-lle

• (dialectal) -le, -len, -llen

From Proto-Finnic *-lëk or *-llëk, related to and probably a variant of *-lën or *-llën (whence dialectal -len, -llen), which is related to *-sën (illative case suffix) and is composed of -l(l)- (external locative suffix) + Proto-Uralic *-ŋ (lative or dative suffix) (with an epenthetic *-e-). Compare Erzya and Moksha -нень (-ńeń) which is from Proto-Mordvinic *-ľeń.

It is not known whether the short *-l- or long *-ll- is original. If short, the long -l- may be due to analogy with -lla, -lta. The answer likely depends on the origin of the -l- itself. The traditional theory posits that it comes from the toponymic suffix *-la, but more recently it has been proposed that it is in fact a reduction of *ülä (“upper, above”); thus *...n *ül(ä)-nä > *...n-l-nä > *...lnä > *...llä.[1] The initial genitive ending is lost by reduction of a phonotactically impossible sequence, but not in *...n-l-en > *...ll-en, hence *-llën.

• IPA^(key): /-lːeˣ/, [-lːe̞(ʔ)]
• IPA^(key): /-lːe/, [-lːe̞] (dialectal)

-lle

1. forms the allative case of a noun, adjective, numeral or pronoun

• See the appendix on Finnish nominal cases for more information on how the allative case is used.

From Proto-Finnic *-llëk. Cognates include Finnish -lle and Estonian -le.

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /-lːe/, [-lʲːe̞]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /-lːe/, [-lːe̞]
• (Hevaha) IPA^(key): /-len/, [-le̞n]

-lle

1. Used to form the allative case; onto

• V. I. Junus (1936) Iƶoran Keelen Grammatikka‎, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 43