[4] In Karelian korhottoa means 'to be or move upright', 'to have one's head up high', 'to raise', 'to shake threateningly', 'to brandish', and 'to perk up one's ears', and korhota means 'to rise', 'to move up or upwards', 'to get up', 'to go up', 'to become wealthy', and 'to become rich'.
[5][6] Kohottaa, korottaa, and kohota are the most similar words in standard Finnish.
In some dialects it has meant 'hearing-impaired', and it seems that this meaning was most likely derived from the 'to perk up one's ears' sense of korhottaa.
Dialectal nouns derived from korho are, for example, korhopää from Pöytyä meaning roughly 'one with a head of upright hair', and korholaiho from Ylistaro meaning 'a crop of cereal growing upright'.
[7] The name originates from eastern Finland and is much older than its closest competitor for the title of the most common Finnish surname, Virtanen.