Paleo-Laplandic is a hypothetical group of extinct languages spoken in Sápmi (northern Scandinavia). The speakers of Paleo-Laplandic languages switched to Sámi languages, and the languages became extinct around 500 CE. A considerable amount of words in Sámi languages originate from Paleo-Laplandic;[1] more than 1,000 loanwords from Paleo-Laplandic likely exist. Many toponyms in Sápmi originate from Paleo-Laplandic. Because Sámi language etymologies for reindeers have preserved a large number of words from Paleo-Laplandic, this suggests that Paleo-Laplandic groups influenced Sámi culture.[2]
Paleo-Laplandic | |
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Native to | Sápmi |
Extinct | around 500 AD |
Language family | unclassified
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Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | – |
![]() Languages of northern Europe in the early iron age |
Due to irregular correspondences in Sámi loanwords from Paleo-Laplandic, it can be theorized that the words were borrowed from distinct but related languages that were characterized in the west by an s-type sibilant, while in the east it was an š-type sibilant.
Many words relating to the environment or reindeer such as ája ("spring") are likely loanwords from Paleo-Laplandic into Sámi.[3][4] The substrate words have no apparent parallels to any known language. Linguist Jurij Kuzmenko [de] compared them with the Pre-Germanic substrate words but found no similarities aside from a distinction between central and peripheral accentuation.[5]
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