The Somryaks – who are they?

The Somryaks (Somryaki) is the name of an ethnolocal group residing in the southwestern part of the Leningrad region. To date, there is no scholarly literature dedicated specifically to the Somryaks. Occasional references to this group of population have raised questions regarding their ethnicity and language. The author collected information about the Somryaks in the 1990s through interactions with Ingermanland Finns and Izhorians, and conducted further fieldwork in the 2000s within the Somryaks’ area. The article presents ethnographic data on the Somryaks, including their own perceptions of their connection to the Chud’, a group of peoples who used to inhabit their land. Additionally, the author traces the history of references to the ethnonym Somryaki (the Somryaks) in the Russian language and explores potential parallels with this ethnonym in Baltic-Finnish languages. Possible etymologies of the ethnonym Somryaki and the hydronym Samro are also examined. The article incorporates field materials collected by the author.