Finn (ethnonym)

The name Finn is an ethnonym that in ancient times usually referred to the Finnish people, Baltic Finnic peoples and Sámi peoples, but now refers almost exclusively to the Finns.

The probable cognates like Fenni, Phinnoi, Finnum, and Skrithfinni / Scridefinnum first appear in a few written texts starting from about two millennia ago in association with peoples of northern Europe, possibly the Sámi. The Icelandic Eddas and Norse sagas (11th to 14th centuries), some of the oldest written sources probably originating from the closest proximity, use words like finnr and finnas inconsistently. However, most of the time they seem to mean northern dwellers with a mobile life style.

Current linguistic research supports the hypothesis of an etymological link between the Finnish and the Sami languages and other modern Uralic languages.

It also supports the hypothesis of a common etymological origin of the toponyms Sápmi (Northern Sami for 'Lapland') and Suomi (Finnish for 'Finland') and the Finnish and Sami names for the Finnish and Sami languages (suomi and saame). Current research has disproved older hypotheses about connections with the names Häme (Finnish for 'Tavastia') and Proto-Baltic *žeme / Slavic землꙗ (zemlja) meaning 'land'. This research also supports the earlier hypothesis that the designation Suomi started out as the designation for Southwest Finland (Finland Proper, Varsinais-Suomi) and later for their language and later for the whole area of modern Finland. But it is not known how, why, and when this occurred. Petri Kallio had suggested that the name Suomi may bear even earlier Indo-European echoes with the original meaning of either "land" or "human", but he has since disproved his hypothesis.

The etymology is somewhat uncertain, but the consensus seems to be that it is related to Old Norse finna, from proto-Germanic *finþanan ('to find'), the logic being that the Sámi, as hunter-gatherers "found" their food, rather than grew it. This etymology has superseded older speculations that the word might be related to fen.

Finn is an exonym, a name that other peoples have used of the Sámi and the Finns, but which they themselves have not used.

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