Uncertain. Possibly from *karkkea (“to rub against”), compare scarcely attested dialectal karkettaa (“to rub, chafe”) (Kiihtelysvaara) and Northern Sami goarkit (“to graze, touch lightly”) (? < Proto-Samic *goarkkētēk ~ ? Proto-Finnic *karkkëdak > ? *karkkea). The idea of a link between karkku and the aforementioned Sami word was first proposed by Itkonen (1916).[1]
karkku
| Inflection of karkku (Kotus type 1*A/valo, kk-k gradation) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | karkku | karkut | |
| genitive | karkun | karkkujen | |
| partitive | karkkua | karkkuja | |
| illative | karkkuun | karkkuihin | |
| singular | plural | ||
| nominative | karkku | karkut | |
| accusative | nom. | karkku | karkut |
| gen. | karkun | ||
| genitive | karkun | karkkujen | |
| partitive | karkkua | karkkuja | |
| inessive | karkussa | karkuissa | |
| elative | karkusta | karkuista | |
| illative | karkkuun | karkkuihin | |
| adessive | karkulla | karkuilla | |
| ablative | karkulta | karkuilta | |
| allative | karkulle | karkuille | |
| essive | karkkuna | karkkuina | |
| translative | karkuksi | karkuiksi | |
| abessive | karkutta | karkuitta | |
| instructive | — | karkuin | |
| comitative | See the possessive forms below. | ||