# Sweden



## robbie_SWE

I believe that in most languages, my country starts with "S", but there must be exceptions. I seem to remember that the Finnish word starts with "R". So, how do you say Sweden in your language? 

Swedish: *Sverige*
German: *Schweden*
Romanian: *Suedia*
French: *Suède*
Italian: *Svezia*



 robbie


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## Lykurg

Finnish: Ruotsi
Portuguese: Suécia
Latin, Spanish: Suecia
Greek: Σουηδία


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## alby

In Croatian is *Švedska - Š *is pronounced like Sh in English

Nataša


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## Chazzwozzer

Here's an exception:*

Turkish:* İsveç


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## panjabigator

Spanish:  Sueca


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## betulina

panjabigator said:
			
		

> Spanish:  Suecia


You forgot the I after the C, Panja.  _Sueca_ is a woman from Sweden.

In Catalan: *Suècia*.


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## linguist786

In *Urdu*, we borrow the English: سويڈن (Sweedan)
In *Gujarati*, we borrow the English too: સ્વીડન (Sweedan) 
In *Hindi*, again from the English: स्वीडन (Sweedan)
In *Punjabi* (surprise, surprise): ਸਵੀਡਨ (Sweedan)
In *Arabic* it is: السويد (As-suweed)
In *Korean*: 스웨덴 (pronounced "Swaydenn")

So no exceptions so far... BUT:

In *Chinese* (pronunciations vary, but pinyin): 瑞典 (rui4 tian3)
In *Estonian* - (a bit like Finnish): Rootsi


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## Outsider

Now I'm curious! Where does this _Roo-_ root of Finno-Ugric languages (and Chinese?) come from?!

 P.S. Oh, wait! Is it the root _Rus_ of _Russia, Russian_, perhaps?


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## pickypuck

Basque: Suedia.
Galician: Suecia.

Danish: Sverige.
Dutch: Zweden.
German: Schweden.
Icelandic: Svíþjóð.
Norwegian: Sverige.

¡Olé!


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## Thomas1

Polish: Szwecja
Russian: Швеция ([shvyetciyah] more or less)


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## jester.

Outsider said:
			
		

> P.S. Oh, wait! Is it the root _Rus_ of _Russia, Russian_, perhaps?



Why would they use the root of "Russia, Russian, etc."?


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## Outsider

Russia and the Russians were named after the Swedish Vikings, who were known in the Middle Ages as the Rus. In other words, _Rus_ is an old word for "Swede".


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## jester.

Outsider said:
			
		

> Russia and the Russians were named after the Swedish Vikings, who were known in the Middle Ages as the Rus. In other words, _Rus_ is an old word for "Swede".



Interesting. I had no idea about that. But it seems then that you are right. I presume that this is indeed the root used in languages in which Sweden begins with an R.


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## Whodunit

Outsider said:
			
		

> Now I'm curious! Where does this _Roo-_ root of Finno-Ugric languages (and Chinese?) come from?!


 
First off, here's a small summary of translations into some languages. Usually, the word begins with "s" (it is derived from "sue-"/"swe-", the origin ís not known). Then, there's the prefix "ru-"/"ro-" in Finnish, Estonian, and Chinese; these languages borrowed the prefix from "Rus:"



> Sverige (native name): derives from the phrase Svia Rike, meaning "the realm of the Swedes" (probably through Danish, even though a similar linguistic evolution happened within Swedish: mik->mig).
> Ruotsi (Finnish), Rootsi (Estonian), Rūotšmō (Livonian), Ruoŧŧa (Sami): probably from a Varangian people called the Rus', originating from Roslagen in Svealand. Scholars debate the meaning of rus, but it probably originates from the element roþs- ("relating to rowing") which has the same origin as row.


 


			
				Outsider said:
			
		

> P.S. Oh, wait! Is it the root _Rus_ of _Russia, Russian_, perhaps?


 
That's at least what the Wikipedia article says.


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## MingRaymond

linguist786 said:
			
		

> In *Chinese* (pronunciations vary, but pinyin): 瑞典 (rui4 tian3)


 
It should be rui4 dian3.  In Cantonese, 瑞典 is sui3 din2. 

Ming


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## Outsider

Is s --> r a common sound shift between Cantonese and Mandarin, or did each of them get the word for Sweden from a different source?


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## Maja

alby said:
			
		

> In Croatian is *Švedska - Š *is pronounced like Sh in English
> 
> Nataša



Same in Serbian. Cyrillic version: Шведска.


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## vince

Outsider said:
			
		

> Is s --> r a common sound shift between Cantonese and Mandarin, or did each of them get the word for Sweden from a different source?


Judging that the Mandarin and Cantonese versions are both written with the same characters, the word probably came into the Chinese languages through  southern China, where the "s" sound is predominant. I doubt China had more contact with Finnish people than they did with the Brits/Russians/French/Germans who use the "s" sound.

I am not a native speaker, but I don't think s --> r is a very common sound shift. The primary shift to *r* is from *y*: y --> r (e.g. 肉 Cantonese "yuk" = Mandarin "rou" (meat); 熱 Cantonese "yit" = Mandarin "re" (hot))


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## robbie_SWE

I would like to thank all of you for your posts! 

I knew from the start that the Finnish name for Sweden started with "R" (but I didn't dare to write it down, because I didn't want to offend anybody if I spelled it wrong ). But from what I've heard, the "Ruo-" from Ruotsi means "Roslagen". The name actually meaning "the people from Roslagen" or "the land of the Roses". 

 robbie


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## Jana337

Czech: Švédsko

Jana


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## macta123

In Malayalam : SweeDan


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## MarX

In Indonesian: *Swèdia*

Notice that *è* is just a pronunciation help. It's normally written as *Swedia*.


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## blue_jewel

In Tagalog: It's still "Sweden"


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## kusurija

In Lithuanian:
Švedija


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## Christo Tamarin

Whodunit said:


> ...the word begins with "s" (it is derived from "sue-"/"swe-", the origin ís not known).


 
The etymology suggestions can be found here.

For those speaking Russian, the country name in old Swedish "swerik" meant something like "свой рейх". Note that Slavic and Germanic were old proto-languages developed in neighbourhood.

Perhaps, the name _*Swabia* _had the same root.


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## Tamar

In Hebrew: שוודיה shvedya


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## kusurija

In Latvian:
Zviedrija


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto* the country is called *Svedio* or *Svedujo*.


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