Linguaphile wrote: tähistü alphabet
Naava wrote: tähdistöconstellation
tähti = star, -stO = a group made of X, a collection of X
The etymology of
tähistü (and
tähestik) is exactly the same as the etymology of
tähdistö. The suffix -stö/-sto in Finnish is -stik in Estonian and -stü/-stu in Võro.
täht and
tähť both have a double meaning of both "star" and "letter of the alphabet". (
This video makes a nice pun of that: at 50 seconds in, Mõmmi draws "tähed" and some of them are stars but others are letters of the alphabet; they're all mixed together.)
Anyway, it therefore makes sense that a "collection of
täht" (
tähestik, tähistü) should mean an alphabet (a collection of letters). But I have always thought it should
also mean a constellation (a collection of stars) and it doesn't. "Constellation" is
tähtkuju and
tähťkujo (star-figure) instead.
So I'm delighted to learn that
tähdistö does indeed mean "constellation" in Finnish!
(But... what then is a
niinistö? A collection of
niin...?
)
Next word:
Sõelatähed Pleiades