"How is "Hakkaa päälle" pronounced?" Topic

Since it's a Finnish cry from the Thirty Years War, I figured I try here.

My SCA knight is going to crown tourney, is of Finnish descent, and wont let us forget it.

I thought it would be a good for a "yell of support"

In Texas, Hay Kay Pay Lay.

Sorry.. could not resist. I now return you to serious answers.

Well, as Lt. Stanley Tadeusz Wojciehowicz on "Barney Miller" said, "You pronounce it the way it's spelled!"

It's pronounced "throat-warbler mangrove" of course.

Yes, but where does one put the stress on the 'mangrove'?

Apropos of nothing, the words "warm smell of colitas" in the Eagles' song always sounded like "why hack a polita" on my old casette player

I'm Finnish, but ed if I know how to start approximating it in English. Let's see… "Hakkaa" would be like "Huck-aah". "Huck" as in Huckleberry Finn, "aah" as in what the doctor tells you to say when he checks your throat. "Pää" is like the "ba" sound in the English word "bad" but with a p in place of the b (obviously), and the "lle" is like in "hallelujah". This is a horrible explanation, but at least it approximates the real pronunciation well.

'Course, the OFM has a point: It's simply pronounced the way it's spelled!

To draw some rough parallels to English vowels: 'a' as in "bus", 'ä' as in "cat", 'e' as in "bet". Doubled vowels are roughly twice as long as single ones, weight on the first syllable of each word (HAK-kaa PÄÄL-le).

Does that help?

Strahearn, I believe the "aa" is pronounced like the "o" in mop – otherwise as you say.

I've been meaning to yell this at someone eventually… now that I know how to pronounce it, I can finally do it!

As a Finn I would generally tend to disagree with there being an "o"-type sound in the phrase – Finnish is very, if not extremely, consistent in mapping letters to sounds.

However, that's just the normative form, and "hakkoo" (with a long o-as-in-mop) is a valid dialect form of the imperative "hakkaa". I'm a bit hazy on which dialect(s) exactly would use this form, and what other characteristic peculiarities those dialects would manifest in this phrase, but I'm pretty sure at least in eastern dialects the long 'ä' in "päälle" should also change into "iä" ('i' as in bit).

I didn't want to assume "You pronounce it the way it's spelled!". Ex. Gaelic.

And for all the answers, serious and (attempted) humorous, thanks.

Out of curiosity – what does it mean?

James

I think literally it's "hack on" – I'm assuming encouraging the troops to just plough straight through the enemy is the intent….

IIRC literally "Strike the head" essentialy menaing "cut them down" or "no quarter". Used to the savage warfare with Russians along Swedens eastern border the Finns developed a somewhat more ferocious mode of combat than the Swedes.

There is another, more modern, "Tulta munille!"

This would not be appropriate for SCA combat, because it means "Fire at the balls!". … I guess they only shoot at vollyball players.

Balin, does your knight know how to pronouce it? If not, then he or she won't know if you've got it right or not.

Arthur Lacey
ex-West Kingdom

I agree that the "aa" in "hackaa" is not like the "o" in "mop". Rather, it's like the "u" in "mud" (but long).

Strahearn,
I am not a Finn, but I did study the language and lived there for awhile. I absolutely agree with what you said about the language being consistant. Which is why I was taught that the 1st "a" and the second set "aa" both make the same sound – one is just held longer. Kind of like when you say "ahhh" to a doctor.
How would you pronounce the first "a" in Tampere?
Not like the "u" in mud would you?

"How would you pronounce the first "a" in Tampere?
Not like the "u" in mud would you?"

Actually yes, that's how I pronounce it, or at least very nearly. The same sound as in "run", "but", "hug" etc. With the "o" from "mop", Tampere would sound like "Tompere" to me.

Indeed, the 'a' in Tampere is the same 'a' as the short 'a's in every other Finnish word for all practical purposes. Or, if you're familiar with IPA symbols, there's a concise pronounciation guide on the web at link . There's a link on the page to an equivalent guide for non-linguists as well, though I find its suggestion that there's a pronounciation of "hot" with an 'a' in it a bit hard to believe.