Alkukirjaimella

Alkukirjaimella is a Finnish linguistic term that refers to the use or indication of the initial letter of a word. The word is the adessive form of alkukirjain, meaning “initial letter,” and literally translates to “with the initial letter.” It is used to describe conventions, rules, or operations that depend on the first character of words, such as alphabetical organization, indexing, or sorting.

In practice, alkukirjaimella appears in contexts like dictionaries, catalogs, and instructions where items are grouped or arranged by their first letter. For example, a directory might be described as organized alkukirjaimella, indicating that the ordering follows the initial letters of terms from A to Z. The construction signals the manner or means by which something is done and is common in explanations of sorting or formatting rules.

Etymology and form: the term combines alkukirjaint- (root meaning “initial letter”) with the adessive suffix -lla, signaling “with” or “by means of.” This form is part of Finnish noun morphology used to specify how something is arranged or performed.

Notes on related usage: while alkukirjaimella often concerns initial letters and alphabetical ordering, discussions of capitalization in Finnish more commonly use phrases like isolla alkukirjaimella (with a capital initial letter). Alkukirjaimella thus sits at the intersection of orthography and organizational conventions, providing a concise way to describe practices tied to the first character of words.

See also: alkukirjain, alphabetical ordering, capitalization.