Chudes

Chudes, a Finnish people formerly widely diffused over the region lying south of Lake Onega, but now mostly extinct, or assimilated to the surrounding Russian populations. Two distinct Chudic languages still survive - the Wepsic, in the north, and the Wotic in the south. They form with Carelian, Tavastian, Livonian, and Esthonian the western division of the Finnish linguistic family. Russian writers often apply the term Chude to the whole of the Finnic group. Its origin is unknown, but some have supposed it to be the same word as Scythian, through an intermediate form Skud, whence chud.