I listened to this episode of “The Memory Palace” wherein they claim that there’s a word in Finnish named after US president Herbert Hoover that means “to help”, named for the relief efforts he sponsored during/following WWI. https://thememorypalace.us/hoover/
Would anyone be able to confirm this? I’ve spent 20 minutes googling, but given that I do not speak Finnish, I’m struggling to confirm what they’re claiming. I guess my next step is to read all the books they cite, but wanted to check here first.
If there is such a word, is it perhaps spelled differently than the English spelling of “hoover”?

8 comments

  1. Looks to be true, I found this where a translator is talking about it being a specific thing about the assistance US, Hoover was providing Finland after the wars. The person makes a point to say it’s not a general statement of help or assistance but specifically about Hoover.

    https://www.kotus.fi/nyt/kotus-blogi/satunnaisesti_kirjoittava_kotuslainen/elakoon_sanakirjatyo.8503.blog?5545_a=comment&5545_m=8503

    EIJA-RIITTA GRÖNROS is an Editor-in-chief of the Kielitoimisto dictionary.

    https://www.kotus.fi/ It’s like a center of the Finnish language and it’s history or something like that so seems to be a legit source.

    Google translate seems generally correct on that page at the end it’s not imported heron but imported fat 😀

  2. https://www.kotus.fi/nyt/kotus-blogi/satunnaisesti_kirjoittava_kotuslainen/elakoon_sanakirjatyo.8503.blog

    According to the linguist who’s written the blog post, “hooveri” (pronounced HAW-ve-ry) or “huuveri” (pronounced HOO-ve-ry) only referred to the aid organized by Herbert Hoover, but under the blog post there are comments from regular people saying the meaning was expanded to material donations in general, at least in some dialects. But it’s a noun, not a verb. Personally I have never seen or heard it anywhere.

  3. I personally (South-Western Finland) have never heard of such a term.
    I asked my parents who were born in the – 40’s, and they have not heard it either.

  4. So based on the replies here, the answer is “not really”. In specific areas the word could be used similarly to how you would in English say “Hoover-soandso” when talking about soandso related to Hoover. And that too has vanished from use since aid from America stopped.

  5. The only thing I’ve heard huuveri/hoover used in Finland is a generic word for a vacuum cleaner.

  7. As mentioned in the link to the center of linguistic studies (kotus.fi) the term ”to Hoover” was coined in 1920’s to refer to exactly the help President Hoover and USA provided to Finland. That’s more than a century ago.

    The word and the reference has been phased out in the modern times. Us young people (born in the 70’s – wink wink) do not make the connection between ”to Hoover” and ”help” anymore. It’s been phased out of use.

    (Rather, if the current generations of Finns associate the verb ”to Hoover” with anything, it’s referring to suction. Or the use of a vacuum cleaner (brand name ”Hoover”)

    Hope this helps.

  8. Herbert Hoover headed the US government organizations that provided food aid to Europe after the first world war in 1919-1921. The primary recipients of the food aid were Russia and Poland, but also Finland.

    [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Relief_Administration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Relief_Administration)

    There was a grain shortage in Finland because of higher prices after the war, because the country had declared its independence from Russia and had not yet established many new trade relations, and because of a civil war in Finland.

    Some factors may have increased the significance of the “Hoover-apu” in Finnish memory. First, the aid was distributed primarily to children, which meant that it stayed in living memory for a long time. I remember my grandparents mentioning it. Second, Finland was able to pay for two-thirds of the food received, and as a precondition for the trade, the US recognized Finnish independence, which was obviously important.

    Hoover also organized aid to Finland during the Winter War in 1939-40, which is less known and had a smaller impact.

    [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Relief_Fund](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_Relief_Fund)

    More information in Finnish: [Nälkää vastaan – Herbert Hooverin avustusorganisaatioiden toiminta Suomessa ja Tampereella 1919-1920. – Trepo (tuni.fi)](https://trepo.tuni.fi/handle/10024/81611)

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