mereltä

Mereltä is the ablative form of the Finnish noun meri, meaning the sea. It is used to indicate origin or starting point and is common in maritime contexts, weather descriptions, and poetry. The form illustrates how Finnish expresses spatial relations with the sea through case endings: mereltä denotes from the sea, while merestä denotes from inside the sea, and merelle indicates toward the sea.

Grammatically, mereltä functions as an adverbial and noun in ablative case. It appears with verbs of movement or origin and with noun phrases describing something that comes from or originates at the sea. In everyday language it can refer to goods, people, or phenomena associated with the sea, as well as in figurative or descriptive writing about maritime life.

Usage examples illustrate its range. For instance, "Laiva purjehti mereltä satamaan" means the ship sailed from the sea toward the harbor. "Kalaa tuotiin mereltä" indicates that the fish was brought from the sea. In poetic or descriptive sentences one might hear "Mereltä kuului myrskyn ääni," describing a sound that came from the sea.

Mereltä contrasts with related forms that express different directional or locational nuances with the sea, such as merellä (on the sea) and merelle (to the sea). Understanding mereltä helps in interpreting Finnish texts that describe origins linked to marine settings, as well as in constructing precise phrases about maritime activities.

See also: Finnish phonology and grammar of cases; ablative case in Finnish; mer- words in Finnish.