Perkele


Perkele means evil spirit or variation of words "god damn" in Finnish and is a popular Finnish profanity. It is most likely the most internationally known Finnish curse word.

Origins

The name is of Indo-European origin; Perkwunos is the reconstructed name of the god of thunder. Other gods from cultures hypothesized from the same origin include Perkūnas, Pērkons, Percunis, Piarun, Peko or Pekolasõ, Parjanya, Fairguneis, and Perun or Piorun.
Some researchers consider Perkele to be an original name of the thunder god Ukko, the chief god of the Finnish pagan pantheon, but this view is not shared by all researchers. There are related words in other Finnic languages: in Estonian, põrgu means hell, in Karelian perkeleh means an evil spirit.

Use

It has a history of being used as a curse: a cry for the god for strength. It still is a common curse word in vernacular Finnish. To a Finn, the word entails seriousness and potency that more lightly used curses lack. Also, when the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland held a popular contest to nominate the "most energizing" word in the Finnish language, one of the suggestions was Perkele because "it is the curse word that gave the most strength for the reconstruction of Finland after the wars."

Introduction of Christianity

As Finland was Christianized, the Catholic Church started to demonise the old Finnish deities. This led to the use of "Perkele" as a translation for "Devil" in the Finnish translation of the Bible. Later, in a 1992 translation, the word was rendered as paholainen.

Uses in popular culture