Etymograph

English

Sweden

Sweden comes from Scots Swethin, and goes back to Middle Dutch Sweden.

  1. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500Sweden
  2. Scotsc. 1450–presentSwethin
  3. Englishearliest quotation 2025Sweden

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500Sweden
  2. Scotsc. 1450–presentSwethin
  3. Englishearliest quotation 2025Sweden

Earliest quotation: 2025, Elisabeth Buchwald, Trump says Scott Bessent no longer in the running for Fed ch: “Bessent has also been spearheading trade negotiations. Last week…”

The story

Originally used to refer to the people before the late 1600s, later displaced native Old English Swēoland (literally “Swede land”), Swēoþēod (literally “Swede nation”), and Swēorīċe (literally “Swede kingdom”) to refer to the country.

Every English word from Middle Dutch Sweden

Today it means

name A country in Scandinavia in Northern Europe. Official name: Kingdom of Sweden. Capital: Stockholm.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Middle Dutch Sweden / Sweden

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