List of encyclopedias in Finnish

This is a list of encyclopedias in Finnish.

The standard Finnish word for "encyclopedia" is tietosanakirja , literally a "knowledge word-book", or "knowledge dictionary". The adjectives iso and suuri may be somewhat interchangeably understood as "big", "great", or "large". Historically, the three main publishers of encyclopedias in Finnish have been Otava, WSOY (Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö, in 2011 acquired by Bonnier Group), and Weilin+Göös (in 1995 acquired by WSOY).

  Printed (paper)

  Digital (online)

  Both*

*This usually means that volumes of the encyclopaedia were originally printed on paper, but at some point (usually in the 1990s or early 2000s), the encyclopaedia has been digitised and made available in whole or in part in electronic form (usually online, but not necessarily). New entries may or may not be added, while old entries (originally printed) may or may not be updated. Usually, publication of paper-printed editions has been discontinued.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Title in Finnish	Meaning in English	Published
Facta & Facta 2001	Facta & Facta 2001	1969–2007 (print) 1994–2011 (CD-ROM/online) [1] [2]
Factum. Uusi tietosanakirja  [ fi ]	Factum. New Encyclopaedia	2003–2005
Iso tietosanakirja  [ fi ]	Big Encyclopaedia	1931–1958
Oma maa  [ fi ]	(Our) Own Land	1905–1912; 1958–1959
Otavan iso Fokus  [ fi ]	Otava's Big Focus	1971–1975
Otavan iso tietosanakirja: Encyclopaedia Fennica  [ fi ]	Otava's Big Encyclopaedia: Encyclopaedia Fennica	1960–1965
Otavan Suuri Ensyklopedia  [ fi ]	Otava's Great Encyclopaedia	1976–1983
Pieni tietosanakirja	The Small Encyclopaedia	1925–1928
Sanakirja yleiseen sivistykseen kuuluvia tietoja varten  [ fi ]	Dictionary of Facts Belonging to a General Education [3]	1883–1890 [a]
Spectrum Tietokeskus  [ fi ]	Spectrum Knowledge Centre	1976–1987
Suomen kirjailijat	Writers in Finland	1809–1916 (print vol. 1) [5] [6] 1917–1944 (print vol. 2) 1945–1980 (print vol. 3) 1993–? (online database) [b]
Suomenkielinen Wikipedia	Finnish Wikipedia	2002–present
Suuri Suomalainen Tietosanakirja  [ fi ]	Great Finnish Encyclopaedia	1988–1991
Tiedon Värikäs Maailma	The Colourful World of Knowledge	1972–1980
Tietosanakirja	Encyclopaedia	1909–1922
Uusi tietosanakirja	New Encyclopaedia	1929–1932
Uusi tietosanakirja	New Encyclopaedia	1960–1972
WSOY iso tietosanakirja  [ fi ]	WSOY Big Encyclopaedia	1995–1997

See also

• Encyclopaedia synoptica  [ fi ] – a Latin encyclopedia from 1672 by Johannes Gezelius the Elder; the first encyclopedia published in Finland
• Northern Sami Wikipedia – written in Northern Sámi, a distant Uralic relative of Finnish
• Uppslagsverket Finland (1982–2007; online since 2009) – an encyclopedia about Finland written in Swedish

Notes

1. The first encyclopedia in Finnish, written by Agathon Meurman, mostly based on the German Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . ^{[3] [4]}
2. Series published by the Finnish Literature Society. An online database named "Suomen kirjailijat -tietokanta" [Writers in Finland -Database] was launched in the 1990s.

References

1. "Hyllymetri tietoa yhdessä cd-levyssä WSOY:n cd-rom-tietosanakirjasta löytyy myös kuvaa ja ääntä" (in Finnish). Helsingin Sanomat. 14 April 1994.
2. Tiikkaja, Samuli (26 March 2012). "Internet tappoi suomalaiset tietosanakirjat - myös netissä". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 20 December 2021.
3. Daniels, Gordon (1984). Europe Interprets Japan. P. Norbury Publications. p. 98. ISBN   978-0-904404-42-5 . Retrieved 16 August 2025. The beginnings of the consolidation of the image of Japan may be seen in the country's inclusion in the first encyclopaedia to be published in Finnish. Agathon Meurman's Sanakirja yleiseen siwistykseen kuuluwia tietoja warten ('Dictionary of facts belonging to a general education') appeared in 12 parts between 1883 and 1890.
4. Meurman, Agathon (1826 - 1909) Finnish National Biography. Retrieved 7 May 2016. (in Finnish)
5. Selleck, R. G. (1995). Historical Abstracts: Modern history abstracts, 1775-1914. Part A. American Bibliographical Center, CLIO. p. 246. Retrieved 16 August 2025.
6. Hannu, Marttila (24 March 1993). "Autonomian ajan matrikkelissa on 2000 kirjailijaa" [There are 2,000 writers in the registry during the period of autonomy]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 16 August 2025.