Unknown. The only certain cognate is Karelian puvas. Theories * On one hand, the word has been compared with Northern Sami bovccis and related Sami words, but the phonological correspondence is not regular, which speaks against common inheritance. In this case, the Finnish word would probably be borrowed from Sami. * On the other hand, the word has been compared with Eastern Mansi [script needed] (pasəl), Western Mansi [script needed] (posəl), Northern Mansi посал (posal), Eastern Khanty пәсл (pəsl) and Northern Khanty пусәԓ (pusəł), with the hypothetical root reconstructed by UEW as *puδase (which, however, has phonological issues). In this case, the Finnish and Sami words would not be related.