Unknown, possibly from the same onomatopoeic root as in mekkala and melu. Has also been proposed to be a borrowing from Russian метель (metelʹ, “blizzard, snowstorm”), but the semantic gap makes this unlikely.
meteli
| Inflection of meteli (Kotus type 6/paperi, no gradation) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | meteli | metelit | |
| genitive | metelin | metelien meteleiden meteleitten | |
| partitive | meteliä | meteleitä metelejä | |
| illative | meteliin | meteleihin | |
| singular | plural | ||
| nominative | meteli | metelit | |
| accusative | nom. | meteli | metelit |
| gen. | metelin | ||
| genitive | metelin | metelien meteleiden meteleitten | |
| partitive | meteliä | meteleitä metelejä | |
| inessive | metelissä | meteleissä | |
| elative | metelistä | meteleistä | |
| illative | meteliin | meteleihin | |
| adessive | metelillä | meteleillä | |
| ablative | meteliltä | meteleiltä | |
| allative | metelille | meteleille | |
| essive | metelinä | meteleinä | |
| translative | meteliksi | meteleiksi | |
| abessive | metelittä | meteleittä | |
| instructive | — | metelein | |
| comitative | See the possessive forms below. | ||