4.2.4 Finland: Who is a Finn?
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This article is from the Nordic countries FAQ, by Antti Lahelma and Johan Olofsson, with numerous contributions by others.
4.2.4 Finland: Who is a Finn?
Believe it or not, but this question does raise heated discussions in
the news group now and then. The disputes have their base in the
inability, general among Nordeners, to distinguish between ethnicity,
nationality and citizenship.
In the news group you can find citizens of Finland who declare that he
or she "is certainly no Finn even if I am born in Finland (and my
ancestors some 600 years back at least). If some bullshit Fascists
think they can call everyone living in this country a Finn they are
mistaken."
On the other hand ethnic Finns can be studied, who get insulted by any
word referring to Finland's multi-ethnicity, arguing along the slogan
In Finland we speak Finnish. They might claim that the distinction
between Swedish-speaking and Finnish-speaking inhabitants of Finland
is based on racism and the minority's need to feel superior.
Be warned!
This is a sensitive topic.
The origin of Finns is still subject to a lot of discussion; the
traditional theory is that Finns emigrated from the Urals to Finland
some 2,000 years ago, but the current view seems to be that the
Finnish people have evolved into what they are in Finland as a result
of numerous successive waves of immigration coming from east, south
and west.
As Roman writers described the Fenni it is unclear whether they
referred to nomadic Lapps exclusively, or if also the Finnish speaking
farmers and sea-farers were included.
In any case: Written medieval sources exhibit great confusion on this
point. When the king of Norway (who for long was the king of Denmark),
or the Norse Sagas, refer to "Finns" they mostly mean Samis or Lapps.
The Swedish administration wasn't much better in making the
distinctions we today put such a great importance to.
Still today "a Finn" is a Sami or Lapp for many speakers of Norwegian.
Until the national awakening of the 19th century Swedish speakers
meant people from Finland, or with ancestry from Finland, when talking
about "Finns" (finne, plural: finnar). Then the Finnish nationalistic
movement led to the majority language (Finnish) being given equal
status to the old administrative language (Swedish). It became
fashionable for the educated class to learn Finnish, to start using
Finnish as much as possible, and to make Finnish the mother tongue of
their children.
Then the remaining parts of the Swedish speaking minority in Finland
started to stress their "Swedishness" - in reaction to the Finnish
nationalistic movement from the mid-1800's on with its expectation
that all inhabitants of Finland should switch from Swedish to Finnish.
The Swedish speakers began to label themselves as "Finland-Swedes"
defending their language's position in Finland as much as they could.
The battle was long and hard between proponents for Finnish as the
national language of Finland and the proponents for Swedish as the
language linking Finland to Germanic nations of Western Europe. And "a
Finn" became a term which for the Swedish speaking minority referred
to members of the Finnish speaking majority.
By the time of Finland's liberation from Russia the language-battle
was almost won by the proponents for Finnish, but the Swedish speakers
were still well represented in the government and among State
officials. The independent Finland became officially bilingual, and
during the Second World War (if not before) a consensus was
established that both "Finns" and "Swedes" of Finland belonged to the
same nation, a nation which thus in conflict with the 19th century
Nationalism's dogma comprised two very different languages: Finnish
and Swedish.
But still, for the Finland-Swedes the term en finne ("a Finn") denotes
an ethnic Finn, and the term finländare (literally: Finlandener) is
used to denote nationality or citizenship. The Finnish language has a
term (suomenruotsalainen) for the Finland-Swedes, of course, but uses
the same term (suomalainen) for ethnic Finns and citizens of Finland.
In Sweden people try to show the Finland-Swedes basal courtesy by
remembering to distinguish between en finne and en finländare. In
Norway people try to avoid the word finne perceived as derogatively as
the word "Lapp" when denoting the Samis, and the word finlender (the
equivalent term to "Finlandener") is the recommended form, especially
by people interested in politicial correctness.
The problem usually arises when Swedes or Norwegians remember the
political correctness but forget the sensitive nature of this matter.
The word "a Finn" can be avoided in English, by exchanging it to
citizen of Finland, inhabitant of Finland, ethnic Finn, or
Finland-Swede.
Thereby, however, nothing is implicated for the question of Åland's
status as being a part of the country Finland or not, its population
belonging to the nation of ethnic Finns and Finland-Swedes or not, or
other disputable issues...
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