Nuoremman roomalaisajan kääntöjalkasoljet Suomen kielitilanteen näkökulmasta: Tapausesimerkkinä löytö Hirvensalmelta

In this article, we take a look at a Roman Iron Age fibula found in Hirvensalmi from an archaeological and linguistic perspective. The value of a single object or object type is limited when examining the spread of languages. The fact is, however, that the users of objects have acquired the items by using a language or languages. From this perspective, even a single object can be associated with language – even though we do not know which languages the user spoke. Since the occurence of the fibula type coincides with the spread of Proto-Finnic in Finland, the fibulae may have served as a symbol of a certain kind of group identity in their core distribution area. It is possible that they were even produced and used by Proto-Finnic speaking groups. These groups may have called the brooch with words that are still being used in Finnish: nasta ‘thump pin’ (← Proto-Germanic / Proto-Scandinavian *nasta ‘fibulae’) or solki ‘fibulae’ (← unknown language). A possible name is also pankku ‘fibulae’ (← ? Proto-Scandinavian *spangu ‘fibulae’) that has disappeared from the modern language.