Notes on Language: Locations in Sapmi – Land of the Sami

Sami authors are familiar with Sami language in various degrees from being fluent speakers to having some knowledge of the language. The most natural way for many authors is to name some places in Swedish/Norwegian/Finnish and others in Sami. The revitalisation of place names is currently ongoing and some place names, like the town of Staare (known as Östersund in Swedish), are increasingly heard. That said, many of our contributors feel more comfortable using Swedish, Norwegian or Finnish for certain place names. Despite the fact that this is a book in English we have encouraged our coauthors to use the place name they want as it is not for us as editors to decide the pace and extent of the Sami revitalisation process.

Note on spelling

Within the chapters dealing with the Sami context, the same word may be spelled differently in different chapters, depending on which Sami language the author is referring back to. The term Sami itself is a good example of this. It is spelled in three different ways: Sami, Saami and Sámi. Sami is most commonly used in the Anglophone literature; Saami is the preferred spelling in the South Saami context; whereas Sámi is preferred in the North Sámi context.