semla

A ', , Swedish eclair, , , , or is a traditional sweet roll made in various forms in Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, and Latvia, associated with Lent and especially Shrove Tuesday in most countries, Shrove Monday in Denmark, parts of southern Sweden, Iceland and Faroe Islands or Sunday of Fastelavn in Norway. In Sweden it is most commonly known as just (plural: ), but is also known as , . In the southern parts of Sweden, as well as in Swedish-speaking Finland, it is known as (plural: ; on the other hand means a plain wheat bun with butter, called in Swedish). In Poland it is known as . In Estonia it is called . In Norway and Denmark it is called . In Iceland, it is known as a ' and served on Bolludagur. In Faroe Islands it is called ''', and is served on . In Latvia, it is called . served in a bowl of hot milk is '.

==Etymology== The name (plural: ) is a loan word from Middle Low German semmel, originally deriving from the Latin , meaning 'flour', itself a borrowing from Greek (), which was the name used for the finest quality wheat flour. In the southernmost part of Sweden (Scania) and by the Swedish-speaking population in Finland, they are known as . In Denmark and Norway they are known as ( and fastelavn being the equivalent of Shrove Tuesday). In Scanian, the feast is also called . In Finnish they are known as (which refers to the Finnish ), in Latvian as , and in Estonian as .