Already before 890, the Norwegian seafarer Ohthere of Hålogaland (Norwegian: Ottar frå Hålogaland) had sailed around the Kola Peninsula. His account of his travels to King Alfred of Wessex described the Russian Sámi language as “almost the same as that of the Beormas” – referring, most likely, to the Karelians.Knutsen Duolljá, 2022.
The Unified Northern Alphabet is the result of a systematic study by the Institute of the Peoples of the North, starting in 1926. The alphabet was used ca. 1932–1937, before being replaced by a Cyrillic spelling. A subset of the Unified Northern AlphabetDavidov & Alkor, 1932. forms a common orthography for the three Sámi languages spoken on the Kola Peninsula.Partanen & Rießler, 2019.
This orthography was used by Zakhary Efimovich Chernyakov in the 1933 Kola Sámi ABC Book, Saam̦ Bukvaŗ.Chernyakov, 1933. A dedicated Kildin Sámi primer followed in 1934, written by Petr Nikolaevich Ƶuļov.Ƶuļov, 1934. The same year, Natalia Popova’s arithmetic textbook was published in Kildin Sámi,Popova, 1934. as well as a translation of L. Saveļjev’s Koht jemne miļt vьjet ("How People Travel the Land").Saveļjev, 1934. A translation of Evgeny Charushin’s Jeljes poak jemnen (“Animals of Hot Countries”)Charushin, 1935. came out in 1935.Kert, 1975, p. 210.
Just before the 1937 transition to Cyrillic spelling, Aleksandr Endûkovskij published a Kildin Sámi dictionary using a more precise notation.Endûkovskij, 1937a. Already the same year, all publishing and education in Kildin Sámi language ceased.Kert, 1975, p. 210. A new primer – this time in Cyrillic – followed shortly from the same author.Endûkovskij, 1937b.
Modern developments
In Towards a digital infrastructure for Kildin Saami, the German linguist Michael Rießler writes that: “The second new Cyrillic orthography for Kildin Sámi was developed in the 1970s and 1980s by a working group of Sámi teachers and language activists led by the non-Sámi educationalist and linguist Rimma Kuruch. This orthography […] has since been used, in different variants, in dictionaries, in textbooks for elementary schools, as well as in several published literary texts for children and adults, and most recently even in the internet.”
Rießler gives the modifier letter apostrophe (ʼ) and “ҋ” as optional characters for the shha (“һ”) and je (“ј”) respectively, and notes the macron length marks above “ä” and “ӭ” – used in natural writing, but not listed in the alphabet.Rießler, 2013, p. 205.
Literature
Antonova, A. A., Voronova O. V., & Korkina E. N. (1990). Са̄мь кӣлл. Учебник и книга для чтения: для 2-го класса [Sámi ABC book for the 1st class of Saami schools, second revised edition]. Prosveshchenie. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from saami.su
Abercromby, J. (1895). The earliest list of Russian Lapp words. In Suomalais-ugrilaisen Seuran Aikakauskirja [The Journal of the Finno-Ugrian Society] vol. 13, pp. 1–8. The Finno-Ugrian Society.
Charushin, E. (1935). Jeljes poak jemnen [Animals of Hot Countries]. Ogiz-Detgiz. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from fennougrica.kansalliskirjasto.fi
Chernjakov, Z.E. (1933). Saam bukvar [Sami ABC Book]. Uꞓpedgiz.
Davydov, I.D., Alkor, P.Y. (Eds.). (1932). Материалы 1 Всесоюзной Конференции по развитию языков и письменности народов Севера [Proceedings of the 1st All-Union Conference on the Development of Languages and Writing of the Peoples of the North]. Institute of the Peoples of the North. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from archive.org
Endûkovskij, A. G. (1937a). Saamskij (loparskij) jazyk. Jazyki i pis'mennost' narodov severa, vol. I. Moscow. Retrieved 22 September 2026 from upload.wikimedia.org
Endûkovskij, A. G. (1937b). Саамь букваррь [Sami alphabet]. Uꞓpedgiz. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from fennougrica-kansalliskirjasto.fi
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Everson. M. (2002). Kildin Sami. In The Alphabets of Europe. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from evertype.com
Genetz, A. (1878). Max'tveest Пas'-Evangeli Samas. Evangelìe ot" Matḟeja (na russko-loparskom" jazykě) Махьтвеест Пась-Евангели Самас. Евангеліе отъ Матѳея (на русско-лопарскомъ языкѣ) [Gospel of Matthew]. Helsinki.
Genetz, A. (1895). Bemerkungen zum Obigen [Referring to Abercromby, 1895.]. In Suomalais-ugrilaisen Seuran Aikakauskirja [The Journal of the Finno-Ugrian Society] vol. 13, pp. 8–10. The Finno-Ugrian Society.
Hakluyt, R. (1619). The principall navigations, voiages and discoveries of the English nation made by Sea or over Land &c. G. Bishop.
Kert, G. M. (1975). Saamskij jazyk [Sámi language]. In V. Lytkin (Ed.), Osnovy finno-ugorskogo jazykoznanija. Pribaltijsko-finskie, saamskij i mordovskie jazyki, pp. 203–247. Akademija Nauk SSSR, Institut Jazukoznanija.
Kert, G. M. (1986). Словарь саамско-русский и русско-саамский [Saami-Russian and Russian–Saami dictionary]. Prosveshchenie. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from saami.su
Knutsen Duolljá, S-E. (29 May 2022). Tersamisk [Ter Sámi]. In Store norske leksikon. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from snl.no
Kuruch, R. D., Afanas’eva, N. E. & Vinogradova, I. V. (1995). Правила орфографии и пунктуации саамского языка [Orthographic rules of the Sámi language]. Murmanskii sektor lingvisticheskikh problem finnougorskikh narodnostei Krainego Severa Instituta Yazykoznaniia Rossiisskoi Akademii nauk.
Partanen, N., Rießler, M. (2019). An OCR system for the Unified Northern Alphabet. ACL Anthology. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from aclanthology.org
Popovа, N. S. (1934). Olhьs̷ s̷kola varas arifmetika: opnuvәm kniga: vәsmus pieļ: vәsmus egk opnuvmus [Arithmetic textbook: for primary school: part one: first year of study]. Uꞓpedgiz. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from fennougrica.kansalliskirjasto.fi
Rießler, M. (2013). Towards a digital infrastructure for Kildin Saami. In E. Kasten & T. de Graaf (Eds.), Sustaining Indigenous Knowledge: Learning Tools and Community Initiatives for Preserving Endangered Languages and Local Cultural Heritage (pp. 195–218). Kulturstiftung Sibirien.
Rießler, M. (2014). Kildin Saami, brief linguistic introduction. [Draft]. Freiburg.
Sammallahti, P. & Khvorostukhina, A. (1991). Краткий SÁMI-CА̄МЬ, CА̄МЬ-SÁMI словарь [Small North Sámi–Kildin Sámi and Kildin Sámi–North Sámi dictionary. Girjegiisá.
Saveļjev, L. (1934). Koht jemne miļt vьjet [How people travel on earth]. Ogiz-Antmuꞩ Paŗn Literatura. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from fennougrica.kansalliskirjasto.fi
Theil, R., Knutsen Duolljá, S-E. (2023, January 26). Kildinsamisk [Kildin Sámi]. In Store norske leksikon. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from snl.no
Ƶuļov, P.N. (1934). Kniga logkɘm guejka: vɘsmus pieļ vɘsmus egest opnuvmus [Reading book : Part 1 : 1st Grade]. Rațkmus Uꞓpedgizɘst. Retrieved 20 September 2026 from fennougrica.kansalliskirjasto.fi
