Move to main content
Search
Haastattelu. © Kurt Zilliacus
Place names are collected by interviewing local people. © Kurt Zilliacus

Storing the name of a field

In the countryside, just as in cities, people name places that are important to them. A place name may be used by just a single family. In the course of years, new names are born and old ones become obsolete. Place name collectors have toured around Finland, collecting information on the names of estates, hills, peninsulas, and fields, to be stored in archives.  

Saxby
The collection of Swedish names from the village of Saxby in Porvoo/Borgå

The hand written numbers on the map (Numero / Number) correspond to the place names stored in the collection (Nimi / Name). As can be seen, just a fraction of all the names have been printed on the Basic Map.

The place examples in the name list are presented in the lower part of the map.  Fi kallio/ sv berg ’rock’, fi pelto/ sv åker ’field’. The collection is stored on the premises of the Swedish Literature Society.