Sámi People
/ˈsɑːmi ˈpiːpəl/noun
The Indigenous people of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia’s Kola Peninsula.
Did you know?The origin of Sámi is genuinely uncertain: scholars connect it to Finnic forms such as Finnish saame and Northern Sámi Sápmi, but no secure deeper root has been established.
Etymological Timeline
Prehistoric period
Proto-Finnic
*sāmi
“A reconstructed ancestral form associated with the Sámi; its ultimate origin remains uncertain.”
Early medieval period
Old Norse
Finnar
“A Scandinavian exonym used for Sámi people; it could also refer more broadly to people of the northern wilderness.”
12th–14th centuries
Finnic languages
saame / Saami
“Forms used in neighboring Finnic languages for the Sámi people or their language.”
16th–18th centuries
Swedish
Same / Lapp
“Swedish records used Same alongside Lapp; Lapp became a widespread external label, now generally avoided by the Sámi because of its derogatory history.”
19th century
English
Lapp / Laplander
“English exonyms for the Sámi, derived through Scandinavian usage and now largely considered outdated or offensive.”
Modern English
English
Sámi people
“The standard respectful English designation for the Indigenous people of Sápmi.”