Isiltä

Isiltä is the elative plural form of the Finnish noun isä, meaning “from the fathers.” It is used to indicate origin or source in a plural sense, typically when referring to information, stories, or traditions attributed to multiple fathers or elder male figures.

In Finnish, isä declines across cases, and isästä denotes the elative singular (“from the father”). The elative plural form is isiltä (“from the fathers”). This form is used when the source is plural and masculine, such as a group of fathers or paternal figures cited as the origin of something.

Examples of usage include sentences like “Isiltä kuulin tarinan,” meaning “I heard a story from the fathers,” or “Nämä tarinat ovat isiltä peräisin,” meaning “These stories come from the fathers.” The elative plural can appear with various plural nouns in contexts that emphasize lineage, tradition, or authority attributed to male elder lines.

Usage notes:

- isiltä is most common in historical, ethnographic, or literary contexts where oral tradition or family lore is discussed.

- It is not interchangeable with broader terms like vanhemmilta (from the parents) or isäin kautta (through the fathers) when a nuance beyond mere source is intended.

- Similar forms exist for other kin terms, such as äideiltä (from the mothers), reflecting the same grammatical pattern in Finnish noun inflection.