kirkonkylä
Finnish
Etymology
kirkon (“of church”) + kylä (“village”), calque of Swedish kyrkby, from kyrka (“church”) + by (“village”), cognate with German Kirchdorf, from Kirche (“church”) + Dorf (“village”)
Abbreviations
Noun
kirkonkylä
- (historical) The village in a rural municipality in which the main church and the vicariate were located.
Declension
Inflection of kirkonkylä (Kotus type 10/koira, no gradation) | |||
---|---|---|---|
nominative | kirkonkylä | kirkonkylät | |
genitive | kirkonkylän | kirkonkylien | |
partitive | kirkonkylää | kirkonkyliä | |
illative | kirkonkylään | kirkonkyliin | |
singular | plural | ||
nominative | kirkonkylä | kirkonkylät | |
accusative | nom. | kirkonkylä | kirkonkylät |
gen. | kirkonkylän | ||
genitive | kirkonkylän | kirkonkylien kirkonkyläin rare | |
partitive | kirkonkylää | kirkonkyliä | |
inessive | kirkonkylässä | kirkonkylissä | |
elative | kirkonkylästä | kirkonkylistä | |
illative | kirkonkylään | kirkonkyliin | |
adessive | kirkonkylällä | kirkonkylillä | |
ablative | kirkonkylältä | kirkonkyliltä | |
allative | kirkonkylälle | kirkonkylille | |
essive | kirkonkylänä | kirkonkylinä | |
translative | kirkonkyläksi | kirkonkyliksi | |
abessive | kirkonkylättä | kirkonkylittä | |
instructive | — | kirkonkylin | |
comitative | See the possessive forms below. |
Usage notes
Formerly the boundaries of municipalities and parishes were the same and usually kirkonkylä was also in other respects the most important village in a municipality by e.g. being the location of municipal offices. Industrialization and railways changed this picture to a certain extent, and the reduction in number of municipalities that has progressively taken place since the 1960's has further eroded this connection. The central township of a municipality is currently officially called kuntakeskus but the term kirkonkylä is frequently used in common language and in place names.