Finnic peoples: Difference between revisions

[[File:Finno-Permic_Languages0.png|thumb|TheModern Finnic nations identified by language (west to east):{{glossary}}

{{defn|Pinks: [[SamiSámi people|SamiSámi]]}}

The '''Finnic peoples''', sometimesor simply called '''Finns''', are the nations who speak languages traditionally classified in the Finnic (or ''[[Finno-Permic languages|Finno-PermicFinnic]]'') language family,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Finno-Ugric languages|year=2013|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/207644/Finno-Ugric-languages}}</ref>{{disputed inline|Finnic peoples as Finno-Permic speaking peoples?|date=February 2024}} and which are thought to have originated in the region of the [[Volga River]]. TheCurrently, the largest Finnic peoples by population are the [[Finns]] (6 million), the [[Estonians]] (1 million), the [[Mordvins]] (800,000), the [[Mari people|Mari]] (570,000), the [[Udmurts]] (550,000), the [[Komi peoples|Komis]] (330,000) and the [[SamiSámi people|SamiSámi]] (100,000).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/perepis2010/croc/Documents/Materials/pril2_dok2.xlsx |title=Национальный состав населения по '''субъектам Российской Федерации''' |access-date=5 April 2020 |archive-date=8 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121208222034/http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/perepis2010/croc/Documents/Materials/pril2_dok2.xlsx |url-status=live }}</ref>

The scope of the termsterm "FinnFinnic peoples" and(or "FinnicFinns") varies by context. TheyIt can referbe toas narrow as the [[Baltic Finns]] of [[Finland]], [[Scandinavia]], [[Estonia]] and [[Northwest Russia]]. The broadest sense in the contemporary usage includes four groups:<ref>{{cite bookweb |lasttitle=GoldenFinnic peoples |firsturl=Peter Bhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/Finnic-peoples |url-status=live |archive-url=https://booksweb.googlearchive.org/web/20150905230715/https://www.britannica.com/books?id=ST6TRNuWmHsC&pg=230topic/Finnic-peoples |titlearchive-date=The5 CambridgeSeptember History2015 of|access-date=6 EarlyFebruary Inner2019 Asia|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |publisher=Cambridge[[Encyclopædia UniversityBritannica, PressInc.]]}}</ref> In Russian academic literature, the term typically comprises the Baltic Finns and the [[Volga Finns]],{{efn|year=1994Includes the now-extinct [[Meryans]], [[Meshchera people|isbnMeshcherans]], and [[Volga Finns#Muroma|Muromians]].<ref>{{cite book |title=9780521243049The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia |editor-last=Sinor |editor-first=Denis |volumeyear=11990 |locationpublisher=Cambridge University Press |pageisbn=2300-521-24304-1 |contributionpage=The peoples of the Russian forest belt151 |orig-yearurl=1990https://books.google.com/books?id=ST6TRNuWmHsC&pg=RA1-PA151 }}</ref>}} the Baltic Finns, the [[Sámiindigenous peoples|Sami]] ofliving northernnear the [[FennoscandiaVolga]], and the [[VolgaKama FinnsRiver]]s; andthe [[Perm Finns]] ofare Russiasometimes distinguished as a third group.<ref>{{cite journalbook |last1last=GoldinaPatrušev |first1first=EkaterinaValerij |last2title=GoldinaThe Early History of the Finno-Ugric Peoples of European Russia |first2date=Rimma2000 |yearpublisher=2018Societas Historiae Fenno-Ugricae |titleisbn=978-951-97040-3-6 |publication-place=Oulu |page=7}}</ref><ref>Ekaterina Goldina & Rimma Goldina (2018) On North-Western Contacts of Perm Finns in VII–VIII Centuries, |journal=''Estonian Journal of Archaeology'' |volume=22: |issue=2, |pages=163–180 |doi=10.3176/arch.2018.2.04 |s2cid=166188106 |doi-access=free}}</ref> TheThese lasteastern twogroups include the Finnic peoples of the [[Komi-Permyak Okrug]] and the four [[Russian republics]] of [[Komi Republic|Komi]], [[Mari El]], [[Mordovia]] and [[Udmurtia]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Lallukka |first=Seppo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OiQIAQAAMAAJ&q=Finnic+peoples |title=The East Finnic minorities in the Soviet Union |publisher=Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia |year=1990 |isbn=951-41-0616-4 |location= |page= |pages= |chapter= |quote= |authorlink=}}</ref> The broadest sense in the contemporary usage includes the [[Sámi peoples|Sámi]] of northern [[Fennoscandia]] as well.<ref>{{cite book |last=Golden |first=Peter B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ST6TRNuWmHsC&pg=230 |title=The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1994 |isbn=9780521243049 |editor-last=Sinor |editor-first=Denis |volume=1 |location=Cambridge |page=230 |contribution=The peoples of the Russian forest belt |orig-year=1990}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Goldina |first1=Ekaterina |last2=Goldina |first2=Rimma |year=2018 |title=On North-Western Contacts of Perm Finns in VII–VIII Centuries |journal=Estonian Journal of Archaeology |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=163–180 |doi=10.3176/arch.2018.2.04 |s2cid=166188106 |doi-access=free}}</ref> In older literature, "Finns"the term sometimes refersincludes tothe Ugrian Finns (the [[Khanty]], [[Mansi people|Mansi]] and [[Hungarians]]), and thus all speakers of [[Finno-Ugric peopleslanguages]].<ref>{{cite EB9|wstitle=Finland|volume=IX|last=Keltie|first=John Scott|author-link=John Scott Keltie|pages=216-220|quote=see page 219, para Ethnology and Language.—The term Finns has a wider application than Finland, being, with its adjective Finnic or Finno-Ugric or Ugro-Finnic......&.... (5) The Ugrian Finns include the Voguls.....|short=1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Russia}}</ref>

The name "Finn(ic)" is an ancient [[exonym]] that usually referred to the [[Sámi peoples]], with scarce historical references and therefore rather questionable etymology. Its probable cognates, like ''[[Fenni]]'', ''Phinnoi'', ''Finnum'', and ''Skrithfinni'' / ''Scridefinnum'' appear in a few written texts starting from about two millennia ago in association with peoples of northern Europe. The first known use of this name to refer to the people of what is now Finland is in the 10th-century [[Old English]] poem {{lang|ang|italic=no|"[[Widsith]]"}}. Among the first written sources possibly designating western Finland as the "land of Finns" are also two [[rune stones]] in Sweden: one in [[Norrtälje Municipality]], with the inscription {{lang|sv|finlont}} ([[Runestone U 582|U 582]]), and the other in [[Gotland]], with the inscription {{lang|sv|finlandi}} ([[Runestone G 319|G 319 M]]), dating from the 11th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vesta.narc.fi/cgi-bin/db2www/fmu/tiedot?b_id=10&language=fin |title=Archived copy |website=vesta.narc.fi |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071006110402/http://vesta.narc.fi/cgi-bin/db2www/fmu/tiedot?b_id=10&language=fin |archive-date=6 October 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

It has been suggested that the non-[[Uralic languages|Uralic]] ethnonym "Finn" is of [[Germanic languages|Germanic language]] origin and related to such words as {{lang|goh|finthan}} ([[Old High German]]) 'find', 'notice'; {{lang|goh|fanthian}} (Old High German) 'check', 'try'; and {{lang|goh|fendo}} (Old High German) and {{lang|gmh|vende}} ([[Middle High German]]) 'pedestrian', 'wanderer'.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite web|url=http://www.sgr.fi/ct/ct51.html|title=Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura|website=Sgr.fi|access-date=17 March 2015|archive-date=8 July 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040708174734/http://www.sgr.fi/ct/ct51.html|url-status=live}}</ref> It may thus have originated from an [[Old Norse]] word for [[hunter-gatherer]], {{lang|non|finn}} (plural {{lang|non|finnar}}), which is believed to have been applied during the first millennium CE to the (pre&ndash;[[reindeer herding]]) [[SamiSámi people|SamiSámi]], and perhaps to other hunter-gatherers of Scandinavia.<ref>{{cite book|title=Norske gaardnavne: Finmarkens amt|edition=18|author-link=Oluf Rygh|last=Rygh|first=Oluf|publisher=W. C. Fabritius & sønners bogtrikkeri|year=1924|location=Kristiania, Norge|pages=1–7|language=no}}</ref> It was still used with this meaning in Norway in the early 20th century, but is now considered derogatory.<ref>{{Citation |last=Berg-Nordlie |first=Mikkel |title=finner (samer) |date=26 January 2023 |work=Store norske leksikon |url=https://snl.no/finner_-_samer |access-date=24 January 2024 |language=no}}</ref> Thus there is [[Finnmark]] in Norway, which can be understood as "SamiSámi country[[March (territory)|march]]", but also [[Finnveden]] in Sweden, in an area that is not known to have been Finnic-speaking. The name was also applied to what is now [[Finland]], which at the time was inhabited by "SamiSámi" hunter-gatherers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lamnidis |first1=Thiseas C. |last2=Majander |first2=Kerttu |last3=Jeong |first3=Choongwon |last4=Salmela |first4=Elina |last5=Wessman |first5=Anna |last6=Moiseyev |first6=Vyacheslav |last7=Khartanovich |first7=Valery |last8=Balanovsky |first8=Oleg |last9=Ongyerth |first9=Matthias |last10=Weihmann |first10=Antje |last11=Sajantila |first11=Antti |last12=Kelso |first12=Janet |last13=Pääbo |first13=Svante |last14=Onkamo |first14=Päivi |last15=Haak |first15=Wolfgang |date=27 November 2018 |title=Ancient Fennoscandian genomes reveal origin and spread of Siberian ancestry in Europe |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=5018 |doi=10.1038/s41467-018-07483-5 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=6258758 |pmid=30479341|bibcode=2018NatCo...9.5018L }}</ref>