Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *väki, from Proto-Finno-Ugric *wäke ‎(“power, strength”). Cognates include Ludic, Veps and Estonian vägi, Votic vätši, Livonian vä'g, Udmurt vi ‎(vi), and Khanty вӛй ‎(wə̂j).

The sense "power, strength" nowadays only exists in some compounds and derivatives, such as väkivalta ‎(“violence”), väkijuoma ‎(“alcoholic beverage”), väkevä ‎(“strong”), and väkisin ‎(“forcefully”). A transitional sense exists in e.g. sotaväki, which can be thought to mean either military power or the people in the army; such words may have facilitated the change in meaning.^[1]