Theory Two: "Woman"
Whatever the origin of the name "kven" is, it effortlessly translates to "woman" in Old Norse. Proto-Germanic "*kwinōn, *kunōn; *kwēni-z, *kwēnō" for "woman" had developed into "kona; kvǟn, kvān, kvɔ̄n; kvendi; kvenna, kvinna" in Old Norse. An example of this is that Kvenland was most likely translated to Terra Feminarum ("Woman Land") in a Latin text from 1075 CE. Finland is not mentioned. Another reference to a north-bound land of women is from an Icelandic manuscript from the 14th century that describes a kuenna land ("Woman Land") north of India that would only have women with both reproduction organs. As the name appears in a geographical list of countries and Finland is nowhere to be found, it may also be a misunderstanding from an era that no longer recognized Kvenland any more.
The reason why Finland would have been called as "Woman Land" is not immediately explained. However, there was a rumour already in the 1st century CE, written down by Tacitus himself, that a tribe called Sitones possibly living somewhere in the present-day Finland were ruled by a woman. This could have led into some Germanic tribes calling Finland as the "woman land", placing a slightly deragotary meaning on the name (at least Tacitus was appalled by the rumour). Swedes living closer to Finns would have restrained using such a name, which would explain absence of "Kvenland" in Swedish contexts.
All in all, there was a persistent tradition of various contents about a land controlled by women in the north which might have generated the name "Kvenland" in a somewhat similar manner than later times invented the name for the River Amazon.
Read more about this topic: Origin Of The Name Kven
Famous quotes containing the word woman:
“Before any woman is a wife, a sister or a mother she is a human being. We ask nothing as women but everything as human beings.”
—Ida C. Hultin, U.S. minister and suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 17, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)