DTGK Suomi

[eaglchris]

To pick up on an earlier thread re. the official language of Finland I also went for Suomi but all the reference sources I have accessed give Finnish & Swedish as the official languages: Suomi ( I can only assume as an alternative spelling for Saami, as is Michael Mephams' wont) is always listed as a minority native tongue, such as the American Indian languages; so when did Saami or Suomi become the official language of Finland.In any case Suomi, as far as I know, has always been the Finnish name for Finland, not a language. Am I missing something here?

[Dkeyse]

As any philatelist will tell you, Suomi appears on all Finnish stamps, obviously as the name of the country, which is common practice. So it would seem that Suomi is used as the country's name and not as the language! Agree with you about Finnish and Swedish being the official languages, so perhaps Michael Mepham can enlighten us on this one!

[Celtigra3]

All my books said Finnish and Swedish. I think the question was badly phrased.

[boaw]

Ency. Britannica gives a reference of Finnish SUOMI as a language.

[nigelj]

Just to clear up a point - Saami is the correct name for the language of the Lapps. This is the correct term for them(as "Lapp" meant "patched clothing" and was a somewhat derogatory term - like Eskimos are now correctly called Inuit as "Eskimo" meant "Flesh eater").

So SUOMI is correct as a name for the language, people and country of Finland.