"of or pertaining to Finland or its inhabitants," c. 1790, from Finn + -ish. Earlier was Finnic (1660s as a noun, in reference to the language). Related: Finno-.
Entries linking to finnish
Finn n.
"native or inhabitant of Finland; a member of the Finnic race," Old English finnas, from Old Norse finnr, the Norsemen's name for the Suomi. Some suggest a connection with fen. Attested in Tacitus as Fenni. Finlander in English is from 1727.
-ish
adjectival word-forming element, Old English -isc "of the nativity or country of," in later use "of the nature or character of," from Proto-Germanic suffix *-iska- (cognates: Old Saxon -isk, Old Frisian -sk, Old Norse -iskr, Swedish and Danish -sk, Dutch -sch, Old High German -isc, German -isch, Gothic -isks), cognate with Greek diminutive suffix -iskos. In its oldest forms with altered stem vowel (French, Welsh). The Germanic suffix was borrowed into Italian and Spanish (-esco) and French (-esque). Colloquially attached to hours to denote approximation, 1916.
The -ish in verbs (abolish, establish, finish, punish, etc.) is a mere terminal relic from the Old French present participle.