Süüdlast

Süüdlast is a historical or dialectal Estonian noun that is used to denote a person who bears guilt or is described as the culprit in a narrative. The word is believed to be formed from the root meaning guilt or fault, together with a suffix that yields an agent noun referring to a person associated with that concept. In this respect, süüdlast is related to other Estonian terms for a wrongdoer, though it is far less common in modern standard usage.

Etymology and form are not consistently attested in contemporary dictionaries, and the exact morphological history can vary by source. The term is commonly described as archaic or literary, and its appearance is largely confined to older texts, folklore, or regional speech rather than everyday language.

Usage and status: In current standard Estonian, süüdlane is the ordinary word for a culprit or guilty party, while süüdistatu refers to the person accused. Süüdlast, by contrast, is typically treated as a historical or stylistic form that may appear in translations, classical literature, or dialectal passages. When it does appear in modern writing, it is usually to evoke an older mood or to echo traditional phrasing rather than as a routinely used term.

See also: süüd (guilt), süüdlane (culprit), süüdistus (accusation).