Photo: Jeff Schultz/Alaska Stock/Lehtikuva Some Finnish and Sámi words have been adopted by English speakers. The term tundra, meaning a treeless area in an arctic region, has its origins in the languages used by Lapland’s indigenous Sámi people.
We visit the Finnish Language Office, the academic authority Finns contact for linguistic advice, to find out how words like pankki (bank) and sormitietokone (“finger-data-machine,” meaning “tablet computer”) become part of the Finnish language.
