Kirkostamme

Kirkostamme is a Finnish elative form that means from our church or out of our church. It is created by combining the root kirkko (church) with the elative suffix -sta/-stä and the 1st person plural possessive suffix -mme, yielding kirkostamme. The form signals origin or source tied to the speaker’s own church community.

In usage, kirkostamme is used to indicate that something originates from or is associated with one’s own church. It is common in formal church communications, historical descriptions, and discussions about resources or artifacts linked to the speaker’s parish. The construction emphasizes communal belonging and is more likely to appear in written materials or careful spoken language within religious contexts.

Examples include: Tämä asiakirja on peräisin kirkostamme. (This document is from our church.) Kampanjan varat kerättiin kirkostamme. (Campaign funds were raised from our church.) These examples illustrate how kirkostamme attaches to the elative form to express origin.

Etymologically, kirkostamme is a combination of kirkko + -sta (elative) + -mme (our). The overlapping suffixes create a single word that both locates the origin and marks the speaker’s affiliation with the church. The form has counterparts such as kirkostani (from my church) or kirkostanne (from your church), reflecting person-specific possessive endings in the same elative pattern.

Kirkostamme is a specialized grammatical construction used primarily in contexts where a Finnish-speaking community wants to attribute something to its own church. It remains appropriate in neutral, informative writing about church history, donations, artifacts, or communications within a parish.