Etymology

Finn

F4I1N1N1

Today it means: A national of Finland. Full definition →

Old English Finnas ← Old Norse finnr ← Proto-Germanic *finnaz
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Finn · noun1

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*finnaz
  2. Old Norse · derived fromfinnr“a <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">hunter-gatherer</i>”
  3. Old English · inherited fromFinnas“the Sami”
  4. English todayFinn

From Old English Finnas (“the Sami”) (plural), from Old Norse finnr (“a hunter-gatherer”), from Proto-Germanic *finnaz (which see for more). Possibly originally meaning a ‘finder’ of food, referring to nomadic hunter-gatherers, particularly the Sami.

Finn · proper noun2

An Old and Middle Irish form of Fionn.

Words from the same roots

Old Norsefinnr all →

Fenni

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.