Scandinavia

=== Possible influence on Sámi languages ===
The earliest [[Sámi languages|Sámi]] [[joik]] texts written down refer to the world as {{lang|se|Skadesi-suolu}} in [[Northern Sámi]] and {{lang|sms|Skađsuâl}} in [[Skolt Sámi]], meaning "[[Skaði]]'s island". Svennung considers the Sámi name to have been introduced as a [[loanword]] from the [[North Germanic languages]];<ref name="Svennung">{{cite journal|author-last=Svennung |author-first=J. |date=1963 |title=Scandinavia und Scandia |language=de |trans-title=Scandinavia and Scandia |journal=Lateinisch-nordische Namenstudien |publisher=Almqvist & Wiksell/Harrassowitz |pages=54–56}}</ref> "[[Skaði]]" is the [[jötunn]] stepmother of [[Freyr]] and [[Freyja]] in [[Norse mythology]]. It has been suggested that Skaði to some extent is modelled on a Sámi woman. The name for Skaði's father [[Þjazi]] is known in Sámi as {{lang|smi|Čáhci}}, "the waterman"; and her son with Odin, [[Sæmingr]], can be interpreted as a descendant of {{lang|se|Saam}}, the Sámi population.<ref name="Mundel">{{cite book|author-last=Mundel |author-first=E. |date=2000 |url=http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/medieval/saga/pdf/346-mundal.pdf |title=Coexistence of Saami and Norse culture – reflected in and interpreted by Old Norse myths |publisher=[[University of Bergen]], 11th Saga Conference Sydney 2000|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040706090209/http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/medieval/saga/pdf/346-mundal.pdf |archive-date=6 July 2004 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author-last=Steinsland |author-first=Gro |author-link=Gro Steinsland |date=1991 |title=Det hellige bryllup og norrøn kongeideologi. En analyse av hierogami-myten i Skírnismál, Ynglingatal, Háleygjatal og Hyndluljóð |language=no |trans-title=The sacred wedding and Norse royal ideology. An analysis of the hierogamy myth in Skírnismál, Ynglingatal, Háleygjatal and Hyndluljóð |location=Oslo |publisher=Solum}}</ref> Older joik texts give evidence of the old Sámi belief about living on an island and state that the wolf is known as {{lang|smi|suolu gievra}}, meaning "the strong one on the island". The Sámi [[toponymy|place name]] {{lang|smi|Sulliidčielbma}} means "the island's threshold" and ''[[Saariselkä|Suoločielgi]]'' means "the island's back".

In recent [[substratum (linguistics)|substrate]] studies, Sámi linguists have examined the initial cluster {{lang|smi|sk}}- in words used in the Sámi languages and concluded that {{lang|smi|sk}}- is a [[phonotactics|phonotactic]] structure of alien origin.<ref name="Aikio_2004">{{cite book|author-last=Aikio |author-first=A. |date=2004 |chapter-url=http://www.geocities.com/lappmark/Aikio2004.pdf |chapter=An essay on substrate studies and the origin of Saami |title=Etymologie, Entlehnungen und Entwicklungen: Festschrift für Jorma Koivulehto zum 70. Geburtstag. Mémoires de la Société Néophilologique de Helsinki 63 |trans-title=Etymology, borrowings and developments: Festschrift for Jorma Koivulehto's 70th birthday. Memoirs of the Neophilological Society of Helsinki 63 |editor-first1=Irma |editor-last1=Hyvärinen |editor-first2=Petri |editor-last2=Kallio |editor-first3=Jarmo |editor-last3=Korhonen |location=Helsinki |pages=5–34 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080216031912/http://www.geocities.com/lappmark/Aikio2004.pdf |archive-date=16 February 2008 |quote=On the basis of Scandinavian loanwords it can be inferred that both {{IPA|sk-}} and {{IPA|-ʃ-}} were adopted in the west during the early separate development of the Saami languages, but never spread to Kola Saami. These areal features thus emerged in a phase when Proto-Saami began to diverge into dialects anticipating the modern Saami languages.}}</ref>