64
is selective, bringing forward positive comparisons
without situating these in the broader range of
stállu
traditions;
b) it does not consider whether the term
stállu may have been identified with these traditions
after ca. AD 500;
c) it does
not open the implication
that
stállu would have been borrowed potentially in
conjunction with a network of traditions related to
Yuletide, or
d) whether it is reasonable to suggest
that e.g. Christmas mumming would be a tradition
among mobile groups before ca. AD 500.
24.
The lack of medieval evidence for a supernatural
being called
stáli in Old Norse would then be largely
a result of the term taking root in Icelandic tradition.
The absence of evidence of
stáli from poetry is
ambiguous (cf.
risi [‘giant’], exceptional in poetry).
Hypothetically,
stáli could have also been
misidentified as
stála, the genitive plural of
stál
[‘steel’].
25.
The observation above that the language ecology on
the Scandinavian Peninsula seems to have supported
initial consonant clusters beginning with /s/ does not
resolve which languages were present.
26.
Bear ceremonialism has been considered to have
Palaeolithic roots: see Janhunen 2003; Germonpré &
Hämäläinen 2007; Witzel 2012: 243–244, 399–400.
27.
Lehtiranta also reconstructs
*sormē (
sorbmi)
[‘(untimely) death’] (§1152), generally accepted as a
Finnic loan (~ Fi.
surma [‘(untimely) death’]),
attested with cognates in northeast and northwest
Proto-Sámi. Phonologically, this word gives the
superficial impression of having undergone the
vowel shift and thus as having been borrowed
already in Pre-Sámi, but it is considered a case of
‘etymological nativization’ (Aikio 2007a: 26).
28.
I would like to thank Johan Schalin for discussing
this issue with me.
29.
The alternative scenario would require accounting
for the pervasive spread of two terms related to
‘grave’ across diverse Proto-Sámi cultural areas
although these do not exhibit uniformity or
convergence of burial practices in the archaeological
record on a corresponding scope.
30.
The borrowing of the Finnic word for ‘god’ (Fi. &
Kar.
jumala) is found throughout the Sámi languages
(e.g. Lule
jūpmel, Kildin
jimmel,
North Sámi
ibmel).
Cognates are attested in South, Ume, Pite, Lule,
North, Inari, Skolt, Akkala, Kildin and Ter Sámi
(Álgu Database, Language: Finnish, Word family:
jumala). The sound change of Finnic diphthong
ju-
is irregular, suggesting the word is a younger loan
(Korhonen 1981: 83). It becomes
ju-/jü- in South,
Ume, Pite and Lule Sámi on the Scandinavian
Peninsula,
i- in North, Inari and Skolt Sámi, and
ji-
in Akkala, Kildin and Ter on the Kola Peninsula.
Lehtiranta does not reconstruct it as belonging to the
Common Proto-Sámi vocabulary. The history of this
word and its spread warrants detailed investigation,
particularly with regard to whether it has entered
some of these languages specifically in connection
with Christianity.
31. For example,
The Saami: A Cultural Encyclopaedia
(Kulonen et al. 2005) does not include an entry for
beargalat or ‘devil’, nor does the term appear under
the entry ‘spirits’ (2005: 406–407).
32. See furher
LägLoS I,
s.v. ‘arpa’;
SKES I,
s.v. ‘arpa’;
SSA I,
s.v. ‘arpa’; the word has been reconstructed
back to Proto-Uralic through comparison with a
word from Hungarian, but the vowel correspondence
is irregular (UEW #25, FU ‘arpa’); an extremely
early loan from Turkic has also been proposed (but
cf. Janhunen 1986).
33. In his overview of the historical stratification of the
lexicon of Sámi languages, Sammallahti (1998: 123)
presents
noaidi among terms that “date back to (at
least) Proto-Finno-Saamic” rather than to Proto-
Finno-Ugric or Proto-Uralic (which he distinguishes).
Kulonen et al. (2005: 244–245) suggest that if the
words are related, the phonological irregularity could
be an indication that the word spread laterally through
language networks, but this remains speculation.
34.
SSA only lists a meaning of ‘drum’ for South Sámi
and ‘Sámi of Sweden’ in early sources; use for
‘drum’ may thus be relatively localized. An
etymology from Pre-Indo-Iranian has been proposed
by Koivolehto (2001: 249).
35.The female sun-being is found adjacent to Scandinavian
culture and aligns with the northern Indo-European
zone where the sun is identified as feminine,
considered potentially attributable to substrate
influence (West 2007: 195–196). A female deity has
also been associated with the sun in Uralic cultures
(Siikala 2002b). Traditions of a male sun-being on
the Kola Peninsula stand apart from both of these.
36.
This leads to an etymology from Proto-Uralic that
renders moot the complex argument for an early
Baltic loan (Aikio 2015: 9–10; cf. Sammallahti
1998: 126, 227).
37.
Asko Parpola’s (2004) relatively recent etymology
has been positively received. He argues that
*siejtē
is a borrowing of a Norwegian dialectal derivative of
Old Norse
seiðr [‘sorcery’] with a
terminus post
quem of the 13
th
century (2004: 241–242).
Phonologically, this is satisfying, but the semantic
development ‘witchcraft, shamanism’ > ‘
sieidi sites’
requires an intermediate step connecting the
Norwegian word to practices at
sieidi sites, for which
there is no evidence. In terms of chronology, the
settlement history of southern Finland would seem
to require that the loan be established in Proto-Sámi
dialects there almost immediately for
*siejtē-based
toponyms to be borrowed in areas where the mobile
cultures were already retreating inland. Moreover,
sieidi sites were already in use by the 13
th
century
(Äikäs 2011), which would mean the loan’s spread
involved the rapid and widespread replacement of
locally established words for these sites. The 13
th
century seems late for this loan. A Scandinavian
etymology would also be inconsistent with other
loans related to religious vocabulary.
38.
In this case, variation in forms of the word in Finnish
toponyms (Aikio 2007b: 190) might reflect its
historical diversification in local dialects. When
phonological evidence indicates the word was
borrowed into Proto-Sámi, continuity from before or
early in the language’s spread could also be relevant