monialaisena

Monialaisena is a Finnish word that functions as the essive form of the historical or religious noun/adjective monialainen, describing someone who belongs to or serves in a monastic order. In practice, monialaisena roughly translates to “as a nun” or “in the capacity of a monialainen,” and is encountered mainly in historical or biographical texts about monasteries and convent life. Because it is a somewhat archaic or specialized usage, it is rarely used in modern everyday Finnish; writers more commonly use nun (nunna) or a phrase that specifies the role without the essive form.

The form is built from the stem monialainen plus the essive suffix -na/-nä, which Finnish uses to denote a temporary state or role: for example, to act as a teacher is olla opettajana. An example phrase would be: “Hän toimi monialaisena luostarissa.” In plural contexts one would use “monialaisina” for multiple people in the same role.

Etymology traces monialainen to ecclesiastical Latin monialis via church Latin into Finnish. The word is most often found in historical religious writing and represents a small cluster of terms that describe members of religious communities using the essive form.

See also: nun, nunneries, monasticism, Finnish grammar: essive case.