Suecia 2-071 ; Torneå 2.jpg

In modern English, the name of Sweden ( sv, Sverige, links=no ) is derived from 17th century Middle Dutch and Middle Low German. In Old English, the country was named ''Swēoland'' (literally "Swede land") and ''Swēorīċe'' (literally "Swede kingdom"); the latter is cognate with Old Norse ''Svíaríki''. Anglo-Norman of the 12th and 13th centuries used ''Suane'' and ''Swane'' (with the adjective as ''Suaneis''). In Scots, ''Swane'' and ''Swaine'' appear in the 16th century. Early Modern English used ''Swedeland''.

The Old English name for Sweden was ''Swēoland'' or ''Swēorīċe'', land or kingdom of the ''Swēon'', whereas the Germanic tribe of the '' Swedes'' was called ''Svíþjóð'' in Old Norse. The latter is a compositum consisting of ''Sví'' which means Swedish and ''þjóð'' which means people. The word ''þjóð'' has its origin in the elder Indo-European word ''teuteh''.

The name of the ''Sviar'' is derived from a self-designation containing the Germanic reflexive '' *s(w)e'' “one's own” or “self”.

Sweden

The modern English name ''Sweden'' was loaned from Dutch. Before the gradual introduction of ''Sweden'' in the 17th century, English used ''Swedeland'' or ''Sweathland''.

It is based on Middle Dutch ''Zweden'', the Dutch name of Sweden, and in origin the dative plural of ''Zwede'' " Swede".
It has been in use in English from about 1600, first recorded in Scottish ''Swethin, Swadne''.
Country names based on a dative plural in ''-n'' became productive in German and Dutch in the 15th century; compare German ''Italien'' "Italy", ''Spanien'' "Spain", ''Rumänien'' "Romania", ''Ungarn'' "Hungary".

Outside of Dutch (''Zweden''), German (''Schweden'') and English, the name ''Sweden'' has also been adopted in Welsh. The English form in ''-n'' has also influenced a number of non-European languages, including Japanese スウェーデン (''Suwēden''), Hindi (''Svīḍan''), Yoruba ''Swídìn'' and the Chinese rendition (pinyin ''Ruìdiǎn''), and via the Chinese Hanzi spelling various other languages in the larger Sinosphere (such as Vietnamese ''Thụy Điển'', Southern Min ''Sūi-tián'', etc.).

Sverige

In Sweden, the form ''Swerike'' is attested from the end of the 13th century, ''Svearike'', from the 14th century, as well as the Icelandic ''Svíaríki'' and the Old Gutnish ''Suiariki''.

In those days the meaning was restricted to the older Swedish region in Svealand and did not always include Götaland, the land of the Geats. The word ''rike'' translates to "realm" and also appears in the name of the legislature, '' Riksdag'' (c.f. Danish ''rigsdag'', German '' Reichstag'').

Towards the end of the 15th century, the form had changed to ''Swerighe'' both in Swedish and Danish, like ''bakare'' ("baker") to ''bagare'' and ''mik'' ("me") to ''mig''. This was due to a linguistic sound change. 17th-century spellings include ''Swerghe'', ''Swirghe'', ''Swirge''.

Much is made about the difference between the medieval forms ''Svearike'' and ''Sverige''. Medieval Swedes, though, were unlikely to see it as anything else but a matter of pronunciation.

Names in Finnic languages

A naming that stems from a completely different root is the one used in some Finnic languages, in Finnish ''Ruotsi'', in Estonian ''Rootsi'', in Northern Sami ''Ruoŧŧa'', probably derived from various uses of ''rōþs-'', i.e., "related to rowing" in Old Swedish, cf. Rus, probably through the old name of the coast of North Svealand, Roslagen, and to the fact that before sailboats were established in the Baltic Sea, row boats were used to traverse it.

Names in other languages

The name of Sweden was Latinized as ''Suecia'' adopted in various Romance and Slavic languages, including Spanish ''Suecia'', Catalan ''Suècia'', Portuguese ''Suécia'', Bulgarian ''Shvetsiya'', and in non-European languages influenced by such languages, In these languages, there is frequent confusion between the names of Sweden and of Switzerland (Spanish ''Suiza'', Catalan ''Suïssa'', Portuguese ''Suíça'', Bulgarian ''Shveytsariya''). There is a historical tradition going back to at least the 15th century to the effect that Schwyz (the settlement which gave its name to Switzerland) was indeed named after the Swedes.
Ericus Olai in his ''Chronica regni Gothorum '' () notes the similarity in toponymy, ''Swycia, quasi Suecia''. This tradition was taken seriously in 19th-century scholarly reception of the Swiss Swedish origin legend, especially in Swedish romantic nationalism (e.g. Erik Gustaf Geijer's 1836 ''History of the Swedes''), but is now considered unlikely.

Chinese uses to represent a phonetic approximation of the name (Cantonese ''seoi⁶din²'', pinyin ''ruìdiǎn''). Also in China, there has been frequent confusion with the name of Switzerland (Cantonese beginning with the same character ''ruì'' (meaning "auspicious"), to the point where the Swiss and Swedish consulates in Shanghai launched a campaign to help Chinese tourists distinguish between the two countries in 2013.Chinese confuse Sweden with Switzerland
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In Arabic, the name is rendered as ''Suwayd'' , the pertaining adjective being ''suwaydī'' "Swedish", which happens to form a homonym with a pre-existing Arabic name ''Suwayd'' "black, dark, swarthy" (c.f. '' Sudan'') and the nisba pre-existing in various parts of the Arab world (such as Riyadh's as-Suwaidi district).

See also

* List of country-name etymologies
* List of etymologies of country subdivision names - contains etymologies of Swedish provinces
* Rus' (name)

Notes

References

{{Europe topic, Name of, title=Names of European states and territories

Sweden
History of Sweden