keihään

Keihään is the genitive singular form of the Finnish noun keihäs, which means spear. A keihäs is a long shafted weapon or tool with a pointed tip, designed for thrusting or throwing. Throughout history, spears have been used by many cultures for hunting, warfare, and ceremonial purposes, and the Finnish term keihäs reflects this broader archaeological and cultural context. In modern Finnish, keihäs also appears in sports terminology, most notably in keihäänheitto, the javelin throw event.

In everyday language, keihään is commonly found in compounds where the noun keihäs forms the first element in the match with another word in the genitive. Examples include keihäänkärki (spearhead) and keihäänheitto (javelin throw). These formations illustrate how the genitive form connects the weapon concept to associated ideas or functions.

Etymology and usage note: keihäs is a native Finnish word, and its precise historical origins are not definitively established. It has cognates in related Finnic languages, reflecting a shared cultural and linguistic heritage. The genitive keihään is simply the grammatical inflection used to link keihäs to other words in compounds or to indicate possession in descriptive phrases.

Overall, keihään serves as a grammatical form tied to the noun for spear, enabling its use in compound terms and in describing relationships related to the spear concept within Finnish.