Lapp
/læp/noun
An outdated English term for a member of the Sámi people of northern Scandinavia and the Kola Peninsula.
Did you know?“Lapp” is now widely regarded as outdated or potentially offensive; “Sámi” is the preferred modern name, while the term’s deeper origin remains uncertain.
Etymological Timeline
Early modern period
Swedish
Lapp
“An exonym for the Sámi people of northern Scandinavia.”
17th Century
English
Lapp
“English adoption of the Swedish ethnonym for the Sámi.”
18th–19th Century
English
Lapp
“A conventional geographical and ethnographic label in English writing.”
20th Century
English
Lapp
“Increasingly recognized as an outsider term and sometimes treated as derogatory.”
Modern English
English
Lapp
“An outdated term generally replaced by Sámi.”