What does FINLAND and SUOMI actually mean?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2022
- #history #finland #suomi
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Fortunately, Suomi is not alone, it has the same etymological origin as Häme, Saame, Sapmi and Jem. And in Estonian Suomi is Soome. But stil the real proper Suomi is actually the region of Southwest Finland (Varsinais-Suomi in Finnish), which has given its name to the entire country. However, the originan meaning of the name and its root form is still unclear and several theories have been put forward over time, such as that the name comes from a word meaning bog or fish scale, or that it means low land or land alone. The etymological root of the word Suomi may also be a legacy from the previous people who spoke some lost language, they also named Päijänne, Keitele, Saimaa and Imatra which is why we cannot explain these names.
When I was a small lad, I thought my great-grandfather was the wisest man alive. And he was. Nevertheless, I asked him once, where "Suomi" came from. He claimed, that the word suo, meaning swamp, once used to mean lake. And as we all know, Finland has a lot of lakes, so it would make sense. Suomi, according to him, meant "the land of lakes, Järvien maa, Suomi". He grew up during the pre-civil war era, which was very nationalistic. Maybe he was taught that during his school years, or by his parents, but we'll never know. Could have been made up as well. My mother told me never to doubt him, and I never did.
One thing! Land has rised a lot so 2000 - 1500 years ago there was a lot of more lakes and sea. There would be no Helsinki area and all major cities was under the water. Seawater or lakewater. 25 meters aproximately. During ice age seawater was 120-140 meters lower but what happens between these two ages.
I like the idea that it used to mean "land" in the proto-Baltic language. I can imagine a foreigner coming to Finland and asking a proto-Finn what the land is called, and the Finn just laconically says " the land".
I always was attracted to the theory that Finn is related to the Old Norse word finnr, meaning hunter-gatherer. Finland would thus mean land of the hunter-gatherers, i.e., fisher-people. This would make sense because the Germanic-speaking peoples in Scandinavia to the west adopted agriculture much earlier than the people living in the region of Finland. The predecessors of the Old Norse possibly came up with that name long prior to the Greek and Latin accounts.
Hmm. The mysterious Finland.
I came up with a wacky, completely not-based-on anything theory based on the fact that the verb ”suoda” means ”to let have” or ”to give”. So Suo-maa or Suo-ma could mean also ”land that was given”. I don’t believe this theory but it was fun to invent a theory of one’s own.
The best and funniest explanation is that it is directly from Swedish. "Fin land" in Swedish means literally fine land :)
Two thousand years ago most of the modern day Russia from Urals to the west was the homeland of various Finno-Ugric tribes and the ancestors of Russians were living somewhere near Pripyat. Tacitus probably wrote some hear say of nomadic people whose life style would have been totally incomprehensible to the Romans.
Suomi or Finland is a given word from outside. For us, descendants of Fenno-Ugrian tribes, we know also have other names for our home. Some have translated it as Kvenland, Queens land, representing matriarchate history of the north, which of course was practical: Men were often killed or wounded while hunting or war, so continuity of the society was on women. Kings of the Finns were leaders and first ones to meet both mammoths in hunt, and enemies in war.
Finland most definitely comes from Final Land. After Finland there is only Mordor.
Great coverage on the topic in such a compact video.
One (nitpicky I admit, but important for me) correction: Suomi doesn't mean Finland, it's the other way round. Suomi is the real name, the name Finland used in most other languages means Suomi - though the Scottish Gaelic language knows both Fionnlainn and Suomaidh.
Great video as always
Good impresson.Thanks.
Again an awesome video.
For us Finns, the country is Suomi and we are suomalaisia.
Interestingly enough, the Norwegians call the sami people "finner" and the land in which they lived "finnmark". The Swedish people have called them "lappar" and the land in which they lived "lappland". The Baltic sea have lines of islands across it on two places, which have been sailed by Swedish people, or at the actual time, Svea people or the roman name Sveonian. The Svea people sailed between Sweden and the Roman empire, so they may have picked up som latin or Greek language. Svea land is a part of sweden today.
Gotta say, I love your channel