What does FINLAND and SUOMI actually mean?

#history #finland #suomi
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F.A.Q.
How old are you?
30
Where are you from?
Dublin, Ireland
Where do you live?
Oulu, Finland

[@IrishinFinland]

Want to help me out making videos? click here: kzbin.info/door/FsUSUN1wbrFcw5KRWNtw1Ajoin

[@-NEH-]

Finland most definitely comes from Final Land. After Finland there is only Mordor. That is also why the finns are so feared among others. They are the fierce ones keeping the Orcs on their side of the fence.

[@amadeuz8161]

Final Land do explain the swedish name but not the finnish name. So I assume the name came from the swamps because usually translations here between Fin and Swe are pretty stright forward with a few laughable exceptions :D Then the Swedish name probably came first because everything outside certain civilizations didn't exist before they went there.

[@viiranen]

Nah, the finns are the orcs. Its all chill tho

[@ShadesApeDJansu]

Orc never stood a change, goblins which are just orcs in Tolkien's books were just trampled into finnish feets xD

[@satutrigueiros7496]

@@amadeuz8161 What makes you assume that there was no sivilisation ? Are you some expert of Finnland and the culture?

[@finlandsakke3505]

Mordor = Moscow

[@Greippi10]

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".

[@lordkyro7242]

Pretty much all country names originally just mean 'land' or 'people'.

[@rwh5350]

My Finnish Grandfather bought a piece of property for a Hunting Camp. The Hunters have always called it “The Land”, though the proper name is “Pikku Suomi”

[@kansaIainen]

If you are living in town, but you own a summer cottage or even a small piece of land to grow potatoes, you say "mennään maalle" (let's go to the LAND), when you are visiting there.

[@rwh5350]

Rules Change People Die....but the Land remains.....one of my favorite quotes...

[@markusmakela9380]

zeme, lithuanic word. ”Zeme” from Lietuva ( baltic country)

[@danielmalinen6337]

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.

[@DrLowHouse]

Sumerians are ancestors of Scandivanian people, kuningas is quite compelling word, its history comes from Sumerians. So interesting.

[@lordkyro7242]

Kuningaz is also a proto germanic word and the words like könig, kung and king are derived from it so that's no proof. There's plenty of germanic loan words in Finnish.

[@danielmalinen6337]

@@lordkyro7242 In Finnish, the word kuningas has also previously had a much wider meaning and use. In the past, kuningas has meant, for example, the eldest of a family, the head of a village, the chief of the tribe, and the captain of a ship before the word was established in Finnish to mean only a monarch, a king, in the modern Finnish language.

[@lahtistemme]

I saw once one translation of Finland from Chinese and that also referred to people that are living on swamp.

[@lottaraatikainen3942]

I was coming to say the same, except not this throughoutly.

[@karihamalainen9622]

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.

[@danielmalinen6337]

The post-glacial rebound has been the reason why the original Turku was located in Koroinen and was later moved closer to the sea. And because of the same land uplift, current Turku threatens to remain inland when the shoreline escapes further to the sea.

[@oakstrong1]

@@danielmalinen6337 Except when the climate change causes the sea levels to rise. People in Turku might well wish the city was never moved in the first place.

[@markusketonen2412]

@@oakstrong1 Except that the land is raising in some regions as much as 1cm per year, and that's quite fast. So it might not be that dramatic impact in Finland

[@karihamalainen9622]

Thwaites sea-ice is mostly in very large volcanic area. Long known volcanism. Siberian traps has been worst known volcanic fenomen which killed possible all life on earth except small animals, bacteria etc.

[@ilari90]

@@danielmalinen6337 It's a sad truth. It would be better if it would form an island and sail far away. :D

[@nutjimmy]

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.

[@ilari90]

Well, this was what my grandparents said too, I bet they just didn't know and that was the theory which was taught to them in school. It's highly unlikely, though, due to linquistical research having gone way further from those times.

[@MagMaybe]

Soo is also swamp in Estonian. So "Soome" (Finland in Estonian)- makes sense.

[@lottaraatikainen3942]

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. My favourite theory about the name Finland is that it's derived from some early Scandinavian form of Kvinnoland, women's land, because there were powerful women as leaders here in the prehistoric era. After all the people of Finnish origin in Norway's Finnmark are still called kveeni.

[@lottaraatikainen3942]

@CK101 You obviously don't know anything about the old legends of Women's land. They predate even the earliest feminists by centuries. But by all means, go on and drag your hate of equality into every discussion. It makes you seem rather silly, but I guess you don't care if it is your favourite topic.

[@NexnDystxpia]

@CK101 Did you perhaps happen to feel like your life is in threat someway?

[@hurri7720]

@@jacksmith4266 , If you look a bit closer Finland was the first in the world to do that. Both New Zealand and Norway had restrictions regarding the women. To be honest, the English are a bit sloppy when it comes to being the first at something. You find all the facts on the Wikipedia but you have to dig a bit to get it.

[@oh2mp]

The best and funniest explanation is that it is directly from Swedish. "Fin land" in Swedish means literally fine land :)

[@JamesAsp]

Not "fine" land but "nice" land. Fine is more like a ticket one has to pay:) But yes it can also mean good quality I suppose.

[@mayday6916]

@@JamesAsp Is ticket the principal meaning of fine? Fin in Swedish mainly means pretty, good, nice, well(being), noble, dignified, good-looking, well-made, and many more depending on the circumstances. :-)

[@JamesAsp]

@@mayday6916 I know, swedish is my mother tongue.

[@nikolaisedov2295]

@@JamesAsp I believe the adjective is dominant here... So "fine land" sounds very fine to me! 😀

[@lady00303]

When I heard you first pronounce Suomi.. I heard "Swamp" , and that's the first thing that came to mind. And at the end of the video it sort of confirmed it, even though it's not confirmed.. But not surprised if that's where the origin of the word came from. These videos have been very interesting.. And had no idea that Tolkien took much of his inspiration from Finnish folk tales. My ancestry is from western and Eastern Europe.. Still have yet to do a DNA test to confirm my actually ancestral origins besides knowing I have German and Italian roots.. But deeply interested in Celtic, Slavic and Viking history as well… It never ceases to amaze me the deep connections we have to our brothers and sisters from long ago.. And finding new information each day, I feel closer to them than before :)

[@chindit2009]

Again an awesome video. I do appriciate your work as a cloggie living in north Finland. If you ever feel like doing a video on location here in Ruka Kuusamo area i would be happy to help you out!

[@IrishinFinland]

Great suggestion! next year I plan on getting out and about around Finland to make videos!

[@PastaAivo]

Great coverage on the topic in such a compact video.

[@IrishinFinland]

Much appreciated!

[@katjakuitunen6961]

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.

[@neulasia]

or maybe the land that gives? since hunters go 'asking' (pyytää)?

[@IrishinFinland]

I like it 👌🏻

[@psodq]

Samantapainen ajatus minullakin on aina ollut, että Suomi tulee esim. pyynnöstä "suo minun olla" tai "suo minun elää täällä". Sana "Suo mi" nousee sieltä kuin itsestään.

[@smitemus]

During the last ice age Finland was completely under some 2-3 kilometers of ice. When the ice retreated and the post-glacial rebound started, much of the finnish coast would have basically risen out from the sea. So 'The Land of The End' being 'given' to humanity by perhaps gods of some kind wouldn't be that funny of a proposition to earlier settlers of the baltics and perhaps some Uralic peoples. Just extending the fun theory. Someone should make a movie out of it. 😄

[@hdahlia]

Also a land that rose from the sea would have been very wet and swampy, so I have no trouble imagining that the similarities between the words for swamp (suo) and to give, given (suoda, suoma) wasn't a coinsidence. It would also make sense if it had once also been a loanword from protobaltic meaning land. It first meant land, then it would come to mean land that was given and then became to mean wetlands. It also just makes sense that since we'd have lived in a suomaa (swamp land) we would have been called suomaalaiset (people of the swamp lands), it later on being shortened to suomalaiset (the Finns), and from that the word Suomi would have been derived.

[@buenoloco4455]

At this point, you have made a whole documentary of Finland. That's a feat not many have done. Awesome job!! Ya Irish bastard, love with Perkele to you XD

[@IrishinFinland]

🤣🤣 this is the best comment I've ever received! I appreciate thank you 😎

[@buenoloco4455]

@@IrishinFinland We Finnish people respect Irish culture (maybe for the drinking part) But Irish people are somewhat also unique creatures, I would be exited and a bit wary if travelling to Ireland. Those pesky Irish people, and their gibberish lollygaggin whoosmongering habbits XD XD (That's why I love Irish people)

[@apexxxx10]

@@buenoloco4455*Pentti Saarikoski - Suomalainen kirjailija poet translator of James Joyce. Drank heavily in Dublin when translating Joyce*

[@atlet1]

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.

[@thomasgrans3303]

As a swede i add to others comments. This has to be understood in its context i realise while listen and read comments. Finland seems to be a clearly (north?) germanian word so it probably is from us that we named them the way other say . We dont pronounce it Fin land (long I ) as some suggest, we pronounce it Finn land ( short I) meaning the land of Finnar (Finns). We have the same way of speaking of Germany, Tyskland, the land of Tyskar = the land of Germans. In Sweden we have the old 3 parts of Sweden called Götaland the land of Götar ( goths) in the south and Svealand in the middle. SveaLand = The land of Svear. These were 2 lands before we became one land. In the north we call it Norrland = North land. The big Islands in the Baltic sea is Öland, Gotland and Åland. We also have England= Land of angels? Skottland and Ir(e)land. Also Island= Iceland. Grönland= Greenland. Estland, would really be Östland in modern swedish meaning eastland. We have Lettland the land of Letter. There was also once Livland east of Estland, now absorbed by Russia. Land of Liver. In english and norwegian we have poland the land of pollacks. We have Ryssland ( Russia) RosLand as mentioned probably originated from people from Roslagen the bigger area around Stockholm who settled there and called it Ros in size like Estland maybe. Land of Roser, Roslager people? Also Holland, Nederländerna= Netherlands. To dig a bit deeper in germanian languiage and the names of countrys named by germanians there is a difference between english and the other germanians. We have DanMark which seems to confuse english speakers but Mark is refering to land also but more to the soil or to someones (big) property like a hughe farmland. Dan a man called Dan and his and his relatives owned land. This is my understanding. Österrike ( germ. Österreich)= Austria. Öster= East a land ruled by a king, a Kingdom in english in the east. The word Land the area of a country. also my understanding. Sverige is an old pronouncement of the modern rike= Svea- rige, im not 100% sure but i think Norge= Norway also was called Norige = Nor-rige in Sweden meaning the North kingdom also old germanian Norwegen from which english Norway comes. We also have Frankrike= France. This refers direct to a known king Frank meaning Franks kingdom. To sum up: Germanian languages especially the others outside the english speakers has a describing name on countries wich says something about the land. people, ruler or geographic place.

[@mikaaalto3135]

I would argue that Swedish people pronounce Finland wrongly. They SHOULD pronounce Finland with a long I and not a short I. The Swedish word "fin" is pronounced with a long I and means fine. Fine as in nice, not the amount of money you pay for violating certain rules. Thus Finland = Nice land.

[@thomasgrans3303]

@KKmies Youre right but depending on the time Livland was also including the south of Estland and the whole of todays Lettland. From the begining under the German orden in the 12 hundreds they created Livland and it was the whole of todays Estland and Lettland. Later there was the swedish Livland which was south Estland and north Lettland. I looked this up now. About Götar we also have Gotland and we dont know for sure if they have the same anchetsors as us in mainland Sweden. Maybe they are real Goths as the name hints.Its hidden in the historys shadows where we really comes from in both Sweden and in Finland. There is to little written before the middleages and especially before 1050 in Sweden. Even less about Finlands old history.

[@thomasgrans3303]

@@mikaaalto3135 Its a good thought and its very fine and nice of you to think so. Sadly Sweden lost Finland to Russia in 1809 and had to pay fine to Russia in the peace negotiations and at that moment Finland was Swedens fine-land. Still Finland is the name used all over the world today. From the beginning, 1100-1200, Finland was used of the swedes as the name of the area around Åbo. At that time Finland was a part of Sweden and Sweden talked about Finnar, Lappar (Samer), Tavaster and Kareler (Swedish names). What we in Sweden started to call a part of Finland seems to have been the name that have been recognized all over the world. But still the name just refer to the name of the people we call in Swedish finnar and doesnt say anything about them either good or bad. If you talks swedish: sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland

[@markusmakela9380]

Færøer. Jeg e native finnish.

[@jimbogan3692]

I love hearing about Finnish history, its very hard to find much Info before Sweden occupied the area. Would love to see more fiction books or even video games based on Finnish lore, I reckon it'd be so interesting. Should do a video on Finnish traditional cabins and buildings and the influence you see in other countries when Finnish immigrants moved to places like America back in the day.

[@STUDI0TK]

If you havent you shuold check out Iron danger, fantasy rpg set in ancient finland

[@mattikarvonen5063]

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.

[@mattikarvonen5063]

@Radiohiljaisuus Kainuu, Kvenland, Queensland

[@bohemianbluu]

Helsingin Sanomat Kuukausiliite just had a short story about this. Basically, nobody knows for sure. Highly recommend the article if you can find it (and able to read Finnish ;)

[@anton2192]

"Fiende" means enemy or foe in Swedish and in ancient times raiders from Finland pillaged the Swedish coast. So Finland could have originally been "Fiendeland" or "Land of the Enemies".

[@jonathanrice1070]

I’m American. My Grandparents were from Finland. I also had a grandparent of Irish ancestry, but was American. I find myself getting educated about my Finnish ancestors culture by an Irishman! Just a little bit ironic!

[@eerokutale277]

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.

[@EchelonIV]

4:42 Fiðr would be pronounced more like "fithr", not "fioor". The weird letter in the middle is called "eth", found in Icelandic as well as in Old Norse, and in Old and Middle English. The capitalized version looks like this: Ð. It's not an o, it's a voiced th sound as opposed to the unvoiced th sound, which is denoted by the letter "thorn" or þ.

[@markusmakela9380]

Færøer. Ok. Jeg e nativeFinn.

[@Hoksaaja]

For us Finns, the country is Suomi and we are suomalaisia.

[@N_0968]

Hmm. The mysterious Finland.

[@closetmonster5057]

Deriving Suomi from suo maa, suomu or something like that is just bad folk etymology, nothing more. As you said, the most accepted explanation currently is borrowing from Baltic. English wiktionary has pretty good summary about this etymology: From Proto-Finnic *soomi or (in view of suomalainen) *sooma, borrowed from Baltic *šāma-, via Pre-Proto-Finnic *šämä from Proto-Balto-Slavic *źemē (“ground”); the vowel correspondences being explained by reborrowing back and forth, possibly with a late Proto-Germanic. This hypothesis implies cognacy with Proto-Finnic *hämä (“Tavastia”) and Proto-Samic *sāmē (“Sami person”). So roughly: Proto-Balto-Slavic *źemē (“ground”) → Pre-Proto-Finnic *šämä (> Proto-Finnic *hämä, Proto-Samic *sāmē) → Proto-Balto-Slavic *šāma- (or *sāma-, in view of Latvian sāms (“Finn, Öselian (inhabitant of Saaremaa)”), Latvian sāmenis (“northern wind”) and dialectal Lithuanian sómenis (“northwestern wind”), unless the Lithuanian word is a borrowing from Latvian) → (through Proto-Germanic?) Proto-Finnic *sooma

[@paulingvar]

Jordanes mentioned " Scerefennae". This has in Swedish been interpreted as " skrid-finnar". The last word is "finns" ( of course) and according to Jonathan Lindström, in a book resently, this is the same word as "finna" ( to find). They were hunter-gatherers, living on what to find. The first part of the word does NOT mean "ski" but present Swedish "skrida" ( to glide or pace). And this is because of using skis :)

[@mayday6916]

I have read about that, too. Interesting! What is the book called?

[@paulingvar]

@@mayday6916 It is in Swedish . " Sveriges långa historia"

[@mayday6916]

@@paulingvar Tack! I'm Swedish 😄

[@Aldanil]

the word Finn originally meant lapps. lapps/sami people are hunter gatherers. Original norse name for finns is Kven. Kvenland=Finnland. term Finnland/Finland is creted by the pope. Finn originally meant lapps. Kven meant Finnish people. Skandinavians adapted the word finland after 1000ad because of Roman influence.

[@Caldera01]

Wherever it came from, I'm relatively certain that it's not suomaa, or Fennland. That said, I could believe that it's just an algamation of them all. Like, when people started to really think about what to call this piece of land internationally, all these variations sounded and seemed close enough to one another that they all thought that's what it is and found a sort of midpart between all of them. Thus it really wouldn't be any of them and all of them at the same time. For example you could look what happened with the name Hakkapeliitta. Finns: *in a battle* "Hakkaa Päälle!" French Nobleman: *Later in court hearing a report of the battle* "Give me a report of the events." French Scholar: "We encountered some savages from the north, sir." Nobleman: "Savages? Where from?" Scholar: "I don't know, but they seemed to call themselves the 'Hakapelit', or that's what they were shouting at the very least." Modern Finnish Historian: "Well, we don't know exactly what these warriors called themselves, but there's this one scholar that named them 'Hakapelit', so I suppose we can make a loan word from that 'Hakkapeliitta'." At least that's what happened in my mind. Unfortunately we Finns don't have a lot of written records from our past, so we've had to use other peoples written records.

[@CU65LATER]

Good impresson.Thanks.

[@EmilMerenheimo]

Suomi historically doesn't only refer to the modern Finland but also to White Karelia and Meanmaa in northern Sweden

[@ilkkak3065]

Täytyy olla savolaisten keksimä nimi. Vastuu on kuuntelijalla. Must be a name invented by the people of Savo. The listener has responsible.

[@ilkkak3065]

Suottaa olla suota, voe olla muatakkii, vuan vettä on ainakkii, ellei uo jiässä.

[@Leira-et9bw]

Savolaiset vientie ja kientie. Niinkuin Saas puhekielellä, mutta nyky kirjakielellä sadas.

[@Leira-et9bw]

Hämettä sanotaan tavastiaksi. Jossai vanhalla kartalla pohjoisessa oli paikkakunta Tabast, joka toisinpäin luettuna on melkein sabat.

[@joooo9806]

I have my own theory of the word "Suomi". It may come from the word root "suoma"(suoda, suotu, etc.). "Suoma" means given and refers to a state where something is given permanently by someone/something higher than you. For example: "Maamme on Jumalan suoma"= "Our land is given by God" I think it also makes sense because the Finnish word for Finns is suomalaiset witch directly translates to "inhabitants of Suoma" not "inhabitants of Suomi".

[@lahtistemme]

That is the theory that's been suggested for name Suoma.

[@JakeKilka]

Nice theory but I doubt it's the correct one. The Finns had no gods, as Tacitus notes they didn't show interest on praying. Most likely the Finns had animalistic/naturistic approach on spiritual things, as most old cultural objects found have animal shapes, such as the "Huittisten Hirvenpää". So, there would be no one to "give" Finland to the Finns.

[@markusmakela9380]

Zeme from Lietuva, vin from Norge

[@SupahBon]

@Jake Kilka Wrong! Ukko is the same as god. And even the word Jumala is derived from the word Jumi which meaned god. And thw word jumi was used loong before christianity came.

[@JakeKilka]

@@SupahBon You're just seeing the old world through modern eyes. The Finns possibly developed theist religion or better said several versions at some point, about 1500-2000 years ago or later, but chances are the name Suomi predates that. They had spirits and myths, but they had no concept of god as such. And their religion wasn't organized as their tribes weren't organized, they didn't build temples, they had no clerical system etc. The thought that there was some sort of theist religion every Finn followed is actually kind of comical if you really think about how the world was back then.

[@outsider7658]

As a Karelian, from both my parents side, I am interested about what You are going to find out. They had to leave their homes as children, very young, the "Orchs" came in 1939, as the comment below says. I hope to, some day, get some answers. Greetings from a Karelian, in "Diaspora" in Sweden.

[@hansdegroot652]

Thx 👍🏻

[@AssadTheOne]

Gotta say, I love your channel

[@IrishinFinland]

Appreciate that! Thank you!

[@Defeat-Ruzzia--Delete-Putin]

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.

[@lordkyro7242]

The word finn is actually even older. It's a germanic word and even romans called an area located in modern day Sweden Finnveden. Then there's also Finnmark in the northern most part of Norway. Norse people called Sami people finnar.

[@Defeat-Ruzzia--Delete-Putin]

@Suvi Eskelinen Yup, I think anyone living in the area would have been called a Finnr or "Finder" regardless of language by the early Germanic speakers, so yes, the Romans and Greeks definitely could have been describing Sami speakers

[@davidjoelsson4929]

@@Defeat-Ruzzia--Delete-Putin samis didnt live anywhere close to southern or middle sweden how could they have done that? unless they traveled to very northern scandinavia

[@Defeat-Ruzzia--Delete-Putin]

@@davidjoelsson4929 The Samis would have lived in southern Finland at first, and the Germanic peoples/Norse ancestors had pretty good boats long before the Vikings arose, and they surely had settlements in southern Finland or at least visited Finland and encountered hunter-gatherers. Finland is even mentioned in Beowulf!

[@thehighwayman78]

@@Defeat-Ruzzia--Delete-Putin yeah it seems the saami people were spread further to the south in ancient times. I think the saami/suomi connection both linguistically and "people wise" is really interesting. As to the finns being hunter gatherers it's interesting that the Finnish word for floor "lattia" comes from old Norse for floor "flattja". I read somewhere that naudanliha (beef(meat)) comes from old Norse "naut" which means something akin to "prescious property". It is still used in Swedish in "nötkött" with the same meaning. But naut has become nöt. Picking up these words from another language tells there was a cultural exchange with new ideas and new words. "- oh hey you are not sleeping on the ground, what is that contraption? - That? Oh that's the flattja! - Ooh lattia you say interesting... by the way why is your raindeer looking so strange? Oh it's your naut you say. I'd better ask our slave viking to carve this on a stone, I'm not going to remember it all!"

[@DNA350ppm]

Suggestion: Hi you all, people who are interested in prehistoric archeology, if you ever come to southern Sweden, do visit the exhibitions in Malmö Museum, in museums at Trelleborg, and Lund, to see the early findings. After the kilometre thick ice retreated, the reindeer hunters wandered in from the south and gradually moved northwards, following their favourite prey, as the ice retreated and melted. Fishing conditions were good, too. Population was sparse and no signs of wars have been found. Huge parts of Sweden was populated long before the Viking Age, and so were Finland and Norway, too. Also very long ago, the timespan of a thousand years was a very, very long time.

[@tuijaduffy6107]

The ancient map maker wrote '''finland'' on his map probably meaning that this is the end or final land area. Something similar happened with the Spanish map makers who sailed to the Americas. The central and southern Americas were richer. But on the map of the northern parts of the new continent they they wrote ''aca nada'' (here's nothing in Spanish).. Later map readers obviously did not speak Spanish and began to call the new land Canada. Hih...

[@markusmakela9380]

Correct, vinland, Leif Eriksen. East coast of amerika, greenland and (the 3rd); the West Coast of nowadays Finland. ( twice in here; the map of Rome imperium,Tacitus?) the word ”vin” in ancient norwegian: green or grass

[@jinnymay3371]

Canada means village… in Huron I think

[@JanneRanta]

Native finn here. Tons of new info for me. Very interesting.

[@IrishinFinland]

😎🤟🏻

[@janikarkkainen3904]

I always thought "Suomi" has the same meaning as the verb "suomia", which means to whip, punish, berate. As in we've been all been sent here to be punished. :D Edit: And yeah, a joke. Though I still find it a funny theory :D EDIT2: Actually, Suomi would be an imperative form of suomia, which would basically mean that we aren't thrown here to be punished, but we are to punish others, or at least commanded to do so. o_O

[@IrishinFinland]

Hahahaha I didn't know that!

[@Brendan7838]

Great video as always

[@TheArseen]

0:46 mare SUEBIcum = Rootword or Suomi or Sweden, or both? Aestii = Eesti (Estonian for Estonia, also alternate for said country in Finnish).

[@iivaridark6850]

The red arrow actually points at 4:20 the absolutely best part of Finland, Satakunta. 😁

[@askelaskeleelta]

The word "suomi" is also an old form of "suomu" meaning "scale" (in anatomy). Interestingly, the English word "fen" also has to do with fish anatomy; In Norwegian, "finne" means both "Finn" and "fen" (and also "find"). But all this could be mere coincidence.

[@denni7173]

Interesting. Now I've heard Suomi is the suo + maa theory, but have also heard it is an ancient Sami word. As for Finland? Anyone's guess!

[@dmitritelvanni4068]

Isn't Sami a finno-ugric relative? Hmm. I'm gonna have to double check now. Got me doubting lol.

[@gyderian9435]

Pretty sure Finland came simply from romans calling the peoples/tribes of the area Fenni and then when Sweden took over they just called it the land of the Finns, aka Finland. Earliest roman mention is from AD 98, and of Finland from the 13th century

[@Aqnde]

@@dmitritelvanni4068 The sami and finns have the same ancestors and they just diverged at some point in history. At least that was the theory a while ago. Pretty hard to tell nowadays tho since most of the indigenous forest sami people were supplanted by the reindeer herders migrating from Norway and Sweden and ethnic Finns from the south during 16th to 19th centuries. That's why the descendants of the mostly northern sami people trying to liken themselves to american indians is bs(the injustices suffered by them during 19th and 20th centuries are real tho).

[@lordkyro7242]

The suo+maa theory is considered a joke by all proper linguistics. It's not based in reality in any way.

[@jokemon9547]

@@gyderian9435 The Romans are believed to have acquired the word from the Germanic tribes living between them and the Finno-Ugric groups such as the proto-Sami/Finns, since the word "Fenni" is connected to the Proto-Germanic term derived from the word for finding/gathering implying hunter-gatherers, which the Sami were, but ancestral Finns were not by that time. It's also likely that the word meaning Finno-Ugric groups, either specific ones or as a general term, was much older than Tacitus' mention, likely going back to the Nordic Bronze Age, since that is when it's believed the proto-Sami arrived in Finland and Scandinavia and the proto-Finns were in the eastern Baltic region, but south of the gulf of Finland. Swedes didn't adopt the word from the Romans, they just inherited it from their Germanic ancestors and through the centuries it became to mean the people of southwestern Finland for Swedes unlike Norwegians, who kept calling the Sami "Finns" or variations of that. Swedes then developed the word "lapp" to mean the Sami, but it's origin is not exactly certain. Many believe it's derived form a word for a patch of cloth, meaning the Sami supposedly wore patches of clothing or animal skins, which isn't exactly true. It could also be borrowed from the old Finnish "lappea", which was a word to designate a remote place. The Finnish "lappalainen" to designate the Sami and "Lappi" to mean Lapland some believe is derived from this old word. One must also not that "lappalainen" did not originally mean the Sami, but anyone who lived in the remote wilderness away from the main areas of settlement in the south of Finland. This is why some have proposed that the Swedish "lapp" and Finnish "lappalainen" are either completely separate from each other due to different etymologies and just happen to be similar, or influenced by each other in either direction. However it would be odd for Finns to borrow the Swedish word for the Sami, since Finns independently had contacts with the Sami for a long period and encountered and assimilated them during the migrations into Finland between the 1st and 5th centuries.

[@oakstrong1]

Perhaps Southwest Finland had a large island, which became a part of the continent due to glacial rebound. So that's where the referral for Finnic people people from island refers in the old texts?

[@IrishinFinland]

Ohhhhh, yeah you're onto something there!

[@mattile71]

They did not have maps back then.So Finland was practically an island from perspective of someone coming from west by ship or boat.

[@georgezombie]

Good job, man

[@IrishinFinland]

🤟🏻

[@magnusekblad7842]

The oldest scandinavian word for people of the Sapmi population is "Finner"(pl.). The Majority of Finland is of course not part of the sapmi population, but they are visualy more similar to the sapmis than the people of southern parts of scandinavia (Swedes and Norwegians). The finnish language is related to the sapmi language and sounds to a person who know neither of the languages quit the same. The people of scandinavia just asumed that the people of Finland were sapmi people - "Finner", so they called their land "Finland"= land of the Finns.

[@kokko9507]

Finns are not visually more similar to Saamis than Swedes and Norwegians. You can freely look at Björk.

[@magnusekblad7842]

​@@kokko9507 Björk is neither finnish, swedish, norweigian or saami. Neither is a single person a sample of a population, so I can´t see your point.

[@Blackread]

I was wondering why this video was recommended to me. After I heard the Skyrim music in the background I understood.

[@IrishinFinland]

🤣 Excellent

[@beebobfennoland9486]

My last name "Fenno" connected me to your vidios. My family has been in the U.S. for at least before 1776. My only son has two girls and he is the last Fenno in my line.

[@honkeydolemite9025]

Again Finland and Ireland similarity both countries of swamps, bogs and peat.

[@alicelund147]

Interestingly is that the "original" Finland is very consistently called Egentliga Finland in Swedish and Varsinais-Suomi in Finnish. Both meaning Proper Finland. So even thou the languages are very different they agree about that.

[@Losrandir]

I believe the Swedes first called us just Östland, Itämaa, Eastland - Simple, east from Sweden, the expression did also live on for quite long later

[@terhitormanen]

In the book "Nothern Cosmology and Archaeology. A Relational View" by Vesa-Pekka Herva and Antti Lahelma (Routledge, 2020), page 76 (section "Elk-headed staffs - symbols of Stone Age clans?") the authors write: "The Latinist Tuomo Pekkanen (1983) referred to the work of the Roman historian Tacitus, who in the last passage of Germania (c. ad 98) writes about two semi-mythological peoples occupying the extreme north of Europe: What further accounts we have are fabulous: as that the Hellusians and Oxiones have the countenances and aspect of men, with the bodies and limbs of savage beasts. This, as a thing about which I have no certain information, I shall leave untouched. [Tac. Germ. 46,4 ] Even though Tacitus wisely refrains from making conclusions based on what is clearly obscure hearsay, Pekkanen wanted to go further and suggested that the passage could refer to Baltic Finnic peoples named after their respective totemic animals: Hellusians would be western Finnish elk- or deer-people, their name derived from the Greek word for deer (ellós), while the name of Oxiones would derive from an archaic Finnic word for the bear (ohto, aksi) and refer to eastern Finns. More recently, the anthropologist Matti Sarmela (1991) and the historian of religion Juha Pentikäinen (2005) have adopted and further developed these ideas in their discussions of the role of the bear in northern cosmology." I've read about this idea erlier (probably in a commentary in the Finnish translation of the Tacitus' Germania) and find it really intriguing...

[@IrishinFinland]

That's really intriguing! Definitely have to look more into that! Thank you

[@olafthebear2327]

Another possibility could be from the word "suoma", which means something granted to you, perhaps by a higher authority. Some examples: "Kesän suoma sato", which would be the harvest granted by the summer. "Loman suomia päiviä", meaning days which have been granted by a vacation. 100% just a hypothesis, but one I don't see too often online

[@toinenprofessori771]

One theory is that "Suomi" simply means "Country" and it is of Baltic origin. Country in modern Latvian is simply "zeme". The Russians have borrowed the same word; "country" or "land" in Russian is "zimlya". It has also been suggested that "zeme" was been borrowed twice in Finnish. The second time it has taken the form "Häme". Swamp (suo) is a very old suggestion for Suomi, and I think it has been abandoned for a long time ago. Another point is that we should insist that Finland should be called Suomi in all languages, because the Latin "Fenni" is a very contemptuous word. Much in the same way as some people insist that eskimos should be called inuits (alhough inuits are actually just a single group of eskimo people). 😀

[@JanneValkama]

There is an old saying in Finland; "in the beginning, there was only the fen, a hoe, and Jussi." (Alussa oli vain suo, kuokka ja Jussi.) This eludes to the beginning of Finland. The drainage of fens was coincidentally also the primary source of the first iron ore ("suomalmi" = fen ore), which began the Finnish iron age - a type of "golden age" roughly around the years 0 - 800 or so. Only by smelting swamp ore were they able to craft tools to actually mine ore with. This may also be the origin of the myths of Sampo and the master smith Ilmarinen. The Sampo has a lot of correlates to agriculture. It's a consistent source of riches, and the "roof" of the metaphorical Sampo correlates with the cycle of years, relating to the seasonal nature of agriculture. Also, the rotatory mechanism of "cranking" a sampo, milling it, correlates with a drainage technique where a screw-kind of drill raises stuff up by rotation. So in order to get arable land, one had to drain a fen, possibly by rotating a crank, and producing both arable land and iron ore in the process, enabling smiths to build more drainage cranks.

[@NotOrdinaryInGames]

My favourite theory is "swamp land", and that land became less swampy over the centuries.

[@HereticalKitsune]

Ah, etymology, eventually you just have to accept something. xD I always assumed that Suomi would just be the local term for "people" or "home", and then got used from there to describe the land and language as well (with the proper -lainen and what not of course).

[@JanneValkama]

4:15 Well I'm not sure how popular this theory is but to me it has always made the most sense in every context: Suomi = suomaa Finland = fen land. Suo = fen. A fen is a low-lying marshland rich in peat. It drains poorly because it lies so low. That characterises most parts of old Finland prior to drainage, especially around then Häme and Pohjanmaa. There are still some fens left. The important part: Suo is a type of marshland - peatland - and Finland is particularly full of peatland fens, more than almost any other country in the world. Fens have been the Finns most important source of sustenance in the past, as fens were dried for extra fertile arable land, and their peat was burned for energy. Fen is apparently "fen" also in Swedish, alongside other terms for swamp.

[@JanneValkama]

There is an old saying in Finland; "in the beginning, there was only the fen, a hoe, and Jussi." (Alussa oli vain suo, kuokka ja Jussi.) This eludes to the beginning of Finland. The drainage of fens was coincidentally also the primary source of the first iron ore ("suomalmi" = fen ore), which began the Finnish iron age - a type of "golden age" roughly around the years 0 - 800 or so. Only by smelting swamp ore were they able to craft tools to actually mine ore with. This may also be the origin of the myths of Sampo and the master smith Ilmarinen. The Sampo has a lot of correlates to agriculture. It's a consistent source of riches, and the "roof" of the metaphorical Sampo correlates with the cycle of years, relating to the seasonal nature of agriculture. Also, the rotatory mechanism of "cranking" a sampo, milling it, correlates with a drainage technique where a screw-kind of drill raises stuff up by rotation. So in order to get arable land, one had to drain a fen, _possibly_ by rotating a crank, and producing both arable land and iron ore in the process, enabling smiths to build more drainage cranks.

[@askoseppanen3779]

I have thought that Suomi name might come from the suo=swamp and mi (maybe from word "mi-nä") I live in swampy land and in our village is place called "leväluhta". I once managed to make very ugly knife (I'm knife maker) and I gave it the "leväluhta" name.

[@jarnolehtinen2269]

IDK but it's a darn Fine land.

[@MilenaAnnina]

Here are more answers and even more questions- and great material for videos: Wikipedia; Olaus Magnus Gothus. This man wrote a book of northern lifestyle about 1550. It's excellent and hilarious at the same time!

[@picklebody5943]

Interesting

[@Yemalidk]

Name Finland might have also come from swedes thinking it was a fine land Fin = fine Land = land So basically they would call it fine land because of so many lakes, forests and swamps

[@aleksipeltomaki1863]

Connect that to the DNA studies of Finnish people and it starts to make sense. Western hunter gatherers DNA is strongest in the world where ? And what did Romans wrote? Maybe the tribe was wider and bigger larger area. Times changed and areas more accessible merged to other cultures. But one place was difficult to reach and people there weren't so welcoming. So why bother. Separated tribe maintains old original language better than one interacting other tribes. And maintains DNA. It makes sense.

[@stiglarsson8405]

Oh I get so disapointed, becuse I thought that you was explaining the whole mystery. I altso stick to the Finnr, till other explanation comes. And as a swede I know that we in old time in sweden did a destinction betwen "skridfinnar" ((skiing finns) = sami people) and other finns! However, Finland was a part of sweden for several hundreds year, befor Russia tok it as a war booty! So in swedish, the most southwest region of Finland , is named "Egentliga Finland", (real or original finland) how can suport the name of a southern tip of the land? In anyway, the name Finland says, the land of the Finns, thats for sure! And to make it worse, they call Sweden, Routsi and its etymologi comes from Ros (Roslagen today) wich is an region north of Stockholm, how was those that sail, emigrated and traded there. It have the same origin as Rus, first Kiew-Rus, later Russia! There is Finmarker in sweden to, mostly in Värmland.

[@siirisammalsaari9312]

I am from finland

[@Schaumanner]

Actually many of the older theories like suomaa ("Swamp land") are now considered untenable. Copying this from wiktionary since this breakdown of the possible origin of the word is really good: "There are several hypotheses for the origin of the Proto-Finnic word, none of which are certain: - from Baltic *šāma-, via Pre-Proto-Finnic *šämä from Proto-Balto-Slavic *źemē (“ground”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰōm; the vowel correspondences being explained by reborrowing back and forth, possibly with a late Proto-Germanic borrowing. This hypothesis implies cognacy with Proto-Finnic *hämä (“Tavastia”) and Proto-Samic *sāmē (“Sami person”). - roughly: Proto-Indo-European *dʰéǵʰōm > Proto-Balto-Slavic *źemē (“ground”) → Pre-Proto-Finnic *šämä (> Proto-Finnic *hämä, Proto-Samic *sāmē) → Proto-Balto-Slavic *šāma- (or *sāma-, in view of Latvian sāms (“Finn, Öselian (inhabitant of Saaremaa)”), Latvian sāmenis (“northern wind”) and dialectal Lithuanian sómenis (“northwestern wind”), unless the Lithuanian word is a borrowing from Latvian) → (through Proto-Germanic?) Proto-Finnic *sooma.[1] - Koivulehto[2] originally proposed that Proto-Balto-Slavic *šāma- would have been borrowed through Proto-Samic. - from *ćoma, originally a word meaning "human", either borrowed from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ or from pre-Proto-Balto-Slavic *ǵʰom-yā-[3] Past theories, which are no longer considered tenable, suggested derivation from suomaa (“fen land”) or suoniemi (“fen cape”), or connection with suomu (“(fish) scale”)." Also the Fenni and it's derivatives should be considered to be the ancestors of the Sami, since the ancestors of modern Finns and Estonians weren't hunter gatherers as described in Tacitus' description. The Finnish language actually has a very old word from Proto-Uralic for copper, bronze and brass that is not borrowed from Indo-European languages. The word is vaski. This word gives evidence to ancient Finns having metallurgy, so they wouldn't be using bone arrows as described. Ancient Baltic Finns were sedentary farmers while the Sami had adapted to a hunter gatherer lifestyle. The Sami have a greater percentage of Siberian ancestry since they mixed with ancient non-Uralic arctic Siberians who migrated to northern Scandinavia from the Kola peninsula. These people were using bone arrows of Siberian origin. Also the Sami used to inhabited a much larger area of Finland seen in the ancient burial site of Levänluhta in western Finland with burials of Sami from the 5th to 8th centuries, with Finnish migration from southern Finland later displacing them.

[@polhokustaa4989]

Suomaa, Suomaalaiset, fens, swamps, marshes. I would say the most obvious take would be the correct one and it is Suomi got it's name from the landscape. If 1/3 of the land is swamps (suo) and probably even more back then. Suomaalaiset = Swamp landers...

[@helkko]

one theory is that in finish swamp is suo and there are lots of these in finland also in the middle ages Finland was thought of only distant swamp land full of peasants whit no interest and combining those 2 factors suomi is quite logical name for our country 😅

[@LEIFanevret]

My beautiful home land! Full of magical things! And both fierce fighters and hearty people! Get a finnish Friend! Is a friend for life! Criteria! Good head on the shoulders heart and soul! And honesty! Lots of humour! No mockning about here! Or youre shipped to Sweden!

[@Macovic]

From a Norse Swedish point if view almost all geographical areas described by viking and viking forefathers were called some descriptive properties followed by ”land” aiming at regions, large or small. Like Vinland (wine berries/grapes), Særkland (tunic), Greenland and so on. Fenland would fit and ar similar to Denmark, Fen vs Den which are similar (marshy). Mark however would indicate an realm instead of just som region. But there are of course Seaxland (seax knife of seaxons), Svealand, Ængland and so on. But there seem to be also (perhaps) other/newer ways of putting it, more focusing on owners /people like in Svitheon and Danmærk matter of lands there were. Maybe Fens or Finns was made up by romans trying to understand swedish ways of descriping marshy Fenland, missunderstanding it as land of Finns instead of Land of marshes. Btw Suomi and Saami seem to be somewhat similar, maybe beacuse of relationship. The Finnr meaning of hunter gatherers seem sound. Especiaöy if compared to Skifinns and Skrælings

[@classicmusic7]

Saisikos tähän Suomenkielisen tekstityksen 🦉 Terkkuja Suomesta 🇫🇮

[@dennysigfalk4886]

Suomi is from the the finnish laguage, like estonish and hungarian, ural ugric. Finnish or Finland are from the germanic languagegroup (swedish, english, german) although the first written down may be from the roman era. In viking times and runescript, Finland wasnt a own nationarea (long before nationstates, rather more togethter with vikings and settlers from nowadays sweden. Later Sweden never really occupied Finland. Finland was more like a part of the swedish empire. During the 30 years war etc many of the elitforces came from Finland but the language of the officers and the "ruling" class spoke mostly swedishspeaking. That was the rule all the way until WW2 when Mannerheim (swedish name) the finnish hero in the interwar against russia, who had swedish as his first language. Nowadays swedish in Finland have declined but in Österbotten we have communities still that have more in % swedish of the population (finnishswedish) speaking swedish than anywhere in Sweden. Also the islandarchipelago of Åland have swedish as it main language,

[@gorerippa]

Finnish is not a germanic language though and in fact comes from a totally different language group. Sweden and Swedish did very much occupy Finland, especially by the coastline hence why most Swedish speakers can still be found by the coastline.

[@RenegadeAngel]

Heard about Suo maa before and took it for granted that the name was taken from there. Thought the name "Finland" came from when the swedish king conquered this land and just commented "fin land" that would mean "nice country" 😆

[@fittushattana]

This finn got schooled in my own history by an irish :) Buíochas!

[@artsuomi]

Suo/mi (fin) = Soo/me (est) Suo (fin) = Soo (est) It works :)

[@andreasniklasson4037]

I thought the name first came from the combination of fin meaning nice and land in swedish. Basically meaning nice-land.

[@BlutoLongneck]

I was made a Finn and born as a swede, so why is the Finnish language so different. I can speak Norwegian, a Danish person understands me, but I don't understand them. Same with Iceland, but they adopt our language in a heartbeat. It seems that Finns are related to Ugrians, which also reside in Hungary and crazy enough, Catalonia. These ppl goes back over 5k years ago and integrated, but then it stops. How these languages relate? I don't know, but Finns, a.k.a Ugrians holds the oldest language in Europe. So, there should be similarities within the Finnish, Hungarian and Catalonian languages. I don't know, history is history...

[@finnishculturalchannel]

Even today blond hair and blue eyes are more common in Finland than anywhere else in the world. Finn could mean fairness. "Sami", which can also be spelled as "Saami", sounds a lot like "Suomi". Sami people were living in Finland before Finns.

[@duhni4551]

Actually they didn't. Sami people came here about 4000-5000 years ago, Finland has had permanent population for about 10-11 000 years. So, you do your math from that.

[@finnishculturalchannel]

@@duhni4551 Better to read the history of Finland. Those who inhabited the area of modern day Finland after Ice Age weren't either Sami or Finns.

[@duhni4551]

@@finnishculturalchannel Yeah, i know our history quite well, you don't seem to. Finland has been inhabited through Estonia and other Baltics mostly, later on we have had influence from Urals, which also Sami people came from. Those people were assimilated to the already existing population, this is one of the reasons why we have huge difference between our people (genetically) even though we are one of the most homogenous nations in Europe.

[@finnishculturalchannel]

@@duhni4551 Well, I don't know what history book you read, but the one I read says, that ancestors of modern day Sami people moved to Finland ca. 1500-1600 BC and ancestors of modern day Finns moved to Finland first in 1250-1000 BC and in main parts ca. 800 BC.

[@duhni4551]

@@finnishculturalchannel Yeah, you don't read history book at all it seems =D

[@SailorYuki]

Well Fin in Swedish means beautiful ergo Finland is a beautiful land.

[@erikgranered753]

Yes, so the origins might be roman, but it stuck as a suitable name for a beautiful country when Finland was part of Sweden.

[@jonswanson7766]

I'm glad I found your channel. How do Finlanders compare the time of unification with Sweden and the rule of the Russians from 1809 to the end of WWI?

[@IrishinFinland]

Welcome!

[@Sienisota]

At the start, Finns got more freedoms from Russia than they had during Swedish rule... Then Russia tried to assimilate us, resulting what we literally call "years of hatred". During Swedish rule, Finns had always been second class citizens, and couldn't get education in our own language, or hold any position of power if we spoke Finnish. At the start of Russian rule, we were left to our own devices, as long as we paid taxes to Russia. So we got to speak our own language and do our own thing. It was a system that Finns were happy with. Finns felt betrayed when Russia started acting like Sweden had, (except Russia did it all at once, when Sweden had done it over centuries, bringing Christianity etc.). After being treated like crap again, Finns had enough of being oppressed by one side or the other, and idea of a separate country was born. System where we could speak our own language and still be able to be part of the government, and make decisions that benefited us, not some distant overlords in Sweden or Russia. TLDR: Sweden oppressed us so long that we thought (some still think) it was normal. Russia started by giving us more freedom, then thought it would look good to make Finns Russians: Russians rushed attempts of Russification caused a deep rift, and Finns still view Sweden more favorably in our history.

[@jonswanson7766]

@@Sienisota thanks for the detailed response! I know that in the history books Finnish calvary were considered elite. What impressed me about Russian era was the architecture, Swedes are too cheap to build like that. 🤔

[@Aldanil]

in Tacitus' germania Fenni are the lapps/sami people. Sitones are Kvens/Finns. Sitones=Coast dwellers. Kven=Kainulainen, Kainuu=Rantamaa/Suomaa. Suomaa=Swampland. Kainulainen=Rantalainen. Rantamaa=Alava maa. Alava maa=Low land. Suomi=Low land. Kainuu=Kvenland. Kvenland=Finnland. Original norse name of Finns is Kvenir. Skridefinn meant lapps. Finn originally meant also lapps. The story how word Finn came to mean Finnish people is as follows: when roman church was interested in finland, they gave finland and its people name "Finn" because finland was far away from Rome. norse sagad are written down after year 1000 ad, and then rome had influenced skandinavia and the term "Finn" became name of Finnish people and the old name "Kven" was replaced by it. sagas have different layers. in older layers term "kven" is used. term "finn" became name of finnish people when rome had influenced skandinavia and norse had converted into catholicism. so in sagas, the word "Finn" can either mean Finnish people or the lapps/sami people depending on the context. lapps are nomadic, Finnish people are not.

[@juhanivalimaki5418]

Suomi most likely will not come from suo (swamp). In general people that time did not know how other countries were, so it would be absurd to name our country based on having more swamp than others. One theory of Finland was missing. Apparently Swedes could have called berry-picking Finland as vinland, wineland.

[@nalle475]

I think the finne means Sami people and we called their villages Finnby as late as the 16th century. Also, in moust of the viking sagas and runs finn seems to reference to Sami people. In late stone-age / early iron-age most of finland shores (see and river) inhabitant’s was vikings but in the north end of the Baltic was a much feared matriarchal people, finns/suomi/sami. These east vikings hade trade root’s down to the Black sea and Mediterranean Sea. Ruric (the founder of Rus) had finnish dna, his capital was Kyiv that was one of the greatest city’s of its time. One of his sons got the village of Moscow. So it seams that the groups was mixed early. Probably thats way we Finns have over 70 European dna. Why we seak Finnish is a mystery and debated. An other interesting source is the Sursiliana. It states that all Finnish people came up Norway and then turn south into Finland (the land of the Sami) and settled along the shores. Fishing salmon was the main incom until middle ages. You can still own water areas, that’s how important the fishing was.

[@sonergunalp4886]

Please explain who are Ireland people and Wales and Scotland and north Ireland and England? tell in which topics they can be separated

[@JoseyStranded]

Interesting.

[@vesavaisanen2402]

How about the swedish word fint? Which means fine. Fintland -> Finland -> Fine Land. This is just my own thinking. 😊

[@ilkkak3065]

The best sounding teory I have heard.

[@jkmattson]

Pretty sure this is right

[@IrishinFinland]

Yeah like someone said above this is the best sounding theory tbh!

[@lordkyro7242]

Finland, Finnmark, Finnveden, finnar, fenni, phinnoi etc. These words are much older than modern day Swedish language...

[@moonliteX]

any history of settlings before 1300-1500 before all the castles etc? or was that all sami people?

[@jokemon9547]

Settlings meaning what? People living in permanent communities or people migrating and settling the interior wilderness and further north from the south?

[@IrishinFinland]

Looking into that for a future video!

[@davestrasburg408]

Very interesting, with many fascinating conjectures, many of which l have read about before. When l was a child, l always assumed that the name "Finland" was given by the Swedes, who were understandably impressed by Finland's beauty - "fin land" means "fine land"!

[@davestrasburg408]

What a wonderful series this is, Aaron! l'm a huge fan!

[@Niinsa62]

According to the Swedish historian Jonathan Lindström, the word Finn is what the Swedish called the people further north. The Swedish word Finn is basically the same as the English word Find. Meaning people who found things, as in being hunter-gatherers, instead of farmers. The Swedish bought furs from them, and knew they were very good at finding furs. So Finland was the land of the hunter-gatherers. I believe that theory more than the "Fin is Latin for End" theory.

[@thisismylife-i5t]

I think it is suomaa, Fen. At least i would like to think so. We do love suo, fen. It is so pretty. You also have to understand, that finns think we are not directly the same nations as estonians and obviously not slaavians. In fackt, we are totally different as DNA is conserned, only the language is related. And that’s because of Agricola. Without him Finnish language probably would be no more, or would sound very different. The language is slowly dieing, unfortunately.

[@markopelaa]

There must be a reason why we still exist.. somekind of happy merchant antidote maybe.

[@markopelaa]

Im sure that only observations about us is through trading. dont shit where you sleep or something :)

[@madsbuhris]

But why is Finn so popular name in Ireland?

[@IrishinFinland]

That's my next topic actually!

[@Karpalet]

Well, what we do know are; -Finna is an old english word describing Scandinavia. -In swedish language finlonti or finlandi are both from at least 12th century when Finland was only the South-western part of the modern finland. - Finnish language and Saame language has separated from each other propably around 3000bc, and they do come from the same language tree as estonian and karelian languages. - The words Suomi and Saame (Sami) might derive from a baltic word źemē which means a land or territory - Latin word Fen means a bog, swamp, mud. Finland as a land has changed a lot after ice age and is constantly changing. Even 2000 years ago the land looked different, and from 2000 years from now it will look different as the bay of Bothnia (Perämeri) will get smaller and smaller. So here might have been a lot of more swamps as there are today. - old Norse was Finnland old english Finna land which ment literally 'the land of Sami (people)'. Saamenmaa (in finnish) is the area called where the Sami's live now in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. - the old norse word Finnr meant hunter-gatherer, old english Finnas meant the Sami (people). So a lot of Finn type of word means something related to a Scandi or a Sami - the fenno-ugric people of Lapland.

[@QuinlanPower]

Waited this but still wonder..

[@businessgoosep936]

You’ve been studying the algorithm haven’t you

[@IrishinFinland]

Pink panther music starts playing......

[@modassalvis]

I'm Lithuanian who Lived half my life In Ireland and just moved to Finland to live with my girlfriend and I am much more confused of why do English speaking people call Finland - Finland rather than Suami since In Lithuanian we call Finland - Suamija. It seems just one of the weird things in English where rest of the world calls Pineapple - Ananas and English speaking people call it Pineapple.

[@JamesAsp]

Because English speaking people call it in their own old germanic language "Fen = swamp" and the inhabitants call it in their own language "Suo = swamp". Many linguistics disagree with this but this is the common folklore.

[@potatofuryy]

It's called Finland pretty much everywhere except in Finland and the baltics

[@kr1nson]

In estonia we call it Soome. Soo meaning swamp

[@flyfin108]

mitisimmi sounds bit like "metsä"

[@IrishinFinland]

It very much does.....

[@henrifin]

There is a very interesting theory that I came across few months ago, which coincidentally has ties with Ireland! Wikipedia: ”Fionn, Irish - Scottish Gaelic - is a masculine given name in Irish and Scottish Gaelic. It is derived from a byname meaning ”white” or ”fair-haired”. It is the modern variant of Old and Middle Irish: Find and Finn.” When that is tied to various things, such as old names and places (Valkeapää, Hvitkop) and to believed reliance to magic/shamanism ("finn" has historical reliance to "weyd" for knowledge and vision(?) to know and to see". Valkeapää translates to white-headed which could mean white hair but also a fire that is put up on a high ground to signal to distance. Maybe more literally a head that knows. It's a super long text that I'm trying to summarize, but the point is that Finns are a Nordic people with fair, white hair, and with shamanistic knowledge and wisdom. I have no idea if there is any truth to it, but it was super exiting read! You'll find it here (in Finnish): puheenvuoro.uusisuomi.fi/timokohvakka/suomi-ja-finland-nimien-alkupera/

[@henrifin]

Fionn could refer to all Nordic people, looking from central Europe, more specifically Sami people. White hair is a Nordic/Scandinavian thing, and Sami has has their very own traditions also with shamanism (to know, to see). Sami would explain the origins of Suomi, however here I don't have facts checked and it could be just that they sound similar but aren't connected.

[@IrishinFinland]

Thank you for this comment! You'll be gald to know I plan on releasing a video about this certain subject! You will see it in the new year 🤟🏻😎