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:
“These boys who love their mother
who loves men, who passes on
her sons to other women;
The cloud across the sky. The windy pines.
the trickle gurgle in the swampy meadow
this is our body.”
—Gary Snyder (b. 1930)
“Over the land freckled with snow half-thawed
The speculating rooks at their nests cawed”
—Edward Thomas (1878–1917)