Lapland (Sápmi in Northern Sami, Sää’mjânnam in Koltan Sami, Säämi in Inari Sami, Norwegian and Swedish Lappland, Russian Лапландия, Laplandija) is a historical region in the northern part of Fennoscandia in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia. [1] The Sámi are the indigenous people of the region.
Lapland does not form a unified administrative region
It’s just that collectively there’s a change trying to stop using any terms with “lapp” in the due to its connotations, but since our language is very different, the connotation didn’t ever transfer and people have no idea it’s offensive in origin. So se do talk about the Sami people, when talking about the indigenous people, but anyone living in that area would be reasonably called “a lapplander”.
Or idk, at least some people I’ve seen online have said it’s been used as an ethnic slur against the indigenous peoples at times, but I can’t find anything of that in Finnish. Which would explain why you call it Sapmi, because that’s the indigenous name for the people and the area and there may have been historical connotations with “lapp”, which we don’t have.
I thought you we’re Finnish from the username sounding a tad Finnish and being on sopuli. And I thought Finns ought to know that despite it being also an administrative region in Finland, it also refers to the whole area.
Thanks for asking, just made me realise why they’ve chosen it.
It’s the Finnish word for a lemming, the animal. And seeing that people using Lemmy are called lemmings…
Lapp is a slur in Norwegian and not much used but I don’t know if it is used as an insult.
Well slurs can be used as insults anyway? My point is that in Finnish “lappalainen” only connotates people living in the North of Finland, Sami or not, and because the term also encompasses not only the north of Finland, but also the larger area, it’d depend on the context, but generally, “lappalainen” as in “lapplander” refers to the Finns, and to refer to the indigenous people you use Sami. But the Sami who live in the north of Finland can thus also be called lapplanders in Finnish, without there being any connotation of a slur. At least I was never aware of the connotation, but to be fair I live in the south of Finland.
Its just a different name for the same region.
It’s just that collectively there’s a change trying to stop using any terms with “lapp” in the due to its connotations, but since our language is very different, the connotation didn’t ever transfer and people have no idea it’s offensive in origin. So se do talk about the Sami people, when talking about the indigenous people, but anyone living in that area would be reasonably called “a lapplander”.
Or idk, at least some people I’ve seen online have said it’s been used as an ethnic slur against the indigenous peoples at times, but I can’t find anything of that in Finnish. Which would explain why you call it Sapmi, because that’s the indigenous name for the people and the area and there may have been historical connotations with “lapp”, which we don’t have.
I thought you we’re Finnish from the username sounding a tad Finnish and being on sopuli. And I thought Finns ought to know that despite it being also an administrative region in Finland, it also refers to the whole area.
My mistake.
No worries!
Lapp is a slur in Norwegian and not much used but I don’t know if it is used as an insult.
What does sopuli mean?
Thanks for asking, just made me realise why they’ve chosen it.
It’s the Finnish word for a lemming, the animal. And seeing that people using Lemmy are called lemmings…
Well slurs can be used as insults anyway? My point is that in Finnish “lappalainen” only connotates people living in the North of Finland, Sami or not, and because the term also encompasses not only the north of Finland, but also the larger area, it’d depend on the context, but generally, “lappalainen” as in “lapplander” refers to the Finns, and to refer to the indigenous people you use Sami. But the Sami who live in the north of Finland can thus also be called lapplanders in Finnish, without there being any connotation of a slur. At least I was never aware of the connotation, but to be fair I live in the south of Finland.