Pre-Finno-Ugric substrate refers to substratum loanwords from unidentified non-Indo-European and non-Uralic languages that are found in various Finno-Ugric languages, most notably Sami. The presence of Pre-Finno-Ugric substrate in Sami languages was demonstrated by Ante Aikio. Janne Saarikivi points out that similar substrate words are present in Finnic languages as well, but in much smaller numbers.
Theories
Some theories about the origin of substrate in Sami languages link it to the unattested languages of post-Ahrensburgian cultures. According to Aikio, the speakers of the Proto-Samic language arrived in Lapland around 650 BC and fully assimilated the localPaleo-European populations by the middle of 1st millennium AD. In his opinion, the detailed reconstruction of these languages is impossible. The languages of more eastern post-Swiderian cultures might have influenced Finno-Ugric languages as well. According to Peter Schrijver, some of these substrate languages probably had lots of geminated consonants. Vladimir Napolskikh has attempted to link them to the hypothetical Dené–Caucasian language family, but later had to admit that these substrate words have no apparent parallels in any known language on Earth. Other researchers have pointed out that some of these words might have parallels in Tungusic languages. Yuri Kuzmenko tried to compare them to the hypothetical Pre-Germanic substrate words, but found no similarities apart from the distinction between central and peripheral accentuation. In population genetics, Pre-Finno-Ugric substrate in Sami languages correlates with the spread of Y-DNA haplogroup I1 and mtDNA haplogroups H1 and U5b1b. However, the presence of the Y-DNA haplogroup I1a* among Sami people can be explained by immigration during the 14th century, which is quite late in Sami history. Some examples of Kildin Sami words without convincing Uralic/Finno-Ugric etymologies:
Kildin Sami
English
kut’t’k
heart
nirr
cheek
čad’z’
water
vuntas
sand
poav’n
hummock
k’ed’d’k
stone
abbr’
rain
piŋŋk
wind
ket’t’k’
wolverine
nigkeš
pike
murr
tree
cigk
mist
mun
frost
pin’ne
to herd, to look after
čujke
to ski
puaz
reindeer
koan’n’t
wild reindeer
luhpel’
1 y.o. reindeer
sejjd
deity
kipp’tε
to cook
kuras
empty
modžes
beautiful
n’učke
to jump
čacke
to throw
tuллtε
to boil
kuarktε
to boast
лujx’ke
to cry
nissε
to kiss
madt
trouble
aps
smell
Most of these words have cognates in all Sami languages. A more extensivelist of such words can be found in G.M. Kert's 2009 work on Sami toponymics. Note that some of them now have convincing Uralic etymologies: i.e. tōmtε «to recognize», and n′uxč «swan». Semantically, pre-Sami substrate consists mostly of basic vocabulary terms and nature/animal names, and lacks terms of kinship and societal organization, which suggests a rather low level of socioeconomic development in pre-Sami cultures. There are also some examples of possible substrate words in Finno-Volgaic languages that differ from the Pre-Sami substrate, i.e. Proto-Finno-Volgaic *täštä "star", or *kümmin "ten".
