Scandinavia

=== Scandinavian as an ethnic term and as a demonym ===
{{further|topic=this terminology|North Germanic peoples}}
The term ''Scandinavian'' may be used with two principal meanings, in an ethnic or cultural sense and as a modern and more inclusive [[demonym]].

==== As an ethnic or cultural term ====
In the ethnic or cultural sense the term "Scandinavian" traditionally refers to [[North Germanic peoples|speakers of Scandinavian languages]], who are mainly descendants of the peoples historically known as [[Norsemen]], but also to some extent of immigrants and others who have been assimilated into that culture and language. In this sense the term refers primarily to native [[Danes]], [[Norwegians]] and [[Swedes]] as well as descendants of Scandinavian settlers such as the [[Icelanders]] and the [[Faroe Islanders|Faroese]]. The term is also used in this ethnic sense, to refer to the modern descendants of the Norse, in studies of linguistics and culture.<ref name="North Germanic">{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Arthur Garfield|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/englishlanguager00leed|chapter-url-access=registration|title=English Language Reader: Introductory Essays and Exercises|publisher=[[Dodd, Mead & Co.|Dodd, Mead]]|year=1963|editor-last=Lee|editor-first=Donald Woodward|editor-link=Donald Woodward Lee|chapter=The Indo-European Language Family|quote=North Germanic, or Scandinavian, or Norse, peoples, as they are variously called, became a distinctive people...|author-link=Arthur Garfield Kennedy}}; {{cite book|last=Spaeth|first=John Duncan Ernst|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924013338623|title=Old English Poetry|date=1921|publisher=[[Princeton University Press]]|quote=The main divisions of Germanic are: 1. East Germanic, including the Goths, both Ostrogoths and Visigoths. 2. North Germanic, including the Scandinavians, Danes, Icelanders, Swedes, "Norsemen." 3. West Germanic. The Old English (Anglo-Saxons) belong to this division, of which the continental representatives are the Teutonic peoples, High and Low Franks and Saxons, Alemanni, etc.|author-link=John Duncan Spaeth}}; {{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Stith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sLhPAQAAMAAJ|title=Our Heritage of World Literature|date=1995|publisher=Cordon Company|isbn=978-0809310913|quote=The North Germanic, or Scandinavian group, consists of the Norwegians, Danes, Swedes, and Icelanders.|author-link=Stith Thompson|access-date=8 February 2020|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132224/https://books.google.com/books?id=sLhPAQAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}; {{cite book|last1=Gordon|first1=Eric Valentine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lVQKAQAAIAAJ|title=An Introduction to Old Norse|last2=Taylor|first2=A. R.|date=1962|publisher=[[Clarendon Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-811105-4|quote=Norse was the language spoken by the North Germanic peoples (Scandinavians) from the time when Norse first became differentiated from the speech of the other Germanic peoples|author-link1=E. V. Gordon|author-link2=A. R. Taylor|access-date=8 February 2020|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132232/https://books.google.com/books?id=lVQKAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}; {{cite book|last=Ränk|first=Gustav|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tLvWAAAAMAAJ|title=Old Estonia, The People and Culture|date=1976|publisher=[[Indiana University]]|isbn=9780877501909|quote=Contacts are not impossible also with the Northern Germanic peoples, i.e., with the Scandinavians directly across the sea...|author-link=Gustav Ränk|access-date=23 April 2023|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423142202/https://books.google.com/books?id=tLvWAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}; {{cite book|last1=Barbour|first1=Stephen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BFr2IjGftNMC|title=Variation in German: A Critical Approach to German Sociolinguistics|last2=Stevenson|first2=Patrick|date=1990|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=978-0521357043|quote=For the period when the existence of the Germanic tribes is first clearly recorded by Roman writers, archaeological evidence suggests five tribal groups, with perhaps five incipient distinct Germanic languages, as follows: (1) North Germanic tribes (Scandinavians)...|access-date=8 February 2020|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132240/https://books.google.com/books?id=BFr2IjGftNMC|url-status=live}}; {{cite book|last=Diringer|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cFdiAAAAMAAJ|title=The Alphabet: A Key to the History of Mankind|date=1948|publisher=[[Philosophical Library]]|quote="Old Norse" was spoken by the North Germanic or Scandinavian peoples|author-link=David Diringer}}; {{cite book|last1=Bolling|first1=George Melville|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y7QoAQAAIAAJ|title=Language|last2=Bloch|first2=Bernard|date=1968|publisher=[[Linguistic Society of America]]|quote=Northern Germanic peoples, i.e. the Scandinavians...|author-link1=George Bolling|author-link2=Bernard Bloch (linguist)|access-date=8 February 2020|archive-date=23 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423132223/https://books.google.com/books?id=y7QoAQAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}; {{cite book|last=Jones|first=Gwyn|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofvikings00jone_0|url-access=registration|title=A History of the Vikings|date=2001|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0192801340|quote=North Germanic (Scandinavian) peoples...|author-link=Gwyn Jones (author)}}.</ref>

==== As a demonym ====
Additionally the term Scandinavian is used demonymically to refer to all modern inhabitants or citizens of Scandinavian countries. Within Scandinavia the demonymic term primarily refers to inhabitants or citizens of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In English usage inhabitants or citizens of Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Finland are sometimes included as well. English general dictionaries often define the noun ''Scandinavian'' demonymically as meaning any inhabitant of Scandinavia (which might be narrowly conceived or broadly conceived).<ref name=":1">'[https://web.archive.org/web/20200519233752/https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/scandinavian Scandinavian, noun]', ''Lexico: Powered By Oxford''.</ref><ref>'[[mwod:Scandinavian|Scandinavian noun]]', ''Merriam-Webster''.</ref><ref>'[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/scandinavian Scandinavian 2. countable noun] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191127171335/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/scandinavian |date=27 November 2019 }}', ''Collins Cobuild''.</ref> There is a certain ambiguity and political contestation as to which peoples should be referred to as Scandinavian in this broader sense. [[Sámi]] people who live in Norway and Sweden are generally included as Scandinavians in the demonymic sense; the Sámi of Finland may be included in English usage, but usually not in local usage; the Sámi of Russia are not included. However, the use of the term "Scandinavian" with reference to the Sámi is complicated by the historical attempts by Scandinavian majority peoples and governments in Norway and Sweden to assimilate the [[Sámi]] people into the Scandinavian culture and languages, making the inclusion of the Sámi as "Scandinavians" controversial among many Sámi. Modern Sámi politicians and organizations often stress the status of the Sámi as a people separate from and equal to the Scandinavians, with their own language and culture, and are apprehensive about being included as "Scandinavians" in light of earlier Scandinavian assimilation policies.<ref>Mathisen, Stein R. 2004. "Ethnic Identities in Global and Local Discourses: Contested Narratives of Sámi Ethnic Heritage". In Cultural Identity in Transition: Contemporary Conditions, Practices and Politics of a Global Phenomenon. Edited by Jari Kupiainen, Erkki Sevänen, John A. Stotesbury. Atlantic.</ref><ref>Birgitta Jahreskog, The Sami national minority in Sweden, Rättsfonden, 2009, {{ISBN|9780391026872}}</ref>