a song from Vilhelmina in Swedish Lapland, from Otto Donner, Lappalaisia lauluja (1876)

A wooing song in dialogue, in the South Sámi of Vilhelmina in Swedish Lapland, written down by ear in Swedish spelling and mixed with Swedish words: a lad and a girl answer each other in turn. Councillor Grönlund of Stockholm wrote it down in the late 1840s, from the same source as another of the Vilhelmina songs, and Otto Donner printed it in 1876. The lad asks the girl to accept the beginning of their love and his betrothal gifts while they think it over; she answers that if it is ordained they will walk those paths, and if it is not, he takes the gifts back with the same hands. Some of its words are obscure and are left in Sámi.

Translation

(Lad of the wooing:)
Sjesjala kust, girl! to accept this,
The beginning of our love?
Which our parents so sjesjeli (favour).

(Girl of the wooing:)
Come, and welcome! If it is so ordained for me,
That we two shall walk those paths,
And narkelit those jelleks sjuosja of yours.

(Lad of the wooing)
So then you take my betrothal gifts
For the while of our thinking.
And, if it is so ordained,
That we two shall become one.

(Girl of the wooing)
And, if it does not so come to be,
Then with the same hands
You take those back.

(Lad of the wooing)
And just see how afterwards
Our love too will last;
But think it over all the same, little girl!
Mah' to me vukin sjesjalah,
Also to muoskotallet, then, my jelleks sjuosjeb.

(Girl of the wooing)
Keep pådn kinsfolk there,
Still on that side!
When one may also think it over,
Afterwards.

Colophon

Translated from the Sámi of Otto Donner, Lappalaisia lauluja (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1876), no. 21. Donner gives it as from the same source as his no. 17, which Councillor Grönlund of Stockholm wrote down in the late 1840s in Vilhelmina Lapland from the recitation of a fifteen-year-old Sámi girl and gave to Donner; Donner kept Grönlund's Swedish-style spelling. Donner printed a Finnish translation after each song; it was not consulted. The text used is the Project Gutenberg transcription of Donner's book, with the Sámi lines proofed against the Sámi of his German edition, Lieder der Lappen, 1876.

The song is not in North Sámi but in the South Sámi of Vilhelmina, written by ear in Swedish letters (tj for č, sj for š), and it is mixed with Swedish words: så, "so, then" (twice), samma, "same", men, "but", and slekt-, "kin", in slektatjeh, a Swedish word with a Sámi plural ending. Räcko, "last", is the Swedish räcka as the Sámi had borrowed it (Halász IV s.v. rouhkqt, dauern, "sv. räcka"). The words were checked in E. Lindahl and J. Öhrling's Lexicon Lapponicum (1780), whose southern Lapp is the nearest of the dictionaries to Vilhelmina; in Ignácz Halász's South Sámi dictionary (Svéd-lapp nyelv IV, 1891), whose Hattfjelldal and Stensele forms are the nearest recorded dialect; in K. B. Wiklund's Lule-lappisches Wörterbuch (1890); and in J. A. Friis's Ordbog over det lappiske Sprog (1887). Most of the song reads securely; a few phrases do not.

The speaker labels are Sámi and stay with their speech. Suonga is "wooing" (Halász IV s.v. suqnuo, Hattfjelldal suonuo, das Freien, die Brautwerbung, and suona-parnie, Freier; Friis 1887 s.v. Soagŋo, petitio matrimonii), Padne is "lad" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. Pardne; Halász IV s.v. parnie) and Neita "girl" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. Neit), so Suonga Padne is "the lad of the wooing" and Suonga Neita "the girl of the wooing". The title, Suonga wuolle, is "the wooing song" (wuolle: Halász IV s.v. vüolie, Lied).

These readings decide the sense. Tuostot and tuostote are "to receive, take" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. Tuostot, recipere, taga emot), not tuostet, "to dare" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. Tuostet; Halász IV s.v. tuostet), which differs by one vowel. Maikit is the plural of maike, which Lindahl–Öhrling marks as southern and explains by kihle, the gift given to a bride as a pledge of the marriage to come (s.v. Maike and Kihle, trolåfnings-gåfva): here, "betrothal gifts". Påstoit is "back", Halász's poastata, Hattfjelldal postite, zurück (IV s.v. poqstata). Puolkab is read as Halász's puolka, "a span of time, a while" (IV s.v. puolka), in the accusative of time: "for the while of our thinking". Muonatam and muonam are "ordained", from muonet, of which Lindahl–Öhrling gives Jubmel le naute muonem, "God has so ordained it" (s.v. Muonet). Ajtika is "parents" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. Aitegeh; Halász IV s.v. äiteka). Kätijkum is "with the hands": kätij, read as the plural of kieta, "hand" (Halász IV s.v. kieta), with kum, "with", which Lindahl–Öhrling gives as a preposition joined to the word before it (s.v. Kum: mo-kum, "with me"). Palkait is "paths" (Halász IV s.v. palka, Weg). Monno, monnon and monnen are "we two" and "of us two" (Halász IV s.v. mannah, the dual). Telle and tal are "then" (Halász IV s.v. tallie, jetzt, da). Kuit is "indeed, just" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. Kuit, quidem, certe); kuktel is "how" (Halász IV s.v. kuktie, wie); mingelin and Mingellen are "afterwards" (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. Mangelen, postea, efteråt); likan is "all the same" (s.v. Likan, tamen, dock); nejtakuts is "little girl" (Swedish index s.v. Flicka); usjotet, usjotal' and usjoteme are "to think" (s.v. Ussjotet, cogitare, tänka, mena); Anje tan palen is "still on that side" (s.v. Anje, adhuc, and Pele, latus, sida); Kåsse is "when" and ådtjo "may" (s.v. Kalkelet, where Kåsse is quando, and s.v. Ådtjot and Kuit). Påte puorist, "come well", is a greeting (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. Puorest, formula salutandi), rendered "Come, and welcome!".

Some readings rest partly on the context. Aktain sjaddet is "become one": Lindahl–Öhrling gives aktain as "alone, as one" (s.v. Aktain, solus) and Wiklund the Lule verb "to be joined" (s.v. aktane-); "one" for the pair is the context's. Vänote, which Donner prints in brackets as another word for sjesjeli, is read as Lindahl–Öhrling's wånotet, "to favour, side with" (s.v. Wånotet); wainotet, "to desire" (s.v. Wainotet), is also possible. Tuostote is taken as "you take" in both places, from the context of the two speeches. In the girl's last stanza Adne is "keep, have" (s.v. Adnet), and takko is read as "there": Lindahl–Öhrling's taggo is "this way, here" and, with its first syllable said quickly, "there, that way" (s.v. Taggo, hac, per hunc locum; illic, illac), and Halász gives the Stensele form takkuo, da, hier (IV s.v. takkā); "there" is probable, not certain.

These words are left in Sámi, because no dictionary explains them or none fits: Sjesjala and kust (kust is "whence", Halász IV s.v. kuste, but the phrase does not resolve), with sjesjeli and sjesjalah, other forms of the same unexplained word; jelleks (twice); sjuosja and sjuosjeb, one word; narkelit; Mah'; vukin; muoskotallet; pådn. Narkelit is near Lindahl–Öhrling's narket, of sexual intercourse (s.v. Narket), and Halász's nárvelit, "to squeeze, wring" (IV s.v. nárvelit); neither is certain and neither is taken; it stands, like vadsit in the line before, after kalka, "shall". Mah' may be Halász's mah, the plural of mi, "what" (IV s.v. mah). Pådn may be Lindahl–Öhrling's pådn, "waist, middle" (s.v. Pådn, midja), or pådnje, "old man, husband" (s.v. Pådnje, senex, maritus); neither fits surely. Muoskotallet has the frequentative ending -tallet of tuostotallet (Lindahl–Öhrling s.v. Tuostotallet), but no stem muosk- is in the dictionaries.

No English translation of this song is known to us.

© 2026 Tianmu Anglican Church. This English translation is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: you may share and adapt it for non-commercial use with credit to the Good Works Library, tianmu.org. The source text keeps its own terms. For other uses, see Rights and Reuse.

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Source Text: Suonga wuolle

The Sámi text as printed by Donner (1876), no. 21, from the Project Gutenberg transcription, proofed against his German edition.

(Suonga Padne:)
Sjesjala kust, nejta! tab tuostot
Monnen keresvuoten algo?
Jukko monnon ajtika, nau sjesjeli (vänote).

(Suonga Neita:)
Påte puorist! jus le nau muonatam munji,
Atte monno kalka taite palkait vadsit,
Ja taite to jelleks sjuosja narkelit.

(Suonga Padne)
Så tuostote telle mo maikit
Monnon usjoteme puolkab.
Ja, jus le nau muonam,
Atte monno kalka aktain sjaddet.

(Suonga Neita)
Ja, jus i ai nau sjadde,
Så samma kätijkum
Tuostote taite påstoit.

(Suonga Padne)
Ja vuoidna kuit, kuktel mingelin
Ai mijen keresvuoten räcko;
Men usjotal' likan, nejtakuts!
Mah' munjin vukin sjesjalah,
Ai muoskotallet tal mo jelleks sjuosjeb.

(Suonga Neita)
Adne takko pådn slektatjeh,
Anje tan palen!
Kåsse ai ådtjo usjotet,
Mingellen.

Source Colophon

Otto Donner, Lappalaisia lauluja (Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1876), no. 21. Public domain. The text is from the Project Gutenberg transcription of the book (PG #73262, 2024), with the Sámi lines proofed against the Sámi of Donner's German edition, Lieder der Lappen (1876; Internet Archive identifier liederderlappen00unkngoog). Three readings are corrected from the German edition: sjuosja in the girl's first speech, where the Gutenberg text has sjuösja; the comma after sjadde at the head of her second, where it has a semicolon; and muoskotallet in the lad's last speech, where it has rauoskotallet. The Gutenberg text sets a blank line inside the lad's last speech, after nejtakuts!; the German edition prints the five lines of that speech as one block, and they stand so here. Donner prints no verse numbers with this song. The speakers' names in brackets at the head of each speech are his, and are Sámi; (vänote) in the first stanza is a word Donner prints in brackets inside the Sámi as an alternative to the one before it. Grönlund's Swedish-style spelling is otherwise kept as the transcription gives it, including å, ä and the apostrophes.

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