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.