kalja

kalja

1. genitive singular of kali
2. partitive singular of kali
3. illative singular of kali

From Proto-Finnic *kalja (cognate with Estonian kali). According to one theory, possibly from earlier *kaleja or *kaleta, possibly from an early Indo-European language; compare Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-u-t- (“beer”) (Proto-Slavic *olъ, Proto-Germanic *alu, Old Prussian alu, Old Armenian աւղի (awłi)), and if so, akin to olut, a later borrowing from Baltic or Germanic.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑljɑ/, [ˈkɑ̝ljɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ɑljɑ
• Syllabification^(key): kal‧ja

kalja

1. A traditional fermented, homemade, weak table drink made of malt and sugar, closely resembling kvass; its alcohol content is between 0.8 and 2.2 %.

   Synonym: (see usage notes) kotikalja

2. (informal) Synonym of olut (“beer”)

• The difference between kalja and kvass (a drink popular in Eastern Europe, called kvassi or taari in Finnish) is that the former is made from malt, whereas kvass is usually made of bread. Nevertheless, kalja is sometimes metonymically used to refer to kvass or other similar beverages in other cultures as well.
• The use of the term kalja to refer to beer in informal language is so common that it is now quite common to use kotikalja (strictly speaking only for homemade kalja) to refer to the other sense instead to avoid confusion.

• “kalja”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-02

• jalka, kajal