Finn (ethnonym)

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.

[1] The etymology is somewhat uncertain,[2] 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.

[8] In his description of the island of Scandza (Scandinavia), he mentions three groups with names similar to Ptolemy's Phinnoi, the Screrefennae, Finnaithae and mitissimi Finni ("softest Finns").

It is unclear who the mitissimi Finni was.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.

[1] As Old Norse gradually developed into the separate Scandinavian languages, Swedes apparently took to using Finn to refer to inhabitants of what is now Finland, while the Sámi came to be called Lapps.

Current research has disproved older hypotheses about connections with the names Häme (Finnish for 'Tavastia')[16] and Proto-Baltic *žeme / Slavic землꙗ (zemlja) meaning 'land'.

Petri Kallio had suggested that the name Suomi may bear even earlier Indo-European echoes with the original meaning of either "land" or "human",[1] but he has since disproved his hypothesis.