Culture Name Origins?

[KingLudwig]

Hey Sami,

I probably have like 300 hours or so on Kaumolainen and Owl-Tribe characters, and Im starting to wonder where you got the names for the tribes. Like, is Driik an actual tribe that was in South-Western Finland or does it mean something in Finnish? I'd be thrilled if I found out.

Thanks so much for all the hard work you and Erkka have put in, and thank you even more for being so active on the forums/discussions. 

[davidor]

http://z3.invisionfree.com/UrW_forum/index.php?showtopic=5004&view=findpost&p=22031637

Tribe names are mostly made up "fantasy" names - except for Koivulaiset which you got already. These were made up by Erkka, and I think he came up with words that "feel and taste" the same as original culture/region they resemble.

But it's really impossible (at least for me) to tell even what the authentic, real and existing names of finnish cultural areas mean, or when they come from. There might be some etymological studies available but they are most often only sophisticated guesses smile.gif

For example, I was born and I do live in Savo region. I'm Savolainen.
Someone has suggested that possible origin of word Savo might be:
Savi - clay
Savu - smoke
or even
Saivo - which is saami word for certain kind of lake
Suvanto - which means something like "quiet waters"

But nobody knows for sure. It's tricky.