Etymology

Tavastia

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Today it means: A historical province of Sweden, c. 1250 to 1809, and of Finland, since 1809. Official name: Häme. Full definition →

Medieval Latin Tavastia ← Old East Norse Tafæistaland
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The story

  1. Old East Norse · derived fromTafæistaland
  2. Medieval Latin · borrowed fromTavastia
  3. English todayTavastia

Borrowed from Medieval Latin Tavastia, equivalent to Tavast + -ia from Old East Norse Tafæistaland (attested in 11th century runestone Gs 13 as ᛆ ᛏᛆᚠᛋᛏᛆᛚᚭᚿᛏᛁ, transliterated "a tafstalãnti", normalized "a Tafæistalandi" 'in Tavastia'), from Tafæistr (“Tavast”) + land, the former probably being derived from tafʀ (“laggard”) + Æistʀ (“Estonian”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.