Editing Swedes (tribe) (section)

==Etymology==
The form '''Suiones''' appears in the Roman author [[Tacitus]]'s ''[[Germania (book)|Germania]]''. A closely similar form, ''Swēon'', is found in [[Old English language|Old English]] and in the ''[[Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum]]'' of [[Adam of Bremen]] about the Hamburg-Bremen archbishops who are denoted ''Sueones''.

Most scholars agree that ''Suiones'' and the attested Germanic forms of the name derive from the same [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] [[reflexive pronoun|reflexive pronominal]] root, ''[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/swé|*s(w)e]]'', as the [[Latin]] ''[[wikt:suus|suus]]''. The word must have meant "one's own (tribesmen)". In modern Scandinavian, the same root appears in words such as ''svåger'' (brother-in-law) and ''svägerska'' (sister-in-law). The same root and original meaning is found in the ethnonym of the Germanic tribe [[Suebi]], preserved to this day in the name ''Schwaben'' ([[Swabia]]).<ref name="pokorny">{{Cite web |title=Pokorny. Indogermanisches Etymologisches Woerterbuch. 1959 |url=http://www.ieed.nl/cgi-bin/response.cgi?flags=eygtnrl&single=1&basename=%2Fdata%2Fie%2Fpokorny&text_recno=1653&root=leiden |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613010656/http://www.ieed.nl/cgi-bin/response.cgi?flags=eygtnrl&single=1&basename=%2Fdata%2Fie%2Fpokorny&text_recno=1653&root=leiden |archive-date=13 June 2011 |access-date=13 June 2011}}</ref><ref name="Bandle, Oskar 2002. P.391">Bandle, Oskar. 2002. The Nordic languages: an international handbook of the history of the North Germanic languages. 2002. P.391</ref><ref>Noreen, A. ''Nordens äldsta folk- och ortnamn'' (i Fornvännen 1920 sid 32).</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://runeberg.org/svetym/1003.html|title=915 (Svensk etymologisk ordbok)|first=Elof|last=Hellquist|date=6 July 1922|website=runeberg.org|access-date=4 March 2011|archive-date=10 August 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810200817/http://runeberg.org/svetym/1003.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The details of the phonetic development vary between different proposals.

Noréen (1920) proposed that ''Suiones'' is a Latin rendering of [[Proto-Germanic language|Proto-Germanic]] *''Swihoniz'', derived from the PIE root  {{lang|mis|italic=no|*swih-}} "one's own". The form *''Swihoniz'' would in [[Ulfilas]]' [[Gothic language|Gothic]] become *''Swaíhans'', which later would result in the form ''Suehans'' that [[Jordanes]] mentioned as the name of the Swedes in ''[[Getica]]''. Consequently, the [[Proto-Norse language|Proto-Norse]] form would have been *''Swehaniz'' which following the sound-changes in Old Norse resulted in Old West Norse ''Svíar'' and Old East Norse ''Swear''. Currently, however, the root for "one's own" is reconstructed as ''[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/swé|*s(w)e]]'' rather than {{lang|mis|italic=no|*swih}}, and that is the root identified for ''Suiones'' e.g. in Pokorny's 1959 ''[[Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch]]<ref name="pokorny" />'' and in the 2002 ''The Nordic languages: an international handbook of the history of the North Germanic languages'' edited by Oskar Bandle. *''Swe'' is also the form cited by V. Friesen (1915), who regards the form Sviones as being originally an adjective, Proto-Germanic *''Sweoniz'', meaning "kindred". Then the Gothic form would have been *''Swians'' and the H in ''Suehans'' an [[epenthesis]]. The Proto-Norse form would then also have been *''Sweoniz'', which also would have resulted in the historically attested forms.
[[File:Dr344 Runsten.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The [[Simris Runestones#DR 344|Runestone DR 344]] is one of the earliest surviving instances of the name ''Svíþjóð'', in Scandinavia (only [[Viking Runestones#DR 216|Runestone DR 216]], ''[[Beowulf]]'' and probably also the ''[[Getica]]'' are earlier).]]

The name became part of a compound, which in Old West Norse was ''[[Wikt:Svíþjóð|Svíþjóð]]'' ("the Svear people'", in Old East Norse ''Sweþiuð'' and in Old English ''Sweoðeod''. This compound appears on [[runestone]]s in the locatives ''i suiþiuþu'' ([[Runestones at Aspa#Sö Fv1948;289|Runestones Sö Fv1948;289]], Aspa Löt, and [[Södermanland runic inscription 140|Sö 140]] in [[Södermanland]]), ''a suiþiuþu'' ([[Simris Runestones#DR 344|Runestone DR 344]], Simris, [[Scania]]) and ''o suoþiauþu'' ([[Viking Runestones#DR 216|Runestone DR 216]], Tirsted, [[Lolland]]). A 13th century Danish source in ''[[Scriptores rerum danicarum]]'' mentions a place called ''litlæ swethiuthæ'', which is probably the islet ''Sverige'' (Sweden) in Saltsjön in eastern Stockholm.<ref>^ Källgård, Anders (2005). Sveriges öar. Carlssons bokförlag. sid. 359. {{ISBN|91-7203-465-3}}</ref> The earliest instance, however, appears to be ''Suetidi'' in [[Jordanes]]' ''[[Getica]]'' (6th century).

The name ''Swethiuth'' and its different forms gave rise to the different Latin names for Sweden, ''Suethia'', ''Suetia'' and ''Suecia'' as well as the modern English name for the country.

A second compound was ''Svíariki'', or ''Sweorice'' in Old English, which meant "the realm of the Suiones".