THE HISTORYOFLAPLANDCHAP. I.Of the Name ofLapland.
THE HISTORYOFLAPLAND
This Country doth not every where pass by the same name. By some ’tis calledLappia, asJohann. Magnusin the Preface of his history, andSaxo Grammat.in his 5thbook; by othersLapponia, asOlaus Magnusin the explication of his Map ofScandinavia, andZieglerin his description of the Northern Countries, and before theseEricus Versaliensis, and after themAndr. Buræus. TheSwedesusually call the CountryLapmarkia, in whose languageMarksignifies Land; theDanesandNorwegians,Laplandia, and alsoFindmarkia, as appears fromPetr. Claudusdescription ofNorway: for no one can gather any thing else but an account of this Country, from his whole 38thChapt. which himself too seems to intimate, when he promises more aboutFindmarkiain his description ofLapland. Of i’ts being call’dFindmark, I shall speak in another place; Now we will see why ’tis call’dLapponiaandLappia, the Etymology of which words is not yet agreed upon by the Learned.Zieglerthinks they were named so by theGermans, from the dulness and stupidity of the people, which the wordLappisignifies amongst them; but this seems improbable, since this Country is but of late known to theGermans, and none of their antient Writers make any mention ofLappia. Moreover, theFinlanders,SwedesandRussians, who differ much in their language from one another, as well as from theGermans, call it all by the same name; and theGermans, who are so remote fromLapland, could not transmit this name to these more Northern Countries, especially when they had little or no commerce with them. Neither are the people so very dull and stupid; asZieglerhimself afterwards acknowledges, when he confesses they are good at the needle, and make delicate embroidered clothes. Neither can I assent toWexionius’s opinion, that theSwedesgave them this name from their wearing ofSkins; forLapperandSkinlapperdo not signify skins, but the same as the Greeksῥάκοι(in EnglishRags) from whenceOl. Petr. Nieuren, who writ ofLaplandinGustavus Adolphus’s time, derives their name from their coming intoSwedlandevery year with ragslaptabout them, which is the signification ofLappin thatlanguage. But they do not deserve that name, meerly for this reason, any more than theFinlandersand others, for they are generally cloth’d in good woollen garments, as we shall shew hereafter.Grotiusthinks they are call’dLappsfrom running orleaping, butLœpa, which in the Swedish language signifies to run, is writ with a singleP, and the name of this Country with a double one; and these People naturally are no great runners, tho by an art they have of sliding over the frozen snow, they are very swift in their motions. Some think that the Inhabitants do not denominate the Country, but the Country the Inhabitants, as in the name ofNorwegiansand others, which seems to be strengthned by this, becauseOl. Magnuscalls themLappomanni, after the manner ofNordmanni,Westmanni, andSudermanni, in which wordsMannisignifyingMen, they were call’dLappomanni,i. e.Men ofLappia.[1]Others fancy that the name of the Country is deriv’d fromLappu, which in theFinnonicklanguage isfurthermost, because it lies in the farthest part ofScandinavia. There is yet another opinion which may seem no less plausible then any of the former, which agrees as well with the signification of the wordLappamong theLaplandersthemselves, as the credit given to what has been matter of fact,viz.that ’twas call’dLappia, not from its situation, or other such like accident, but from theLappithat inhabited it. So that I takeLappito signify no other thanbanish’tpersons, which is the genuine signification ofLappin theLaplandlanguage; for theLaplanderswere originallyFinlanders, and from leaving their Country may be presum’d to have took their name; and that not of their own choosing, but theFinlanders[2]imposition, with whom toLappsignifies to run away: whence the compellation seeming something scandalous, no person of quality to this day will endure to be call’d by it, tho from theFinlandersothers Nations, as theGermans,SwedesandMoscovites, have learnt to call them so. But they ofLappia Umensisstile themselvesSabmienladti, and those ofLappia Tornensis,Sameednan, from the wordSabmiorSame; the signification of which, and whence they had it, we shall see hereafter.
At what time this Country and it’s inhabitants were first distinguish’t by these namesLappiaandLappi, ’tis hard to prove: ’tis certain ’twas but of late, for the words are not found in any antient writer, neither inTacitus, who mentions their neighbours and forefathers theFinlanders, nor inPtolomy,Solinus,Anton. Augustus,Rutilius, or others, neither in Authors nearer home (not to nameJornandes,Paul Warnefrid, &c.) nor in those who have writ the actions ofHeraudandBosa, orGætricusandRolfus, or KingOlafusin theIslandick,NorwegianorGothicklanguage: we find nothing of them inAdam Bremensis, whose diligence in writing of the Northern Countries, hisScandinaviasufficiently testifies; or inSturlisonius, who writ very accuratly of these parts in his own language. Therefore I cannot be so easily persuaded withGrotiusto believeCluverius, who says they were mention’d in thePeutingerianTables, the Author of which is thought to have liv’d at least beforeTheodosius’s time,i. e.600 years beforeAdam Bremensis: how then could he, that was none of the best Geographers, if we may beleiveWelserus, and very far distant from these parts, give us any account of them, sinceAdam Bremensis, who was so near a neighbour, and had commerce with those that lived there, could give us none? Besides, in that Table theSarmatiansare calledLupiones, with whom theLappiwere nothing concerned, neither doth any antient Author say they were seated so far Northward: wherefore theLupionesthere describedare any People rather then theLaplanders, for at that time, when the Author writ, they were not so much as known to any of their neighbours, theGothickNorwegianorDanishwriters. The first that mentionsLaplandisSaxo Gramat.Hist. Dan. l. 5. who lived and wrote aboutAnn.1190, and therefore was afterAdam Bremensis(who lived about 1077) near 130 years, in which interval this name must needs come first in use. ForSaxomaking mention of such a Country a great while before, in the time ofFrothothe third contemporary toAlricusKing of Swedland (who they say lived before Christ) doth not prove that ’twas called so then, but that that Country might afterwards have had this appellation; and I am fully perswaded, thatAdam Bremensiswould not have omitted this name if he had had any knowledge of it. AfterwardEr. Upsaliensisspeaks of it about 1470i. e.almost 300 years afterSaxo, and 200 before this present time. After themJac. Zieglermade a large and learned description of it, by which it came to be known all overEurope. For however we may meet with the nameLappiainSaxo, none but theSwedesandFinlanders, beforeZieglerstime, knew any thing of it. And so much for the names ofLapland.