- Kemi Sami
Kemi Sami is a
Sami language that was originally spoken in the southernmost district of Finnish Lapland as far south as the Sami siidas aroundKuusamo . A complex of local variants which had a distinct identity from other Sami dialects, but existed in a linguistic continuum betweenInari Sami andSkolt Sami (some Kemi groups sounded more like Inari, and some more like Skolt, due to geographic proximity). Extinct now for over 100 years, few written examples of Kemi Sami survive.Johannes Schefferus 's "Lapponia" from 1673 contains twoyoik poems by the Kemi Sami Olof (Mattsson) Sirma, "Guldnasas" and "Moarsi favrrot". A short vocabulary was written byJacob Fellman in 1829 after he visited the villages ofKuolajärvi andSompio (Äima, F, Itkonen, T.I. 1918: Jacob Fellmanin muistiinpanot Sompion ja Kuolajärven lapin murteista. Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Aikakauskirja 30 p. 1-91.). Also, the following translation of theLord's Prayer survives:Lord's Prayer, village of Sompio (Kemi)
:Äätj miin, ki lak täivest. Paisse läos tu nammat. Alda pootos tu väldegodde. Läos tu taattot nou täivest, ku ädnamest. Adde miji täb päiv miin juokpäiv laip. Ja adde miji miin suddoit addagas, nou ku miieg addep miin velvolidäme. Ja ale sääte miin kjäusaussi. Mutto tjouta miin pahast. Tälle tu li väldegodde, vuöjme ja kudne ijankaikisest. Amen.
This is Sirma's first poem (Guldnasas?); a Sami love story which he sang to spur on his reindeer so that they will run faster:
This is Sirma's second poem (Moarsi favrrot?); the one he sang when he was far away from his love to prize her beauty.
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