel.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Pyhälahti, M.: Aurinko aurinko, näytit sarves. Research Institute for the Languages of Finland, 2010.
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