Päiväyksen

Päiväys is a Finnish noun that refers to the date on which something occurs or is issued. In common usage it designates the calendar day, month, and year associated with a document, event, or action. The genitive form päiväyksen is used when talking about the date belonging to or associated with something, for example in phrases like “päiväyksen antaminen” (the dating of a document) or “päiväyksen laajuus” (the scope of the date).

In Finnish, day-to-day language often distinguishes between päivämäärä and päiväys. Päivämäärä is the calendar date itself—what the date reads. Päiväys, on the other hand, is frequently used in administrative, legal, and archival contexts to denote the date field on a form, the act of dating a document, or the date of a decision. The term is common in official letters and contracts where a line labeled ”Päiväys” indicates when the document was created or signed; sometimes it is paired with ”paikka” (place), as in a header or at the top of correspondence.

In practice, päiväys is important for validity, deadlines, and chronological ordering in archives and records management. In digital contexts, the concept is closely related to a timestamp, which records both a date and time of an event. While päivämäärä remains the everyday expression for “date,” päiväys carries the formal nuance of dating an item or recording the official date on documentation. See also: päivämäärä, paikkakunta, allekirjoitus, arkistointi.