päritoluvormi

Päritoluvorm is a linguistic term used to describe the original form of a word from which other inflected or derived forms are produced. In Estonian linguistic practice the concept can refer to two closely related ideas: the base form used for reference in dictionaries and analysis, and the etymological or reconstructed ancestor form of a word.

In many analyses the päritoluvorm corresponds to what is commonly called the lemma or põhivorm—the canonical form that serves as the citation form for a lexeme. For nouns, the päritoluvorm is often the nominative singular, while for verbs the päritoluvorm is typically the dictionary form from which inflected forms are derived. This base form is what language technologies, grammars, and dictionaries use to index and search words.

The term also has relevance in etymology, where päritoluvorm may refer to the etymon or reconstructed ancestor form in the history of a word. In this sense, it is the form researchers try to recover to explain how a word originated and transformed across languages and time.

Differences and overlap with related concepts are common. The päritoluvorm should not be confused with all possible inflected forms, but it may be identical to the lemma in many lexical resources. In historical linguistics, the etymon represents a more distant origin than the present-day päritoluvorm.

See also: etymon, lemma (põhivorm), inflection, stem.