juolukka

juolu- +‎ -kka (probably the origin of the form -ukka seen also in puolukka, vatukka), from Proto-Finnic *joo-, which is further related to Proto-Samic *joŋë (“lingonberry”), suggesting earlier *juŋe.

The forms of this word vary widely, but the forms in Finnish, Ingrian and Votic generally follow the pattern *jooCukka (extended *jooCuk'as in Votic). In Finnish, besides -l-, -m- (juomukka), -p- (juopukka) and -v- (juovukka) are found, in Ingrian (joomukka) and Votic (joomukõz) only -m- (also in Ludic with a different suffix, d'uomoi). All aforementioned Finnish forms also have variants ending in -ikka, which matches the forms seen in Veps (jońikaine), Estonian (joovikas) and Livonian (jūoimki, jūoipki). There are more Finnish variants too with different suffixes.

The forms with -l- (only in Finnish) are likely by contamination with puolukka, while -v- (*-b-) is simply the weak grade of -p-, leaving only the question of whether -m- or -p- came first. According to Koponen (1991), both likely originate from association with words derived from *joodak (“to drink”), specifically *jooma (“drink”) and *joopudak (“to become drunk”).^[1] In that case, the -ukka likely originates from the -u- in the latter word and was later generalized by analogy. Semantically the berry is often associated with intoxication: compare German Rauschbeere, Swedish odon, Russian пьяника (pʹjanika).

• IPA^(key): /ˈjuo̯lukːɑ/,
• Rhymes: -uolukːɑ
• Syllabification^(key): juo‧luk‧ka

juolukka

1. bog bilberry, Vaccinium uliginosum

• “juolukka”, 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