The S-word

It is important to remember that the Norse were not alone in Scandinavia or Fennoscandia, as much of this region was shared with the Sámi people. Just like the Norse, they too were not a cultural monolith, nor were they solely the nomadic herders of popular stereotype, practising many different forms of subsistence. Ethnic distinctions (including between ‘Sámi’ and ‘Norse’) were not necessarily clear-cut, and just as for the ‘Vikings’ our terminologies may not reflect how each individual saw themselves.

The Sámi homeland is known as Sápmi, a borderless region that exists as much in the mind as on the ground. Today it stretches over the northern regions of Norway, Sweden and Finland, and the Kola Peninsula in Russia, but in the past the Sámi lived, travelled, and traded very much further south. The ‘Viking world’ was clearly a multi-ethnic space, and the Sámi were very much part of that, not only in Fennoscandia but also in the diaspora itself. There are ten Sámi languages, some of which are now very little spoken. North Sámi has the largest number of native speakers today, and for that reason its spelling Sámi has come to be used as a generic term, but sometimes people use different spellings appropriate to the other language areas. Some scholars, and some Sámis, use what they see as the more inclusive Saami instead, which does not come from any specific language group and therefore does not exclude any of them.

At WIVA we tend to use Sámi, as it still reflects the majority convention among both Sámis themselves and the academic world, but we are also open to change. We strongly emphasise that we view it as a generic, excluding no-one.