Fenni
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Fenni were a people living in Fennoscandia in the 1st century, mentioned by Cornelius Tacitus in Germania in 97 A.D. Tacitus himself was unsure whether they were Germanic people or "Sarmatians". Today, they are most commonly seen as the forefathers of the Sami people[1][2][3], making Tacitus' description the first historical record of them. Fenni seems to have been a form of the Germanic word finn, an old common nominator for Finns and the Sami people, both speakers of Finno-Ugric languages.
Tacitus describes Fenni as follows:[4]
In wonderful savageness live the nation of the Fennians, and in beastly poverty, destitute of arms, of horses, and of homes; their food, the common herbs; their apparel, skins; their bed, the earth; their only hope in their arrows, which for want of iron they point with bones. Their common support they have from the chase, women as well as men; for with these the former wander up and down, and crave a portion of the prey. Nor other shelter have they even for their babes, against the violence of tempests and ravening beasts, than to cover them with the branches of trees twisted together; this a reception for the old men, and hither resort the young. Such a condition they judge more happy than the painful occupation of cultivating the ground, than the labour of rearing houses, than the agitations of hope and fear attending the defense of their own property or the seizing that of others. Secure against the designs of men, secure against the malignity of the Gods, they have accomplished a thing of infinite difficulty; that to them nothing remains even to be wished.
Tacitus' description of Fenni's utter poverty is exaggerated and does not provide concrete information on the life of the then Sami people. It has however preserved the nomadic nature of their culture.
Earlier, many historians regarded Fenni to be the same as Finns. However, since the archaeological finds have revealed that the forefathers of Finns were mostly living in agricultural societies in the first centuries CE, this view has been abandoned in the mainstream research. An old Latin name Fennia for Finland originates from this misconception.
[edit] References
- ^ Sven Tägil (1995), Ethnicity and nation building in the Nordic world, pp. 118 ISBN 1850652392
- ^ Silje Bergum Kinsten, "The Northern Sami People" The Norway Post, 19 August 2000
- ^ Doug Simms, The University of Texas, The Early Period of Sámi History, from the Beginnings to the 16th Century
- ^ Tacitus' Germania. Translation in English.
