Why Is Suomi Called Finland In English?

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Twitter: / nameexplainyt
This video was so heavily requested I couldn't not make it. Annoyingly there just isn't a definitive answer for this question. It was a really double ended sword making this as so many people wanted it but I just don't think there's enough content for it. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed!
SOURCES & FURTHER READING
Baltic Rune Stones: en.wikipedia.o...
The Finnic Ethnonyms: www.sgr.fi/ct/c...
"Village Consort"
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
creativecommons...

[@benjamincederberg818]

in Swedish "fin" means Beautiful (ish) so ill just go with "beautiful land" ;)

[@tibiademon9157]

But that's a modern addition to the language that comes from French

[@montanus777]

+Fabrizio Illuminati are you sure it hasn't the same roots as the english 'fine' or german 'fein' and therefore is germanic?

[@tibiademon9157]

+montanus777 those are not germanic, they're from the same french source

[@montanus777]

oh yeah, you're right. but it's nonetheless quite old (15th century at least for the german word).

[@stanforgamethefirst2513]

Benjic That's cute, haha.

[@der_Alptraum]

Next episode: Why Turkey is called Turkey and what does that do with the animal?

[@DZR3WIND]

Because the Turkic people live there? lol

[@hughmortyproductions8562]

As already noted, Turkey is called Turkey because it is were the Turks live. The birds are named after the country, although we are not entirely sure why. One possibility is that when Europeans first discovered them they incorrectly thought that they were guineafowl, which are found in Turkey. Another possibility is that turkeys were first imported into Europe via Turkey and the Middle East. Either way, the birds became known as "Turkey fowl" or "Turkey birds", which was then shortened to just "turkey".

[@kofteburger]

Fun fact the Turkish word for turkey is hindi

[@alwinpriven2400]

In Russian, the word for turkey (bird) is similar to the word for India. India=India Turkey=Indyushka (in Russian they do sound similar, Indyushka sounds like the nickname for someone named India) And in Hebrew, turkey (bird) literally translates to "India chicken"

[@Pining_for_the_fjords]

I was Hungary so I was Russian to the kitchen to Czech what was there, but all I found was a Swede and a Turkey in a China bowl covered in Greece. I said to myself there's Norway I can eat that.

[@JasmineJu]

I call it Funland. The homeland of Spurdo Spärde

[@fruit5003]

Homeland of pedobear and lenny face

[@ajkorras]

dolan

[@legomanvantaa]

Lopeta...

[@escape093]

:DDDDD

[@Worldwar1Airsoft]

:DDDDDDDDD

[@Liwii123]

OON ODOTTANUT KOLME TUNTIA TORILLA MUTTA KETÄÄN EI NÄY VAIKKA KOMMENTTEJA NÄKYY nyt kun kirjoitan tätä niin ajattelin onkohan tämä oikea tori

[@margareeta1369]

OfficialHD fucking u got me so good prkl

[@KinbynTrapstar]

Verkkovirhe Helsinki on se

[@9NineVolt]

Hmm

[@HonnePerkele]

Vitun Cringe

[@finlandball735]

Ok

[@MikaelLevoniemi]

And Germany is Saksa in finnish. For the Saxony part probably? That might go back a millennia or more.

[@miikkasaxlund931]

Mikael Levoniemi Yes, and sakset ( scissors ) came from the weapon the saxons used ( Seax sword )

[@Idk_Yara98]

Mikael Levoniemi apparently Netherlands is Alankomaat in Finnish lol

[@Porsas52]

idkyara _ Yeah it is

[@cuffzter]

And then we have the neighbors, Sweden. All countrys call sweden a variation of the Sve- or Swe-, except Finland. Who call it Routsi..

[@romaliop]

idkyara_ That's just a literal translation of Netherlands though.

[@MrTokesu]

Suomi in finland is ofthen said to come from the Finnish word for swamp suo :P nice video!

[@Venomousse]

That's a largely discredited hypothesis these days.

[@MrTokesu]

Lorvi oh ok I didn't know that that's what I was told in school here in Finland...

[@julkkis666]

source plox

[@MrTokesu]

julkkis666 from me or from him?

[@julkkis666]

^the other dud.

[@DerClouder]

The name Suomi has a word "suo" meaning "swamp" in it. And i think the original word for swamp was "suomi" but it got shortened to "suo" over time. Also in finnish folklore, swamps were holy places(but then again so were forests, lakes, hills, sky and all of nature itself).

[@Armi1P]

And now Magyarország=Hungary please

[@Varjaagi]

"Ország" means "land" and "Magyar" is the Hungarian word for "Hungarian", which if I recall correctly was the name of one of the original Hungarian tribes or something of that sort.

[@JayTemple]

AIUI, the question to ask is not where Magyar comes from but where Hungary comes from. Short, probably oversimplified answer: It's from when the Huns conquered it.

[@itsjustanapple5452]

Armand Klein someone gets hungry and bougth own country

[@bumpycat3698]

The hungarians called themself "magyars",but when "Honfoglalás" happened they got recognised by West of Europe.They got the name,because they came from the East(Just like the huns) and they used the same army tactics.Basicly middle-ages historians did a bad job.

[@Scillamar]

The Magyars were a steppe people that migrated to (and plundered a lot of) Western Europe, eventually they were beaten back into what we now call Hungary. They were a people ethnically & culturally related to the Huns, which is where they got the name from.

[@Horzuhammer]

The "fen" -> marsh/swamp one would make a lot of sense to me since "suo" means the same in Finnish language, and "mi" is really close to the word "maa" meaning land. I'm just guessing here but it would kinda make sense.

[@sarahgray430]

The name "Finland" comes from "Fennae", a name given by Tacitus to a people who lived far to the north of the Germanic tribes that he described in his work "Germania", and whom he described as being "exceedingly fierce" and praised for their skill at archery, and he said that their arrows were tipped with bone rather than iron. The Vikings also mentioned the Finns in their sagas, and generally characterized them as ferocious and cunning and skilled at sorcery. Traditionally, the Suomi and Saami are two separate but related people....the Suomi are farmers, fishermen and craftsmen whereas the Saami generally inhabit the most northerly part of Finland (and neighboring countries) and are pastoral nomads.

[@Alexandros.Mograine]

this is a theory among others, dont forget the sagas were written way after the viking age ended.

[@herramirtsaaja9032]

The saami used to also be fishers and farmers as they inhabited also more central parts of finland. Even very recently just few hundreds of years ago there were still living saami in central and eastern finland

[@mr.hoovy6948]

i tough that most americans doesent know finland, because we are (small) country and not that special. and im really shocked that someone other than swedish or finnish made video about us.

[@NameExplain]

+Mr_Hoovy 69 I can't speak for Americans as I'm English but we know about you guys and your awesome country!

[@mr.hoovy6948]

:-)

[@FilmakerGamerJonttu]

finland is actually quite large country. It takes as much kilometers from our south coast to northern boarder like driving from Monaco to Hamburg, and is a little bigger than UK. We just have a ridiculusly small population that makes us feel very small.

[@tosgem]

You can tell from his accent he is from England, not America ;-) Lots of us know of Finland if we follow Formula 1 ;-)

[@koppirecords]

Mr_Hoovy 69 hahahahaha... haista vittu kaikki mejjät tuntee...

[@saddamhussein3849]

I always thought that Suomi was just some word that Finns scream out randomly.

[@holoholopainen1627]

Thaks ! Did You know that at Tallinn - They named their Harbour - to SADAM ?

[@Pelichus]

Well, we do just yell it out loud sometimes.

[@suited_person]

SUOMIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@zjoberg]

OH! You should know - the name for Sweden is RUOTSI - just as a scream!

[@Fortzon]

Another theory for the name "Suomi" is that it comes from the words Suo (Swamp) and maa (land). Suomi, Suomaa. So maybe Finland and Suomi aren't such different names after all :D

[@RealGairos]

that would explain why finnish is called suomalainen and not suomilainen. suomaalainen = swamplander Not sure why we would willingly call ourselves swamplanders :/

[@zephyrgames249]

That is pretty much completely disputed by people who actually study etymology. Where the fuck does the word "suo" come from then? And "maa" to "mi" makes no sense. They're nowhere near the same in Finnish. Both start with M that's all.

[@eemelijaaskelainen4437]

Suomi mainittu, torilla tavataan

[@peppi3967]

Best Anime Hero jaa en oo ainoo suomalainen täällä kommenteissa 😂

[@miloxx_x701]

En näköjään mäkään

[@RuruFIN]

Perkele!

[@tyynymyy7770]

Suoli avattu, kohta kakataan

[@chuba_]

@@tyynymyy7770 Mites toi liitty mihinkään millään tavalla :DDDD

[@wheresmypretzel579]

As a Finnish person, this was actually pretty educational!

[@mcgoldenblade4765]

"Finrando" sounds funny to me. It sounds like a Japanese person trying to say "Finland".

[@Nilguiri]

That's exactly what it is.

[@jankansi5679]

They're also one of the few countries to call Germany a variant of Deutschland: Doitsu.

[@yelsavidaravskaja905]

Merkky Aren't you special?

[@RexusprimeIX]

I think Finrandu sounds more japanese than with "do" in the end

[@shaz_1466]

Funfact: Japanese has no "du" sound.

[@NameExplain]

Random question of the video: Who's going to win the Royal Rumble? I'm think either Undertaker, Braun Stroman, or a returning Finn Balor.

[@alowais32]

Name Explain Finn balor

[@LB_1050]

Name Explain The Undertaker just to build storyline

[@NameExplain]

Abdulla Alowais I feel if Finn wins Owens has to retain but I can't see that happening with Roman and how much Vince loves him

[@NameExplain]

Mr A.P. Would love Taker to win but apparently Big Match John vs Taker isn't on the card anymore

[@scottmialltablet]

Even though the name is clearly Irish (to someone who hasn't watched wrestling since just after Kane took off the mask, and has played quite a few games that borrosteal from Irish mythology), I'm going to say "Finn Balor" on behalf of the video about Finland. Wrestlemania will be Finn's Land!

[@ElizaMogha]

You could also do why Greece is widely called as such, but in Greek we call it "Hellas" and that's what it says on our passports. Then, in Arabic and other Eastern languages, it's called "Younan" and that derives from a particular group of ancient Greeks who were residing in Ionia (now part of modern Turkey) and were greatly influential in antiquity.

[@rencanajahad]

Ellie Meli think about that too, in my place we call Greece "yunani" u na nee

[@jarahfluxman20]

It's interesting that it's called that in Arabic. When Alexander the Great conquered Israel, the Hebrews referred to the Greek conquerors as Yevanim.

[@Vondracar]

Greece is called Hellas in Norwegian :)

[@spineshivers]

I think for Greece it's a different situation. Greece is just a colloquial name. Most countries have a different official name for it. For example, in my language we say Grecia, but the official name is Republica Elenă (Hellenic Republic, so the same situation in English)

[@ElizaMogha]

spineshivers no, it's not a colloquial name for it. Graekoe is the name of one particular Greek tribe that used to reside in the area called Epirus, in the north west of Greece. Ancient Italian tribes got to interact with this Greek tribe and referred to them as Greeks. Then, they generalised the term for all the tribes inhabiting this country, which then they called Greece. The Iones were another Greek tribe in the north east of Greece. Persians and other people interacted with them, so they got to refer to the people of that land as Ionan - - > Unan. Helloe or Selloe (pronounced Hellee/Sellee) was yet another tribe residing a region in central Greece. People used this term for all the the tribes of the country, calling them Panhellenes, shortened to Hellenes and the country Hellas.

[@Talon323]

as a finnish person, i can tell you that suo is a swamp, and we have alot of them, so the land is named suo-mi. tahats what they teach in gradeschools anyway.

[@Sabotai2]

Swamps are also our primary defence against the enemies invading from the east.

[@someguyfromfinland4239]

Mistäköhän vitusta se "mi" kohta tulee.

[@someguyfromfinland4239]

Saxfire i think actually the lakes are the primary defences, because finland has like 10 000 lakes

[@VeVaske]

Mieti miten sana suomAlainen taipuu suomilaisen sijaan, niin onhan tuossa ihan perääkin. Lisäksi viroksi soo = suo , soomi=suomi. Jääkauden jälkeen SUOmi on ollut yhtä SUOta , loogista siis olisi vielä olettaa että maa joka asutettiin, nimettiin ominaisuuksiensa mukaan.

[@daandanx]

Jep

[@81Mendel]

I would go with that "Fen"land theory. I had no idea fen means a swamp. Not sure if you knew this but "Suo" also means a swamp in Finnish. And there are a LOT of swamps here. edit: ah going through the comments it seems I was slow and it has been mentioned already.

[@thomas-wr1fj]

Aye you mentioned Lithuania nice

[@Bhaalspawn84]

Heh i wondered the same thing. I've come to accept my country as Swampland. Suo = Swamp Fin (swedish) = Swamp Fen (english) = Swamp , so Finland's english name should be Fenland. Suoni = "My swamp" or "Vein". Suomi = ? probably some old form of the word swamp.

[@Rynewulf]

Funnily enough I come from a county in England (Norfolk) which borders an area called 'The Fens' or 'The Fenlands', which is great deal of northern Cambridgeshire

[@Bhaalspawn84]

Literally Swamp-Land would be Suo-Maa. Finnish person = Suomalainen Swamplandian person = Suomaalainen :)

[@AholeAtheist]

In the Netherlands surnames such as Veen, Van Veen, Van Der Veen or Venema are all related, and refer to people who live in low land marshy, or peat bog areas.

[@dr.catherineelizabethhalse1820]

Bhaalspawn84 It seems logical suomi comes from "suo" meaning swamp but those who've have studies the subject have come to the conclusion this propably isn't the origin of the name. Go figure...

[@finmetalwarrior]

Well, people who have studied the subject have come to the conclusion that it's actually a loaned words from the baltics (zeme) which has changed over time. So it's meaning would be like "land/earth/our land" Finland however simply means "Land of the Finns". For example in German it's still "Finnland". Even the Roman historian Tacitus (55-120 AD) makes a mention of a people called the "Fenns" living north of germania.

[@Frahamen]

It's called "Finland" by more than 5% of the locals...

[@RealGairos]

'more than 5% of the locals' are either swedish speaking or (illegal) immigrants......

[@Frahamen]

I was refering to the swedish people of course. My point is "Finland" is also the official name in Finland/Suomi.

[@RealGairos]

Where did you find that? I tried searching but didn't find anything about Finland's official name

[@Frahamen]

en.m.wikipedia.org

[@RealGairos]

that doesn't say anything about the official name :/

[@lvzane]

The way you pronounced "zeme" :) It's been a while since last time I heard someone saying something in Latvian on KZbin, just made me smile :D The word "somu valoda" (finnish language) is written and spelled the same as the word "soma" (bag) in accusative and in instrumental case (what do I see? - somu, with what?- ar somu) which made me giggle when I was little, because some smartass can name it as a "bag language". Idk why latvians where so wittily back then.

[@arttukettunen5757]

As a finnish person my headcanon for this question is that the company Finlayson operated in Finland in the 19th century before it gained its independence, and some brits or americans jokingly named the area in english after the "Fin" part, thus the name Finland was born and basically every other language followed suit. And maybe it's about the fish in the many lakes having fins.. (but wouldn't the name be more fitting for a pacific nation then?)

[@Sharnoy1]

I know people already brought this up in their comments, but here it is once more: Suo means swamp and Maa means land in finnish, so Suomaa (Suomi) = Swampland. The originally Swedish version Finnland is actually nicer, because Fin means fine or good or elegant in swedish and Land is... land. So Finland = Fineland :) During the Swedish reign they indeed called the area in south-western Finland the Finland province (as shown in the video) and the wider area roughly today known as Finland was known as Österland = Eastern land, as Finland is located east of Sweden. And yes... Suomi perkele.

[@hallfrir3716]

THE MOST HEAVY METAL COUNTRY IN THE WORLD

[@man-xz3dg]

yeah the most heavy metal bands but i know only a few people who like that kind of music not popular here

[@hallfrir3716]

RRRene3 yeah, unfortunately, once pop music began spreading nothing else can stop it

[@homerisLT]

We lithuanians and finns have alot in comon. We both have no idea were our lands name in our native tongue came from. Lithuania is pretty similar too (Lietuva) so I gues you suomi have it harder :D

[@Chokwik]

my guess is your country name might be related to the word "liete", idk correct translation, maybe: silt, sludge or slurry... meaning fertile growing ground :)

[@copah4537]

In Finland we call Lithuania (Liettua) as for yall call Finland pretty similar to how we say it as well

[@moisuomi]

Yeah Finns and Balts are pretty similar in many ways you would not expect.

[@Northflowo]

Some Finnish words that come close to the word Suomi: Suo = swamp (we have lots of those) Suoni = vein/my swamp Minä = me (This word could have been something like "mi" in the past) So for me it seems that Suomi could mean something like "my swamp" What a wonderful name

[@magnusengeseth5060]

While the etymology is unclear, the reason that everyone but Finland itself calls it Finland is pretty simple - that's what the Swedes called it. And since Sweden controlled Finland for most of its history, no one bothered to ask the inhabitants of the eastern part of the kingdom if they had another name for the province they lived in. So when Finland became a country after the Russian revolution, people had already been calling the former Swedish/Russian province "Finland" for hundreds of years, so why change now?

[@magnusengeseth5060]

Imagine if Wales suddenly became independent. How many countries do you think would bother to start calling this new country Cymru right away? My guess is it would require a substantial push by the Welsh themselves if they wanted the name changed internationally. And just like with Finland, a substantial part of the population of both countries use the language of their former conquerors as their mother tongue these days, so it's not like a name change would even automatically please everybody in said country.

[@moosepocalypse6500]

There's also a not-insignificant portion of the Finnish population who speak Swedish, and call it Finland and pretty much always have. We are recognised by the government as having protections for our distinct but still Finnish culture. I wouldn't say I'm speaking Swedish only as the language of former conquerors as I'm also ethnically Swedish (and Scottish) but we're also culturally distinct from Sweden. So our government wouldn't push for other countries to start calling us Suomi in all languages. Here it's usually written as SUOMI - FINLAND anyway even in our pre-Euro money (and the edges of some of our Euro coins), stamps, and maps and such. The Finland there is because of Swedish not English. So, maybe I have a biased opinion, but no reason to change that.

[@eerolehtonen7318]

Perkele

[@DHJVCGB]

Do a video about Greece, which is called Hellas by Greeks

[@ElizaMogha]

Tasos Papanikolaou το ίδιο είπα κι εγώ!

[@duck8624]

Tasos Papanikolaou if you are from greece and dont know who is giannis antetokounmpo then you aint no greek

[@xXxBladeStormxXx]

Doesn't matter, you guys should now worry about it soon being called Germanys-bitch-land, or debt-land.

[@MyLittleMagneton]

"Finrando", is literally just the Japanese way of saying the Swedish word "Finland", it's not a derived word in its own right.

[@Idk_Yara98]

Well more languages call it ‘Finland’, like Dutch, Danish, Norwegian and English

[@ketchup901]

I'm pretty sure Finrando comes from the English word Finland but yeah

[@Aurinkohirvi]

Of course most languages take the name from English. Only some neighboring peoples had their own name for Finns and Finland before the English name spread around the world.

[@Lahbreca]

+Name Explain Thank you for the vid. As a Finn there was still some information on it that was new to me. Funnily enough, there is a suggested etymology for "Suomi" suggesting it comes from "suo" + "maa", which is "swamp" + "land". So we have a similar proposed etymology for both terms. Personally, I think this etymology might be an instance of false etymology - explanations like this are more comfortable that just "We don't know", and more intuitive than the proposed "zeme" origin, for example. * The conclusion, ultimately, seems to be that we simply cannot tell for sure. That is the case with quite a many Finnish etymologies, as it is a language that took written from relatively late, so there is relatively little historical written evidence for the language when compared to English, for example. * I have bumped into your videos now and then, but noticed that I am not yet subbed, which I did.

[@ericBorja520]

I appreciate this video for its honesty (i.e. not answering the main question because of lack of reliable information) as well as being quite informative. Sadly, there are just some etymologies which have been totally lost to history.

[@UltimateTheZekrom]

I might sound weird but the name Suomi just sounds so adorable! :D

[@itsYakuza]

E B I N :DDDDDDDD

[@eerolehtonen7318]

Perkele

[@ideatician4280]

Edistyksellistä

[@assukka]

Absolute AIDS. I love it.

[@tuomasjaskari]

Ebinnn

[@Perkele_Itse]

Suomalaista korkeakulttuuria!

[@sotijas]

fun fact: the word "finni" means "zit" in finnish, so we never ever call ourselves that

[@etherealis1943]

That good feeling when you find great , interesting channel :) Earned a new subscriber

[@brigge7830]

In Tacitus work,Germania,a book dating from the first century AD,he mentions a tribe in far north germania called finns ,he also mentions multiple tribes that live close to the germans but are not germans themselves,probably the name in English comes from latin,j ust like most other european languages,and in fiinnish I do believe it means something like swampland.

[@leevilindholm4081]

I've heard a hypothesis that when the earth was considered to be flat, Finland was 'on the edge of the world' from European point of view and, thus, the word 'Fin' comes from Latin meaning 'End'. a.k.a 'Land of the end of the world' = Finland

[@ianbaram3043]

Except people have known that the world was round since long before Latin developed as a language.

[@worsethenjacksfilms2372]

Or, it doesn't exist, and the Finnish are really from Sweden or Norway en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland_does_not_exist And yes this is a joke, don't get your missing Nordic countries in a twist.

[@someguyfromfinland4239]

Worse then Jacksfilms finland was populated by the ancestors norweigians and swedish from the north west and from the south east, finland was populated by the ancestors of russians Then somewhere around the 12th century, sweden took over finland, and finland remained a fixed part of sweden until 1809 when russia took over finland, but gave it autonomy. Then in 1917 finland gained independence

[@OrdinaryStory01]

in Estonian (a somewhat related language), they say Soome for Finland which isn't too far off from Suomi ;)

[@lezimo5407]

in Latvia we say Somija prononunced as suomija basically suomi, but with ija that almost every country has at the end of the name ;)

[@okaro6595]

It is the original version. In Finnish the diphthongs were introduced around the year 1300. Similarly suo is soo in Estonian. Other examples: language kieli - keel, Sweden: Ruotsi - Rootsi.

[@kenllacer]

Nokia shall rise again!

[@TheNecous]

Perhaps it should first learn not to deal with assholes from Redmond.

[@i_undulate]

I'm finnish and I've been taught that the word Suomi comes from 'suo' and 'maa', which translates to 'fen' and 'land' in english, making it 'suomaa --> suomi' and 'fenland --> finland'. And the 'fen' is because here in Finland we have lots of fens, or more commonly swamps :D

[@Evan102030]

Look up the Dutch word "Ven" which means an undeep lake, or marshy area and is pronounced very much like "Finn". It could easily be linked.

[@poppe191]

My theory: Some drunk finnish dude just came up with the name and it stuck

[@Rumpaine]

The way you pronounce "zeme" is so funny... and phonetically with the proper pronunciation has no similarities with the word suomi! I think the name actually comes from the nation that resides there. In latvian we say that somugru people immigrated in Finland from Ural mountains, other nations part of that "somugru" group are the ancestors of sami, estonians, karelian and livi and are part of comb-hole culture. So I think in order to understand where the name comes from you could maybe try to investigate more of the languages of that comb-hole culture. If I remember correctly Romans are the first to identify people around the baltic sea so maybe that has something to do with that too...... English is not my first language so ignore any misspelling.

[@finnicpatriot6399]

Just saying, somugru is finno-ugric in English. And zeme is actually the likeliest choice, since the ź is pronounced like zh. When looking at finnic languages (estonian and finnish) and their loans from baltic, there is a common trend of zh sounds transforming to an s sound, because zh does not exist as a sound in modern finnic anymore. Then we'd have Seme, and since vocal shifts are also pretty common, we'd get to Suome and Soome (the estonian and ingrian names for finland).

[@JaegerMatthias]

"High German" I lol'd

[@finnsalsa9304]

Oh my, oh my, oh my! Thank you so much for making this video!! :D

[@oggeman1606]

I'm swedish and i thought you were gonna screw up when you explained why Finland's name is Finland. Props to you for doing your research mate

[@Taskuvesku]

Suomi comes from word "suo". That means swamp, because there is lots of swamp areas. I'm from finland and this was good video. :)

[@jaskajokunen3716]

Wezzz What about the mi part?

[@eldakka2163]

No

[@user-ib3dj1he5x]

Jaska Jokunen midgets

[@jaskajokunen3716]

S midget swamps

[@tyynymyy7770]

"Suomi" most likely comes from word "sheme" meaning land. Saami (Sami people), häme (area in Finland) and zemlja (a land in Russian) share the same origins. That's the most popular and least controversial explanation between scholars, but of course it's impossible to know for certain and there are many alternative theories - including the "suomaa" one.

[@dodge698]

Finland comes from the Swedish words Fin and Land which stands for fine land (the Swedes considered the soil of Finland as being good for farming) I'm Finland-Swedish with roots in southern Sweden and Denmark

[@holoholopainen1627]

I was just about to write the same ! Did this Dude know any Svenska ?

[@hirvi2341]

Google translator version. text is from wikipedia Finnish etymology of the word is uncertain. It appears to have been originally the environment Gulf of Finland and, subsequently, mainly in Southwest Finnish for nominations and only later expanded to refer to the whole country. The word is used for Pähkinäsaari contract by Somewesiosana, by which it is meant vyborg end of the bay, which in Finnish name even is Suomenvedenpohja. The earliest explanations word is explained bog taisuomun derivatives, but more recent interpretations that it is a loan word. The loan as a possible source of kantabaltin countries have shown (in the sense "region", "region", "power circuitry") word for ZEME, which also names Häme and Saame were derived. Another explanation is that the word was borrowed from the Indo-European word for people (meaning 'people', 'nation'), in which case it would be the same root as the Latin, for example, homo, man.

[@Varjaagi]

Wouldn't hurt if you made a video about the basics of linguistics and etymological research. Most of these comments are pretty clueless :P

[@deldarel]

so, holland next? The whole worlds but Holland and Germany call it Holland

[@klorin2846]

What do you mean?

[@AholeAtheist]

Umm, no. Not the whole world. And even some in the Nederlands and Deutschland call it Holland as a shorthand sometimes.

[@fengkorberfer]

When I was in Amsterdam, a Dutchman adamantly said its real name is the Netherlands.

[@Artorus]

The land of nethers? The nether region? Yep, sounds like a good topic!

[@ronaldderooij1774]

The Netherlands, Dutch, Holland, really weird. And the only country where the government is NOT in the capital. I know why all the different names exist, but it is a long, long story. Long video needed. Quite complicated.

[@Luksa175]

One theory i have heard: Suomi: Suo-mi. "Suo" means swamp in Finnish, and Finland has always been a country with one of the most swamps in the world. "Mi" may mean something like "my" or "our". So according to this theory, the translation of "Suomi" would be "My swamp" :D

[@rapto6664]

MrLuksa [SHREK DETECTED]

[@haamis_rok]

Suomaa-lainen --> suomalainen ? Suomaa.

[@Vipanen03]

So basically Finland is the Shrek land

[@minttus5207]

Nebby in the bag finland is not a shrek land

[@Vipanen03]

Minttu Salmela I know I live there it was just a bad joke lol

[@Juutube989]

Suo= swamp in finnish Maa= land in finnish Finland is Suomaa in Sápmi language.

[@Pyovali]

+For land In which Sami language? You know Sami is a language branch, not one language

[@Perkele_Itse]

As a Finn, this was really interesting :D Never thought about it.

[@Vilqq17]

Well, as a Finn studying some language history, I can say many origins of the words are unknown and so is the origin of 'Suomi' thou 'suo' means "marsh"... but hey, nicely done Name Explain!

[@sentinslerba4617]

Fin=nice/fine/handsome/excellent/elegand/superior/smart/grand translated from Swedish Land=land translated from Swedish.

[@DarkBrawlerLink]

I LOVE your representation of Old High German (1:39)

[@Keskitalo1]

Oh now I get it, once you pointed it out. Maybe if red eyes would've added, I would've gotten it better.

[@nbksrbija1039]

2:01 The Proto-Slavic word for dirt/soil is zemja

[@LassiUusitalo]

A Finn here. One theory I have heard is that Suomi originates from the word "suomaa": suo=swamp, maa=land -> suomaa = land of swamps. Before 1800's when agriculture became more common place in Finland there used to be a lot of swamps across the land area we nowadays know as Finland. One thing that supports this theory is that the Finnish word for "Finn" is "suomalainen" which could be argued to originate from "suomaalainen" = "someone from the land of swamps". I am not an expert on this issue but as a layman I find this theory to be plausible.

[@TMiK21]

it means a lot that people really make videos about our country

[@Trigathus]

Is it actually called Finrando in Japanese, lol

[@Aivottaja]

I heard that the letters used to form "Finrando"/Finland mean "land of a scent of orchid". Any truth to this?

[@samufinland5765]

Aivottaja Well we have no ostriches here in Finland

[@saikou1490]

@Aivottaja short answer: no the letters used to form "finrando" is in katakana so it has absolutely no meaning at all! japanese has 4 writing systems..katakana is used to spell foreign words without having to use the latin alphabet and kanji is the characters that each have its own meaning. native japanese words don't have the "fi" sound so it won't have a meaning no matter how it's spelled in japanese. it's impossible to spell it in kanji as no kanji has the "fi" sound..

[@Aivottaja]

www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-country-names/ So, there's not a single kanji word with the "fi" sound? One couldn't cheat by using the one in "Philippines", for example?

[@saikou1490]

Aivottaja philippines is written in katakana, not kanji, since its not a native japanese word. like i said, native japanese words dont have the fi sound.

[@Benderkekekekekeke]

suomi is past tense of suomia which means whip, lash, scold or slam

[@pauljmorton]

The Finnish word for zip/pimple is "finni". :P

[@SyndicateBrink]

Same in Swedish, were it is spelled "Finne" and pronounced "Finn-ae". Finne/Finnar or Pinple/Pimples is also the way most people refers to people from Finland. It is completely accidental in it's origin but it is what it isand everyone just rolls with it. A less "mean"(if it even is, I have never heard anyone complain about it ever and I have family in Finland, swedish speaking Finns, who refer to themeselves as Finnar) way to refer to someone from Finland would be Finländare/Finlander or En Finska/A Finn(feminine)

[@SyndicateBrink]

Ensiferum Fan Och? Tänk så hade jag en massa tid att spilla och bara kände att det var en kul kommentar och kände mig inspirerad till att skriva det jag skrev. Du läste hans kommentar och mitt svar och kände att du behövde svara mig trots att det var en vecka sedan jag skrev det och hade fan glömt att jag gjort det, tycker du inte att det är bortkastad tid att spendera på en kommentar i ett fält som redan är dött? Tyckte bara det var en kul kommentar, förväntade mig inte ett svar

[@pauljmorton]

Ensiferum Fan Btw I am Finnish, despite my username. ;)

[@itsmesia2469]

..... ......

[@itsmesia2469]

Why do they not answer to scandinavians....... ...... ..... ...... ......??

[@eevastiinaahonen744]

I have also thought about why Suomi is Suomi only in finnish. Thank you fir this video, it helped to solve my head a lot :D

[@holoholopainen1627]

We call Estonia Eesti - and People in Eesti call Us SOOME ! Sorry if I spoiled the Fun ?

[@eevastiinaahonen744]

@@holoholopainen1627 Not at all, thank you for telling😊

[@holoholopainen1627]

@@eevastiinaahonen744 Read The Other Comments ! The Spanish think that FIN in French - is The END ! THE ENDLAND ! This is because the winters are - too COLD for all the Great Exploreres - ala Columbus - James Cook !

[@RD-170]

Origin of the names for Finland/Suomi are both non-concrete, but the best theories include; Suomi - from the proto-baltic word ”źeme” meaning land Suomi - from the word ”suo” meaning swamp Finland - from the latin word Fenni, which came from a proto-German word ”fanþian” meaning hunters or wanderers Finland - from old high-German word ”finthan” meaning to find IMO the ”Źeme” guess is the best, since some other ancient places have proto-slavic/baltic names (Such as the city of Turku, from the word ”Turgu”, meaning marketplace

[@pyzri6220]

Missä ne tori kommentit on? :D

[@fruit5003]

vähän ylempänä

[@muhsein]

Suomi in Malay language means 'Husband'

[@fauzanutama9992]

Same in Indonesian too

[@NinjaBee81]

I just read an article (HS.fi) about how Finland has been described in historic maps. In 1532 Bavarian Jakob Ziegler wrote in his map of Nordic countries, that Finlandia (as Finland was called then) meant "fina terra" = fine land. I do remember that "Fine land" explanation from elementary school (I live in Finland).

[@djhalling]

I can't believe that you missed the opportunity to mark the end of this video with a caption reading, 'FIN'.

[@MrSharky334]

Lol "Finrando"

[@velhosnellman4323]

Torille Perkele! Tuon kaljat ja makkarat

[@san-teri3112]

Velho Snellman Mä lämmitän saunan

[@veli-pekka7010]

One interesting thing that connects to the theory of Finland as swamp land is that "suo" means swamp in Finnish. Suo-mi. (Mi doesn't mean anything). Maybe Finland is just land of the swamps?

[@PastaAivo]

So many amazing interpretations and theories, and still it just sounds like Swamp+mi to me!

[@teemulusua3725]

I live in Finland and "PERKELE minä nautin siitä!"

[@digbiggbyflackbock7472]

Yeah well Finland isn’t real anyway so it doesn’t matter.

[@torpmorp1324]

GammonGubba There’s a possibility I do not exist? :’/

[@sarahgray430]

Finland is more real than your personal life!

[@coloripple]

well finland did explode in that one south park episode...

[@axwell3466]

Exactly it is just the eastern part of sweden

[@musicman0329]

@@coloripple WHAT EPUSODE

[@mourgos1234]

The japanese word is the english one with +o in the end. They do that with all sort of english words. Do you research better next time

[@disorder1111]

So you are saying that he should have not mentioned any of the other languages either since all the names he mentioned, Finland, Finsko, Finlandia have the same origins anyway?

[@mourgos1234]

Yes, the point is to state different versions of the country name other than the one calling themselves, and not the same word on 3 different countries.

[@ketchup901]

But they're different words. Just because they have the same origins doesn't mean they're the same word (or is Swedish fönster, german Fenster and Dutch venster the same word in different languages?)

[@RohtoriGeePee]

hi! im half finnish half irish currently in finland and i came across this video watched it and it rocked i only have to say Sisua!

[@radmoto2189]

I'm from Finland and i did not know this even myself. nice video more finnish videos like this please =)

[@hilmy2633]

HEHEHHEHEHEHEHEE moi SUOMI MAINITTU OMFG

[@ronimausanti9625]

Norwegian history student here. In Norway a well known merchant and Hersir who lived in the end of the 800 named Ottar of Hålogaland wrote about the Sami as the Fins, or "finnr". This is speaking of the sami in northern Scandinavian in general as these nomadic tribes travelled across now known borders, thus giving them the name *wanderers". Another word for Finn is Lapp thus you see the resemblance in lappland, the land of the sami, the fins, the wanderers. From a Norwegian perspective, Finland is named after the Sami in the north who often times got mistaken for being Kvens, or bjarms which are distinctive groups of people towards Finland and Russia. Also, the norwegian word for finland is Finnland with two nn's, also the english word for the language is Finnish, not Finish which could either indicate that it doesn't fit the English language OR that the name Finland should really be Finnland with two n's. Finland = wanderers land

[@tunainoil]

To answer the question in the title from a historical perspective, Finland used to be under Swedish rule for centuries and most of this time the only official language was Swedish. Ergo, since "Finland" was the word used in official documents and such, it makes sense said word would stick internationally as well.

[@6sweven9]

I've had that same doubt for years, thanks for answering !

[@meoenfield]

Greetings from Finland! Nice video.

[@sivapriyaswamini8277]

One Finnish guy says to look at their verbs also. He says 'suo', 'suoda'=allow, be kind as to allow, and 'suojelus', 'suoja'=protection , shelter, ja niiden itse on 'mina' - sounds spiritual! Like a place where 'I' can take shelter. Maybe, also.

[@eeeeeeeeeeeee9651]

I love how the arrow at 0:32 that's supposed to be pointing at Finland actually seems to be pointing at Sweden

[@dixingxu]

Wow, you really try to find the root of the word. Amazing!

[@MrThekalde123]

The Suo -part in Suomi is quite easy. Suo means swamp in Finnish and we're packin' those. when you call someone Finnish in Finnish, you say "Suomalainen". Adding one A to the ending part, "malainen" would make it "maalainen" which is used when telling someone is a foreigner, out-lander, "ulkomaalainen". So yeah, Suomi essentially means swampland as far as I know.

[@Vieindra]

In the upper secondary school we had Suomi name covered as Finns calling Sami people Lappalainen (People from Lapland) and Sami people calling Finns Suomaalainen (People living in swamps) which turned into Suomalainen. (Forum 5 Suomen historia esihistoriasta autonomian aikaan -Jouni Ekonen, Terttu Mantsinen) Then Finns were like okay jokes on you, we'll take that as a compliment. -swamps are quite good places to change into a well growing land. And Suomi comes from that it is Suomalainen without the -lainen end which makes it an adjective and suoma just turned into Suomi.

[@Vieindra]

And then there is the one speaky speaky about Suo, kuokka ja Jussi (The opening line of Under the North Star, "In the beginning there were the swamp, the hoe - and Jussi") styled Minun Suoni (My swamp) Where the Mi from minun is shortened the west-south styled way and the mi is put behind suo which wold make it Suo Mi (swamp of mine) but i think the name calling between people who had different ways of life and thus didn't like each other too much sounds way more Finn-like than some kind of abstract possessiveness of a swamp.

[@sarahgray430]

My husband's last name was Lappalainen...and yeah, his Isa came from up North.

[@Aivottaja]

Here's an interesting spin on the "fen" theory. "Suo" means "swamp" and "marsh" in Finnish. I think among the top theories is the word originating from the Baltic word "zeme", meaning "lowlands". Here's something I don't think I can back up with anything historical or scientific. Maybe it's "land that was bestowed". "Suo" also means "to allow" something in Finnish. For example: "Suo minulle tämä pieni sovinto" = Please allow me this small compromise. And then somehow "maa", meaning "land", became "mi". So yeah, I have no evidence how that might be, as it relies on contemporary Finnish and some level of corruption of the language (if it were literally "land that was bestowed", it would be "Suotu maa" in modern Finnish), but anyway. I think I have heard crazier theories.

[@istellarus]

Some of the things i love from Suomi Finland: IRC, SMS, Linux, Kaurismaeki, Raikkonen, Kalevala (Tolkien's main inspiration for LOTR), Lonkero (drink), Viljam Pylkäs (Rokka), Nokia, Rovio, sauna!

[@gNer0in]

to turn it around, sweden is called Sverige, Suecia, Sweden etc. but in finnish it's called Ruotsi due to the rospiggar in Roslagen. which traveled east -> Kievan Rus etc...

[@canles]

Maybe Poe Dameron came up whit the name. -Hey, what's your name? -Jari-Pekka Juhani Korhonen -Well I ain't using that. I call you Finn. -...

[@Pyhantaakka]

For most of it's history, Finland was officially Finland as Swedish was the sole official language. It became officially Suomi only after the independence.

[@jamesbernadette6216]

I've heard at one point that Suomi may be derivered from word pair Suo Maa which basically means marshland.

[@otsokivivuori7726]

Suo in finnis also means swamp and a popular theory in finland is just that, suo is swamp and mi, or modernly maa is land so that's it.