etäisiltä

Etäisiltä is a Finnish adjective form used to indicate origin from distant places, typically appearing in the ablative plural with a following noun. It is most often found in descriptive or narrative prose, especially in literary or journalistic contexts where sounds, scents, signals, or other phenomena are described as coming from afar. The particle etäisiltä is not a standalone word but a grammatical form that accompanies a plural noun in the ablative case, for example etäisiltä suunnilta or etäisiltä mailta.

Etymology and form: The base concept comes from etäisyys, distance, and etäinen, meaning distant or remote. In phrases describing origins from distant sources, the adjective takes the ablative plural ending -iltä, yielding forms such as etäisiltä suunnilta (from distant directions) or etäisiltä mailta (from distant lands). The construction is characteristic of Finnish where adjectives agree with the noun they modify in number and case.

Usage: Etäisiltä is most common in literary or evocative writing and can convey atmosphere, remote locations, or voices coming from afar. It can pair with various plural nouns in the ablative case. In everyday speech, speakers may prefer adverbs like kaukaa (from far away) or phrases indicating distance more directly, but etäisiltä remains a recognized and natural option in Finnish.

Examples:

- Etäisiltä suunnilta kantautui outo ääni. (A strange sound came from distant directions.)

- Etäisiltä mailta kuului laulua yön hiljaisuudessa. (From distant lands, a song could be heard in the night’s silence.)

See also: etäisyys, etäinen, Finnish adjective declension, ablative case.