Swedes (Swedish: svenskar) are a North Germanic ethnic group native to
the Nordic region, primarily their nation state of Sweden, who share a
common ancestry, culture, history and language. They mostly inhabit
Sweden and the other Nordic countries, in particular Finland, with a
substantial diaspora in other countries, especially the United States.
Swedes are an officially recognized minority in Finland and
Estonia.The English term "Swede" has been attested in English since
the late 16th century and is of Middle Dutch or Middle Low German
origin. In Swedish, the term is svensk, which is believed to have been
derived from the name of svear (or Swedes), the people who inhabited
Svealand in eastern central Sweden,[32] and were listed as Suiones in
Tacitus' history Germania from the 1st century AD. The term is
believed to have been derived from the Proto-Indo-European reflexive
pronominal root, *s(w)e, as the Latin suus. The word must have meant
"one's own (tribesmen)". The same root and original meaning is found
in the ethnonym of the Germanic tribe Suebi, preserved to this day in
the name Swabia.[33][34][35]Sweden enters proto-history with the
Germania of Tacitus in 98 AD. In Germania 44, 45 he mentions the
Swedes (Suiones) as a powerful tribe (distinguished not merely for
their arms and men, but for their powerful fleets) with ships that had
a prow in both ends (longships). Which kings (kuningaz) ruled these
Suiones is unknown, but Norse mythology presents a long line of
legendary and semi-legendary kings going back to the last centuries
BC. As for literacy in Sweden itself, the runic script was in use
among the south Scandinavian elite by at least the 2nd century AD, but
all that has survived from the Roman Period is curt inscriptions on
artefacts, mainly of male names, demonstrating that the people of
south Scandinavia spoke Proto-Norse at the time, a language ancestral
to Swedish and other North Germanic languages.
the Nordic region, primarily their nation state of Sweden, who share a
common ancestry, culture, history and language. They mostly inhabit
Sweden and the other Nordic countries, in particular Finland, with a
substantial diaspora in other countries, especially the United States.
Swedes are an officially recognized minority in Finland and
Estonia.The English term "Swede" has been attested in English since
the late 16th century and is of Middle Dutch or Middle Low German
origin. In Swedish, the term is svensk, which is believed to have been
derived from the name of svear (or Swedes), the people who inhabited
Svealand in eastern central Sweden,[32] and were listed as Suiones in
Tacitus' history Germania from the 1st century AD. The term is
believed to have been derived from the Proto-Indo-European reflexive
pronominal root, *s(w)e, as the Latin suus. The word must have meant
"one's own (tribesmen)". The same root and original meaning is found
in the ethnonym of the Germanic tribe Suebi, preserved to this day in
the name Swabia.[33][34][35]Sweden enters proto-history with the
Germania of Tacitus in 98 AD. In Germania 44, 45 he mentions the
Swedes (Suiones) as a powerful tribe (distinguished not merely for
their arms and men, but for their powerful fleets) with ships that had
a prow in both ends (longships). Which kings (kuningaz) ruled these
Suiones is unknown, but Norse mythology presents a long line of
legendary and semi-legendary kings going back to the last centuries
BC. As for literacy in Sweden itself, the runic script was in use
among the south Scandinavian elite by at least the 2nd century AD, but
all that has survived from the Roman Period is curt inscriptions on
artefacts, mainly of male names, demonstrating that the people of
south Scandinavia spoke Proto-Norse at the time, a language ancestral
to Swedish and other North Germanic languages.
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