Black Haired Girl Posing In The Wooden Cottage

In certain places (e.g. North America, Scandinavia and Russia) the term "cottage" (in Finnish mökki; in Swedish stuga; in Norwegian hytte - from the German word Hütte - in Russian datsche) can refer to a vacation/summer home, often located near a body of water. However, in North America generally this is more commonly called a "cabin", "chalet", or even "camp".
Origin of the term
Originally in the Middle Ages, cottages housed agricultural workers and their families. The term cottage denoted the dwelling of a cotter. Thus, cottages were smaller peasant units (larger peasant units being called messuages). In that early period, a documentary reference to a cottage would most often mean, not a small stand-alone dwelling as today, but a complete farmhouse and yard (albeit a small one).