Scandinavian influence on the west and south coasts of Finland was
strong particularly during the bronze age, but also during some
centuries of the iron age. Influence at the very end of the
neolithicum can also be traced in the coastal Kiukais-culture. It is
doubtful whether this ever involved large scale settlement. The
semantics of Germanic loans, in comparison with Baltic loans, are
slightly more biased towards cultural and societal innovations
(superstratum), even if counter examples exist such as äiti 'mother'
and intimate body parts like otsa <= *antj- 'forhead', maha 'belly'
and hartia 'shoulder'. From Baltic there are even more of body parts,
kinship terms, colours and even names of flora and fauna. This has
(more than in the case of Germanic loans) been taken as evidence for
common bilingualism, even exogamy. The Paleo- and Proto-Germanic
loans by far outnumber the Baltic loans though, especially if you
count up to Proto-Norse.
The Finns were probably not late arrivals, the mainstream favours the
comb ceramic culture (predates Corded Ware). Kallios article equals
the arrival with the Volosovo culture ~ Seima-Turbino period. There
are two dissenting opinions in Finland though, arguing for even later
dates. These are isolated opinions so far. Then there was one
proponent for a continuity theory from Paleolithicum, which was
refuted some 5 years ago. We don't hear much abaut that any longer.
I pledged earlier not to start discussing migrations and Urheimats so
feel free to tear this text apart, which is an attempt to describe
the debate only: I won't defend it!
Jouppe
--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "tgpedersen" <tgpedersen@...> wrote:
>
> --- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@>
wrote:
> >
> > I'm curious about how so many Gmc loanwords entered
> > before the Swedish invasion of Finland. Was Finland or
> > part of Finland populated by Gmc speakers before
> > Finnish speakers arrived? I know, it sounds far out,
> > but I'm curious.
> >
>
> The 'king' word has the same odd distribution (Baltic Finnic,
> Germanic, Baltic, Slavic) as the 'ale' and 'thousand' words. I've
> argued before that the -inga- suffix is Vasconic (Old European).
>
> I seem to recall that according to archaeology, a new culture
arrived
> on the shores of Finland 2000 years ago. Some called it the arrival
of
> the Finns. In my scenario, the Germanic language arrived in
> Scandinavia about that time, so it might reflect that arrival. Or it
> might have taken place in Eastern Europe?
>
> Come to think of it, the *mari/mori "sea" word has the same odd
> distribution (with Italic and Celtic). Were the Finns late arrivals?
>
>
> Torsten
>