varpunen

Borrowed from Old East Slavic [Term?] (compare Russian воробе́й (vorobéj)); nativized with the diminutive -nen suffix.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʋɑrpunen/, [ˈʋɑ̝rpune̞n]
• Rhymes: -ɑrpunen
• Syllabification^(key): var‧pu‧nen

varpunen

1. sparrow
   • 1913, Zacharius Topelius (original poem in Swedish, 1859), K. A. Waaranen (Finnish translation, 1874), Otto Kotilainen (composer), “Varpunen jouluaamuna [A Sparrow on Christmas Morning]”‎:

     Lumi on jo peittänyt kukat laaksosessa,
     järven aalto jäätynyt talvipakkasessa.
     Varpunen pienoinen, syönyt kesäeinehen,
     järven aalto jäätynyt talvipakkasessa.

     Snow has fallen, through it pokes not a single heather,
     waves of water turned to ice by the wintry weather.
     A sparrow so little with nothing to eat and live,
     waves of water turned to ice by the wintry weather.

     (literally, “The snow has already covered the flowers in the dale,
     the waves of the lake have been frozen by the cold winter weather.
     A tiny sparrow has eaten the (last of its) summer food,
     the waves of the lake have been frozen by the cold winter weather.”)

2. (as modifier in compound terms) passerine, sparrow

   varpuslintu ― passerine bird

   varpushaukka ― sparrow hawk

• “varpunen”, 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 2023-07-04