Theory One: "Swampy Land"
Widely accepted is the view first presented by Jouko Vahtola that "kven" etymologically originates from Old Norse "hvein," meaning "swampy land". If Kvenland was the same as Finland and since Finland of the past was largely nothing more than swamps, the theory would fit.
A problem with this approach is that Kvenland does not seem to have been used that much as a geographical term, but rather as the "land of the Kvens". It is also only known to have been used by Norwegians. Had it been a geographical term, wider acceptance would have been expected. Especially noteworthy is the complete ignorance of all "Kven" related names among the Swedes. A decent explanation for this could be that also "Finland" is derived from "hvein land". Thus "Kvenland" would have been a local form of the name Finland used exclusively in some Norwegian dialects.
Read more about this topic: Origin Of The Name Kven
Famous quotes containing the words swampy and/or land:
“They are very proper forest houses, the stems of the trees collected together and piled up around a man to keep out wind and rain,—made of living green logs, hanging with moss and lichen, and with the curls and fringes of the yellow birch bark, and dripping with resin, fresh and moist, and redolent of swampy odors, with that sort of vigor and perennialness even about them that toadstools suggest.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“This land is your land, this land is my land, From California to the New York Island. From the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters This land was made for you and me.”
—Woody Guthrie (1912–1967)