Help Requested From Our Scandinavian Readers -- Nothing About The Bakken -- November 7, 2018

Updates

November 8, 2018: another reader provides this --

• fin means nice or fine rom means room 
• saas could mean see, saw, seen or ridge or maybe sauce 
• Finsaas might be a fine ridge or view ???; 
• Romsaas could "a room with a view..of a ridge?. 

For me, most important was his conclusion (with which I agree):

• I think both Finsaas and Romsaas are Norwegian names.

And then this:

The feud between the Norse and Swedes goes back to 1814 to 1905 when Sweden controlled Norway and Norwegians had to pay taxes to Sweden. Most Norse came to America during this era and they felt the Swedes "lorded over them". Denmark controlled Norway until 1814, but they had made the mistake of supporting Napoleon. When he "met his Waterloo", the Danes were forced to cede Norway to Sweden. Norway got complete independence in 1905.

Later, 8:02 p.m. Central Time: a reader via e-mail and now a comment (see comments) suggest that these are Norwegian surnames.

Original Post 

From The Huffington Post: 

What did Olaf Finsaas know and when did he know it? Our government just figured out that there are 4.3 billion barrels of oil in an area that encompasses the North Dakota/Montana border. My farmer grandfather gets the last laugh.

Now, my own story and request for input:

The back story is too long to go into, so we will cut to the chase.

In Dore, ND, there is/was a Finsaas family (featured in The Williston Herald) in 2012.

When I was growing up, when my mom worked the swing shift at the hospital, we had an older woman watch over us at the house. We knew her as Mrs. Romsaas.

Now, here's where I need help. The internet is of limited help.

Is Romsaas  / Finsaas: Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, or other? Probably not Irish.

My internet search suggests Swedish.

"Saas" is clearly the anglicized "Sås" which in Swedish, according to an internet source on recipes, is "sauce."

Generally, when I found a recipe with "sås" on the internet it was for a fish sauce/fish recipe.

"Fin" apparently means "delicate" and is used in conjunction when describing a Hollandaise sauce for salmon.

"Rom," interestingly enough, is very likely "rum" -- again, it was used in conjunction with a rum sauce for some (fish?) dish.

My Norwegian father was always a bit biased against the Swedes, something he "took" from his father. I never thought about it much one way or the other.

But it fascinates me to think that my father's Norwegian children may have been watched over by a Swedish woman during their early impressionable years. If so, my dad would say it explains a lot how his children turned out.