lapland

noun

1. a region in N Norway, N Sweden, N Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of the NW Russian Federation in Europe: inhabited by Lapps.

noun

1. an extensive region of N Europe, mainly within the Arctic Circle: consists of the N parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of the extreme NW of RussiaAlso called (informal): Land of the Midnight Sun

1570s, from Lapp, the Swedish name for this Finnic people (their name for themselves was Sabme), which probably originally was an insulting coinage (cf. Middle High German lappe “simpleton”). In English traditionally the home of witches and wizards who had power to conjure winds and tempests. Related: Laplander.