Snowman or snowwoman?

[Hannu Tommola]

Sorry, Florian, but I'd protest: don't generalize Finn. _ukko_ as  
pejorative, even if it has several different uses.

First, Ukko was one of the Carelian gods.

Second, it is of the same origin as _uros_ 'male', which is reflected  
in compounds like _ukkometso_ 'male grouse'.

Third, cf. the meaning 'principal' in e.g. _ukkovarvas_ 'big toe'.

It has rather a familiar and respectful color in e.g. _isäukko_ '(my)  
father / old man', _appiukko_ 'father-in-law', _ukkomies_ 'married  
man' etc. Cf. also _ukko(nen)_ 'thunder' and dial. 'grandfather'.

The corresponding female is _akka_ which may have similar stylistic  
shades of meaning, though probably with different distribution.

Best,
Hannu

P.S. there was a related question of 'snow battle'; 'snow war' in  
Finnish (_lumi+sota_)

Quoting Florian Siegl <florian.siegl at GMX.NET>:

> Finnish is slightly pejorative too, but has 'snow old.man'  
> /lumi_ukko /which seems to have come via Swedish /snö_gubbe/' snow  
> old.man'.

-- 
Hannu Tommola, Professor of Russian Language (Translation Theory and Practice)
School of Modern Languages and Translation Studies
FIN-33014 University of Tampere, Finland
Phone: +358-(0)3-3551 6102
www.uta.fi/~trhato