pohja

From Proto-Finnic *pohja (compare Estonian põhi), from Proto-Finno-Permic *pošja (compare Northern Sami boaššu (“back part of a house or tent”)), possibly borrowed from early Proto-Indo-Iranian *posčā (later *pasčā). Doublet of posio, which is a borrowing from Sami.

The sense "north" is due to the practice of building dwellings facing south (as that was the direction the sun would shine from at noon in Northern Europe), and thus the far end of a building furthest from the entrance would be situated towards the north.

• IPA^(key): /ˈpohjɑ/, [ˈpo̞xjɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -ohjɑ
• Syllabification^(key): poh‧ja

pohja

1. bottom (lowest part of anything, especially of a container)
2. bed (place, or flat surface or layer, on which something else rests or is laid)
3. fundament (underlying basis or principle)
4. layout (spatial arrangement of a building or flat)
5. crust (outer layer composed of pastry; bread-like base of a pizza)
6. (in compounds) template, layout (generic model or pattern from which other objects are based or derived, especially texts)

   sähköpostipohja ― email template

7. (archaic, poetic) north, northern, Arctic ; also with capital initial

   Pohjantähti ― North Star

   Pohjanlahti ― Gulf of Bothnia

   pohjanlepakko ― northern bat

   pohjan poika ― a son of the north

   pohjanharjus ― Arctic grayling

• (north): pohjola

• posio

• Álgu database pohja
• Álgu database boašˈšo
• Álgu database *pošja

• “pohja”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (online dictionary, continuously updated, in Finnish), Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-07-03

From Proto-Finnic *pohja. Cognates include Finnish pohja and Estonian põhi.

• (Ala-Laukaa) IPA^(key): /ˈpohjɑ/, [ˈpo̞hi]
• (Soikkola) IPA^(key): /ˈpohjɑ/, [ˈpo̞hjɑ]
• Rhymes: -ohj, -ohjɑ
• Hyphenation: poh‧ja

pohja

1. bottom
   • 1937, V. A. Tetjurev, translated by N. J. Molotsova, Loonnontiito oppikirja alkușkoulua vart (toin osa), Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-Pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 29:

     Meren pohjaas veel elläät erittee käppiät meritähet.

     On the bottom of the sea also live exceptionally beautiful starfishes.

2. north
3. Short for sananpohja.
   • 1936, V. I. Junus, Iƶoran Keelen Grammatikka‎, Leningrad: Riikin Ucebno-pedagogiceskoi Izdateljstva, page 39:

     Se liitetää ei yksikön nominativan loppuu, a genetivast saautettavan sanan pohjan otsaa.

     It is joined not to the ending of the singular ending, but to the end of the stem of the word obtained from the genitive.

• (north): pohjain

• Ruben E. Nirvi (1971) Inkeroismurteiden Sanakirja, Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, page 418