ODLT--The Online Dictionary of Language Terminology



allative case
Definition - A case used in some languages, such as Finnish, to express motion toward the marked referent.
Notes:
1. In English this role is performed by the prepositions to and toward.

Example -
In Finish the ending -lle is allative, e.g., pöytä (table) and pöydälle (onto the top of the table).

Etymology -
The term derives from the Latin allat, the participle stem of afferre, to bring to.

Oxford English Dictionary -
Its first citation is from 1860:
"The declension of the personal pronouns [in the Tushi Language] is as follows…Singular…Affective…Allative."
(Trans. Philol. Soc. 1857 34)



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