Nordic VS Scandinavian? What’s what
When it was time to decide where I was going to travel to for my Erasmus – Sweden or Finland – it didn’t cross my mind that one of these countries was Nordic, while the other was Scandinavian. What a thing to look back upon! In my mind the terms Nordic and Scandinavian meant the same thing, and if there were nuances about their use, it did not seem important at the time. I just wanted to go up north, to a country where lectures were in English (and a country that was not the UK or Ireland) and that was enough for me.
In the end, equating these two important terms was a mistake. In the north of Europe, they magnify the little differences between one another and hold on to them tightly. Later on, and with the aim of speaking properly during my stay, I came across an article on a website called Nordic Culture. The article isn’t available anymore, but these ideas were the ones that I managed to save from it.
Table of Contents
The debate: Nordic Vs Scandinavian
Did someone correct you when you called a Finn “Scandinavian”? Is Sweden a Nordic or a Scandinavian country?
As mentioned above, most of the world treat the words “Nordic” and “Scandinavian” equally, but that isn’t quite right. But is there a common definition? Apparently in the north of Europe, the countries themselves can’t agree on a definition of “Scandinavian” and “Nordic”.
Are these flags from the Nordic Countries or from Scandinavian Countries? Depends who you ask. (But they are Nordic, I explain below) Source.
What is Scandinavia?
“An island at the border of the World”. That’s how the Greeks and Romans – the first to write about Scandinavia – said about this location. They had vague ideas about it, and thought its population was the same as in Germania.
There are two ways to approach the Scandinavian concept: geographically and linguistically. Geographically, there is such a thing as the Scandinavian Peninsula. It encapsulates Norway, Sweden and Lapland, the north of Finland. In this way, Scandinavia is just Sweden and Norway.
If we approach the matter linguistically, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian languages have a common word, “Skandinavien“, with a common meaning: the land of the Northern Men, which is for them Sweden, Denmark and Norway. This is the definition of Scandinavia most agreed upon.
But linguistically it also gets tricky: the Icelandic language also comes from the same linguistic root as the Scandinavian languages. Therefore, some people include Iceland in the mix. Furthermore, Swedish is spoken in some parts of Finland, as Finnish is spoken in certain parts of Sweden. An extreme definition, although not correct, of Scandinavia includes Finland.
Also, culturally and historically Sweden, Denmark and Norway had their own Game of Thrones, where Iceland was part of Norway and Denmark at some point, and Finland was part of Sweden.
What are the Nordic countries
Since these countries couldn’t agree, the French came to the rescue with another term: “Pays Nordiques“, Nordic countries, which also became a standard. It encpsulates Scandinavia, Iceland and Finland.
Besides that, one more term is “Norden”, which came out of the Nordic Council – a forum for inter-Nordic cooperation – to refer to these countries, but this term is quite unknown in English.
This map is wrong and now you know why.
The ones left out: the Baltic republics and Greenland
The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are not considered Nordic or Scandinavian. Nor is Greenland. Nonetheless, there are a some close ties with the Nordic Countries. The Baltic Republics have always been strongly influenced, especially culturally, by the Nordic Countries – the Estonian language, for example, is quite close to Finnish.
The same can be said about Greenland, a territory that is actually closer to the American continent than to Europe, but politically belongs to Denmark. Half of its history is very much tied to Denmark and that’s why some people tend to include Greenland among the other Nordic Countries.
In a nutshell
The best definition of Scandinavia? Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Of Nordic, the Scandinavian Countries plus Finland and Iceland.
More or less.
What’s your side of the debate? What did the inhabitants of these lands tell you?
Topics: Interesting facts |
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That’s weird (not saying it isn’t correct!) because all my life I’ve understood Finland to be part of Scandinavia as I’m sure most Finnish people do!
I’m Finnish. Finland is Nordic. The only reason Finns speak Swedish is because Sweden decided they would rule over our nation. Russia also ruled over Finland. Are we Russian? NO.
This is the clearest explanation of what is Scandinavia and what is Nordic that I have found. I finally understand the difference. Thanks.
This is like those ancient stories where a warrior sends his son to a country across the sea, son gets children there and finds out he and his children has been disowned. That his children who speak Swedish, but are influenced by another language and are not living in Lapland are not Scandinavian. The warrior who calls himself Scandinavian, sends his sons to Finland because it was easy to reach, and under the rule of the warriors, who still live there and even today speak Swedish, BUT do not live in Lapland, therefore are not allowed to call themselves Scandinavian, who are they then? Finnish Nordians?! and we as these strange Nordians have to be thankful to France of this separation?! I disown my forefathers and do not recognize France from now on.
I suppose my comments are a bit late in the day, but thanks for an interesting read.
I found this article whilst trying to use Google to figure out wether or not the term “the Nordics” is correct. My belief is it isn’t. My Google findings suggests that I’m right, as most of the sites using that term, seem to be out of either of THE NORDIC countries.
Care to look into this?
According to Wikipedia and the United Nations, Baltic countries are part of the Northern Europe, therefore can be considered Nordic?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Europe
Hi! I’m from Estonia (which I actually prefer Estland as a country name but that’s another topic) and we are definitely Nordic. As the article says, our language is very similar to Finnish(not Baltic or Slavic as usually thought), almost all of our holiday customs are the same with Swedes and Finns for instance Christmas (jõulud in EST, joulua FIN, jul SWE) or Midsummer or Shrove Tuesday. Estonians were also Vikings (little known fact) and Estland was written in many Viking Sagas. We were ruled by both Denmark and Sweden for hundreds of years more than Russia ever did. We also had thousands of coastal Swedes (rannarootslased in EST) in Estonia before Russians destroyed their homes and lands in II World War. Had we not been occupied and by USSR then there would be a discussion about is Estonia Nordic or not. All the best for you all and come visit Estonia/Estland!
I am American, but I live in Estonia, and I agree with you: Estonia is solidly Nordic. I tell everyone who will listen that living there feels like living in Scandinavia or Finland in terms of the architecture, the decorative style, much of the food, and the language. Most people outside of Estonia do not know that many Tallinn residents who survived the Russian occupation can understand and speak Finnish. The reason for this is that Tallinn is so close to Helsinki that some of its radio waves can be accessed in Tallinn. During the occupation, Tallinn residents listened to Finnish radio and TV broadcasts for more intriguing entertainment options than the usual Soviet fare. As it turns out, Finnish and Estonian are so similar that simply by listening to these broadcasts, Estonians picked up the Finnish language without taking a single class in Finnish!