In my home village there is a strait between a lake and its gulf. Name of this strait is Surmansalmi. This literally means “strait of d*eath”. . There is a number of straits with the same name all over Finland, such a name is especially common in the East of the county. Does anybody have an idea what can be a reason for such a terrifying name? Maybe somebody knows a story behind it ?

by Juhani-Siranpoika

5 comments

  1. Its the place where you bottom out or miss the inlet when trying to navigate by hand in the bad weather, unless you are familiar enough with the place. So most wrecks == most “deaths”. Sometimes literally, when these places were named there were no markers or other easy access or ways to communicate that you messed up.

    EDIT: “Surma” in the old language also does not mean only death, it can also mean a meaningful challenge: [https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surma_(t%C3%A4smennyssivu)](https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surma_(t%C3%A4smennyssivu))

  2. well, supposedly, some people went down the stream and didnt come back

  3. I would also be very careful crossing Surmansalmi in the winter. Flowing water keeps the ice thin for a long time even when rest of the lake is frozen which can be tough to spot in snowy conditions.

  4. I don’t know where the strait got its name from, but “surma” is an old Finnic word for death and its personification in the Finnish, Estonian and Ingrian languages. The name may therefore indicate that the strait has been a dangerous area and it has caused deaths in the past.

  5. As others have mentioned, surma doesn’t mean death. In this context it would mean ‘met their death’. A place where people have died, most likely due to the treacherous currents and rapids. Or, where people meet their death, or get killed in other words, by force of nature in this case.

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