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Concept
Finnic peoples
Summary
The Finnic or Fennic peoples, sometimes simply called Finns, are the nations who speak languages traditionally classified in the Finnic (now commonly Finno-Permic) language family, and which are thought to have originated in the region of the Volga River. The largest Finnic peoples by population are the Finns (or more precisely the Suomi, 6 million), the Estonians (1 million), the Mordvins (800,000), the Mari (570,000), the Udmurts (550,000), the Komis (330,000) and the Sami (100,000).
The scope of the name "Finn" and "Finnic" varies by country. Today, Finnish and Estonian scholars restrict the term "Finnic" to the Baltic Finns, who include the Western Finns of Finland and their closest relatives but not the Sami. In Russia, however, where the Eastern Finns live, the word continues to be used in the broad sense, and sometimes implies the Volga Finns who have their own national republics.
Three groups of people are covered by the names "Finn" and "Finnic" in the broad sense:
the Sami people spread across northern Scandinavia
the Baltic Finns, also known as the Western Finns, of Finland, Estonia, Karelia and northwestern Russia
the Volga Finns and the Perm Finns, also known as the Eastern Finns, of central Russia, including the four central-Russian republics of Komi, Mari El, Mordovia and Udmurtia.
In the 19th century, the Ugrians were considered to be a branch of Eastern Finns (as "Ugrian Finns"), but due to the theory that the Hungarian language is most closely related to the Ugrian languages and because the Hungarians are not ethnically Finns, the Ugrians are now generally excluded.
Linguistically, the situation is more complex: in particular, the unity of the Volga Finnic languages is disputed, and because of this the Permians are sometimes counted as Volga Finns and sometimes not. The distinction is a linguistic one, however, and varies between linguistic reconstructions.
Official source
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