How Did The Counties Of Sweden Get Their Names?

[@NameExplain]

What county of Sweden are you watching from?

[@Rathboneify]

Halland, 😊

[@Furienna]

Västernorrland.

[@deteon1418]

I watch from the Kronoberg County as well as from the Småland Province. I think most or all Swedes identify mostly with their province since it is more culturally important.

[@Furienna]

@@deteon1418 Except if you're from Stockholm, Norrbotten or Västerbotten.

[@Henchgirls]

@@deteon1418 I very much agree to this. I call myself "Smålänning" far more than "Kronobergare".

[@HenrikoMagnifico]

Correction! Västerbotten/Norrbotten got their names from their relative position to the gulf of bothnia (botn = old word for bay) There is also a Österbotten (Eastern bottom) in Finland.

[@SantomPh]

So it's the "Gulf of Bay"?

[@fl4shi238]

@@SantomPh let's not jump to conclusions here. The Finnish name for Gulf of Bothnia is Pohjanlahti, "Gulf (lahti) of the Bottom (Pohjan)". But word "pohja" is also related to word "pohjoinen", which means north. So it actually is the northern gulf. The Finnish names for Österbotten, Västerbotten & Norrbotten are Pohjanmaa, Länsipohja and Peräpohjola => Northland/Bottomland, Westnorth/Westbottom and Bottomnorth (like the Ultimate North). I don't think think it is really known where this botten part of the name come from. Did Norse take it from Finns or Samis? Did Finns and Samis take it from Norse ("Bottom" = "north" is also a concept in old Germanic languages).

[@Zapp4rn]

Hej Henriko!, jag tänkte precis "correcta" det, eftersom att jag själv kommer från västerbotten... Hoppas du minns mig, vi har ju varann på discord...

[@PennyAfNorberg]

Bottenvikan och bottenhavet med kvarkar som gräns.

[@Kimuyaman]

Also a somewhat ironic mistake since these "lowlands" contains the highest mountains in the country 😅

[@smmis]

Swede here, the provinces/landskap are definitely the most known and still casually used. For example, if you told me that, say, a city named Älmhult is located in Kronoberg county, I would not be able to picture where that is. But if you instead told me it is in Småland (the province), I and most other Swedes would know exactly where you mean. Another example is when you’re talking about where you’re from - I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone refer to their home county when telling about their roots. But telling you’re for example a smålänning (someone from Småland) or skåning (someone from Skåne, the province), or just ”I’m from Småland”, is a very common thing to do

[@TheSimon253]

I think you mix up "province" and "region".

[@emilekroth100]

Yeah, its also wierd to say that you are from Örebro (the region) if you for example are from Kumla, most people would instead say that they are from Närke.

[@livedandletdie]

Yeah, the counties(län) is a weird way to describe Sweden. They are just the jurisdictions of power. Meanwhile the regions(landskap) makes more sense as they divide the people into which part they live in. Sure Skåne is the same in both, but that's only recently true, as it was 2 län before. Namely Malmöhus and Kristianstad. Oh and using the 3 provinces is daft. Norrland is still 50+% of Sweden. Then Swealand is the centerpart and Götaland is the south. I prefer the 4th division. Skånelandene / Helvetet

[@sirseigan]

@@livedandletdie haha you mean "reserve Denmark" ;-) (said with love and a wink) However the three, or rather four as you say, historical "lands" is crucial to understand the division of Sweden. Both historically, lingustically and culturally. And to be fair Finland needs to be taken into account as well. So should we say five? 🙂

[@sirseigan]

@Neutron It really depends on how you choose count it. Yes we have today a division of three lands (Götaland, Svealand and Norrland). However I said "Historical Lands" and as such I am not really sure five even would be enough. The division of three is a fairly modern adaptation and simplification of an much older historical division. Lingustically/dialectally you can divide Sweden into the following areas: South Swedish aka "East Danish" (old Danish territorries in the south), Götamål, Sveamål, Norrländskamål, Gotland and Finland togeter with Estonia. Together it count as six different dialectal areas. When I said "five" I meant the three common ones and then the old Danish areas as well as Finland. Together that makes five. Even though this also roughly correspond to historical regions one need to chop them up a bit more for getting the historical political regions/lands. For example the region of "Götamål" need to be divided into three (western götaland, eastern götaland and the "small land"). Along the northern westcoast we also have the old Norwegian territories). The region of Sveamål includes both Närke and Värmland but those, even though originaly said to be of Svea stock were independent and not part of "All Swedes Ting". Above the border forest "Ödemården" you have south Norrland (that originally were the "Norrland proper") you have each landscape that were its own political entity. This area was only fully integrated in Sweden in 1320, so later then south of Finland. Further north, above Umeå, there were almost no Germanic speakers to begin with but Finns (Kvens) and Sami. You also had Sami further south, mostly in the inland, but in for example Jämtland they were so integrated you can almost talk about one hybrid culture rather then two. Jämtland and Härjedalen also belonged to Norway until the mid 1600s so this was its own political entity. One can also see a clear division between "south Norrland" and "north Norrland". And then we have Gotland, that were its own political entity as well. How many historical lands would you say that was? More then six I guess 🙂 So how many regions/lands we are talking about depends puerly what context we talk about.

[@Sueci]

You should have definitely done the provinces/landskap imo. As these are the things people put more value onto in a cultural way (unless the län and landskap just overlap). But its an interesting video nonetheless

[@jonaslindberg2579]

It depends, most people in Lapland identify more with Norrbotten/Västerbotten than with the province of Lapland :) but those are the only examples i can think of

[@unclear6055]

@@jonaslindberg2579 But could the same be said for people in the provinces of Norrbotten or Västerbotten? Would someone who grew up in Norrbotten province consider (for example) the mountains to be part of Norrbotten, or would they consider it part of Lappland?

[@Silk_WD]

@@unclear6055 I've always thought of it as Västerbotten. My grandma is from the mountains, I can't recall her ever referring to it as anything other than Västerbotten either. I usually don't considered provinces when thinking about geography, but that might be because I've only ever lived in places where the province and the county matches up (Västerbotten, Blekinge).

[@AlexandraBryngelsson]

True! Most people feel no connection to the counties unless they overlap

[@neonsvampen1]

Yeah cuz i rather wanna hear about Bohuslän then västra Götaland ...

[@leiftorbjorn5621]

The provinces are actually in heavy use even though they have no administrative purpose. I’d argue they are more important, in a cultural sense, than the administrative divisions.

[@Voix1000x]

Culturally important yes, but in heavy use? Do you mean that people would refer to themselves as ”Ölänning” for example?

[@thenogge1]

@@Voix1000x Yes

[@Draktand01]

@@Voix1000x Öland being the second largest island in the country does mean it's a bad example, since that fact alone makes people more likely to identify with it. Bohuslän might be a better example.

[@leiftorbjorn5621]

@@Voix1000x in general people refer more to Landskap than Län.

[@elliot04877]

@@leiftorbjorn5621 Depends on the landskap tbh. Never heard someone call themselves ''medelpadde'' or something like that

[@marna_li]

Berg is actually mountain. Borg is fortress/castle. Kronoberg Borg means ”Crown’s mountain’s castle”

[@mgntstr]

@Neutron Proper: You're correction is shit. Borg comes from the extraterrestrial cyborgs known as The Borg it's etymological roots have been thoroughly debated and settled for hundreds of years.

[@torbjornlekberg7756]

Berg, as in Kronoberg, does not mean castle in the litteral sense, but mountain. However 'berg', or more commonly 'sten' (stone) is often used as a way of naming fortifications. I think you confuse 'berg' with 'borg', wich does mean fortification castle (as opposed to the castle home of a king/high noble. That is called 'slott').

[@joniskahavet]

There's actually a cognate to 'berg' in English, namely 'barrow' (in the sense of mound or hill).

[@torbjornlekberg7756]

@@joniskahavet Interesting. I have never thought there was a connection between these words, but now that you say it, it makes sense. I personally always associated 'barrow with grave mounds, but you say it have a wider usage? Well, you live and you learn.

[@deadsnooker7565]

Botten doesn't refer to any lowness of the lands. Ironically västerbotten and norrbotten are among swedens most mountainous counties with the country's tallest peak, kebnekaise, being in norrbotten. Botten just refers to bottenviken, which in english is the gulf of bothnia. Västerbotten is called västerbotten because it's on the western part of the gulf and österbotten was historically the name used to refer to the Finnish lands adjacent it. When referring to lowlands you usually use lågland, or a more specific example would be neder, for Nederländerna (the netherlands)

[@joniskahavet]

Bottenviken means "the innermost bay/gulf" (of the Baltic Sea). 'Botten' has the same etymological origin as 'bottom' and in this case it refers to an interior geographical location, but it's really an outdated/fossilized use of this word. We modern Swedish speakers perceive it as a name like any other, not a description.

[@joniskahavet]

@Neutron I looked it up in SAOB, but now that I re-check it, it seems I read it a little too fast and didn't read definition no 5. You are correct. I know how to google though, Google is my friend 😄

[@andrepersson8265]

I remember early in school learning about "landskap" or what you call regions, so it seems society in general value those more than our "län" or counties.

[@jonaslindberg2579]

Regions are the same as län, landskap is "province" in english. It's confusing I know

[@Saturinus]

@@jonaslindberg2579 Landskap is province, but län is county. Landsting is region.

[@jonaslindberg2579]

@@Saturinus Region is region if you want to get technical, because they're not called landsting anymore. But yeah the regions are technically administrations within the counties

[@TeachMeBert]

Regarding the letters "Å", "Ä", and "Ö": "Å" is pronounced like the word "ore" would be pronounced in a British accent. Depending on the word, "Ä" is pronounced either like the vowel in the word "at", or like the vowel in the word "men". And "Ö" is pronounced like the vowel in the word "girl", if you remove the r-sound.

[@Liggliluff]

and J is like English Y, and both G and K can be soft and hard, and R is pronounced like R. Is there a reason for why his R sounds like L?

[@livedandletdie]

@@Liggliluff general foreigner syndrome. He should be happy Växjö isn't a county...

[@chalphon4907]

@@livedandletdie or Örkelljunga, Sävsjö, Ytterhogdal...

[@Cythil]

I was surprised how well he did with Skåne. It sounds a tiny bit off. But still pretty close.

[@Cythil]

@Neutron Yeah, it is actually pretty accurate to the Scanian accent. Though not all of Scania has the same accent, either if we are being honest. I think it might just sound a tiny bit off more just due to juxtaposition with English.

[@OlssonDaniel]

Dalarna was until 1997 named "Kopparberg". "Copper mountain" in English and that was the name of the town/city Falun today. Falun changed it's name in 1641 but the county kept it's name. Falun is most known for the copper mine. The largest in the world in the 17th och 18th century.

[@noxtrin1878]

What makes it even Weirder is that the main city of Ljusnarsbergs kommun (Most northen kommun in Örebro län) is called Kopparberg.

[@KevinUchihaOG]

I'm from sweden and instead of county and province we use "län" och "landskap". "landskap" is more like "land area", the word seem to focus more on the environment. Whilst "Län" is about the "administrative governmental" borders. Sometimes a "län" can be a "Landskap" too, same border and same name. But other times 1 landskap have multiple "län" inside. Or maybe 2 different landskap share some of the area of 1 "län". etc. But most of the time "län" and "landskap" has more or less the same size and shape.

[@Henchgirls]

Län is country, landskap is moreso province.

[@denniswingerstad9424]

Glöm inte kommuner och socknar ;-)

[@Voix1000x]

Landskap is Province. Län has recently been called Region in Swedish.

[@Draktand01]

Basically, landskap are historical administrative divisions that got reformed long ago due to the regency council at the time wanting borders that were easier to govern. The borders of the landskap had vastly unequal population distributions, and did things such as splitting Stockolm's immidiate area into two, limiting it's influence south of it's immidiate borders, which is an area that is starting to become an urban center today.

[@kl1541]

And the cities inside these 'regioner' are 'kommuner' :D

[@papalouie6946]

it would be fun if you could make a video explaining the divisions of Finland, since they are so connected to the counties and provinces of Sweden

[@Abiodun92]

Götland doesn't mean "Land of the Goths," instead it's "Land of the Geats."(Beowulf, anyone?)

[@isaks7042]

Goths and the geats could have been the same people tho.

[@leonieromanes7265]

@@isaks7042 different tribes.

[@BurnBird1]

@@isaks7042 Key word being *could* we simply don't know if they have a common origin. The fact that Gothic is an East Germanic language would go against it, but I digress. The Geats did exist and the counties and provinces are named after them, regardless if they are ultimately related.

[@Creekfull]

@@isaks7042 I thought it was named after the Gutes, the native tribe of the island that spoke Gutnish, an east norse language. They were not exactly the same people as lived in the rest of Götaland.

[@Merecir]

@Neutron Same people, different time periods. 'Goths' in Scandinavia predates year 0. 'Geats 'from Beowulf is about year 500.

[@Greksallad]

Some minor corrections here. The names of Västra Götaland and Östergötland don't have anything to do with the Goths who spoke an East Germanic language called Gothic and caused a lot of trouble for the Romans. Sweden used to consist of three major tribes, the Svear (Swedes), Götar (Geats) and Gutar (Gutes). Although the Geats are *sometimes* called Goths in English, it's more accurate and less confusing to use the name Geats. So it's "western Geatland" rather than "western Gothland". While the names of the Goths, Geats and Gutes ultimately share the same etymological origin, they are distinct groups and are not the same. And regarding the pronunciation, the G in these names aren't pronounced like the English hard G, but rather more like the English Y-sound in words like yellow or yard. The same goes for Gävle, which is pronounced pretty much exactly like "Yeah-vle" :)

[@jonaslindberg2579]

3:33 that's a perfect pronounciation of another island, Åland, which is right between Finland and Stockholm and belongs to Finland

[@matildas3177]

Good summary over all, but a few errors well worth pointing out: Västerbotten is not named after it's low lands, but the fact that it's to the west of Bottenviken, the large bay between Sweden and Finland. Same goes for Norrbotten. Norrbotten used to strech across the top of both Finland and Sweden back when Finland was part of Sweden. There's an Österbotten region in Finland that was named at the same time as Västerbotten and Norrbotten, and its' name simply means that it's to the east of Bottenviken. Regions today are also not quite the same as "län" since they are administrative and have combined a few län in places to make administrative work easier. We still have both län and regions, and we use the län to identify ourselves, not the regions. We might use the counties, but I'd introduce myself as being from Västernorrland or being a västernorrlänning; not coming from Ångermanland or being an ångermanlänning even though both are equally true.

[@Draktand01]

Bottenviken is also known as "The Gulf of Bothnia" in English.

[@mikaeljakobsson8288]

@@Draktand01 Bottenviken is the Bay of Bothnia in English. The Gulf of Bothnia is Bottniska viken (Bottenhavet + Bottenviken)

[@Draktand01]

@@mikaeljakobsson8288 I stand corrected. The ’body of water’ + ’Bothnia’ part still applies in either case, though I suppose I need to read up on different bodies of water.

[@hampusboman7143]

smallest correction ever, but norrbotten was actually created in the 20th century, so was never part of finland, it is instead named as the northern part of västerbotten, as the province and county of västerbotten stretched far nort, east of torneå

[@thordjohansson4200]

I'm from Värmland. You’re almost right regarding the Lake Värmeln. But it got the name from the old name of river at the south end, Värma, that flows out into lake Vänern at Borgvik. The name Värma is related to heat, since the river never froze in the winter, due to its rapids. The people started settling around 4000 years ago and became known as Värmer. So, now you know

[@isaacbobjork7053]

The provinces, landskap, are mostly the preferred way of identifying with rather than the counties. The exceptions are Norrbotten and Västerbotten counties where people in Lappland identify more with Norr- or Västerbotten Also there are the exceptions of Stockholm and Göteborg/Gothenburg where you more often identify with the city rarter than the province or county. I live in Stockholm County, in the Södermanland part and I can feel either as being from Stockholm or "Sörmland" depending on the situation.

[@samuellassman7668]

Okey there were sadly many things that was wrong in this video. The biggest one was that Götaland and Gotland means the same thing. No. Göta land means Götarnas land (Land of the Goths) and Gotland means Gotland or Gutland (land of the Guths). The reason why is that the island of Gotland had an other version of north Germanic languages called Gutniska in Swedish and is revived today. The people on Gotland therefore built up their own culture, langugage and tradition that still survives in some ways. The Goths or the Guths dont have any connection to the Goths that invaded Rome. Thats an very nationalistic view and you dont learn it at university becuse the topic is very political and controversial. I really like your channel so this is no hate but i couldent walk past this big fault. I dont know so much more then that but its not fact that Göter, Gutar och Goths are the same thing.

[@vilgothellgren1609]

One way to distinguish the Roman from the Swedes is to spell the swedish ones geats.

[@livedandletdie]

The Gutnish tribes of Gotland are the Goths in Roman times... that spoke Gothic a sister language of Norse and German.

[@nisseheim4996]

@@livedandletdie That's just a hypothesis, and a weak one at that. People saw that the names were similar and.. that's it. There's no real evidence for Gotland being the origin point of the Goths. Götar, Gutar and Goths might have a shared origin somewhere around the baltic sea, but that's yet to be proven.

[@BurnBird1]

Götar in English is Geats, not Goths.

[@markonikolic1379]

Fun fact: in my school in Scania we did a presentation about a historical province or Landskap i got Värmland and it was pretty fun

[@ravenchild7517]

Neat, you got the best province. We did the same and I think I got Västerbotten, but it was a while back so I'm not sure.

[@justaname1174]

​@@ravenchild7517Nah you got the best province

[@ravenchild7517]

@@justaname1174 Nah Värmland is superior, I'm definitely not biased.

[@kacperp2669]

In the northwestern tip of Skåne there is a geological formation called "Hovs Hallar" and on Wikipedia it says "It is assumed that the area gave the name of the province Halland, meaning "the land beyond Hovs Hallar". "

[@livedandletdie]

Halland is a part of Skåne and so is Blekinge and Bohuslän, but still, Halland is most like named after Hovs Hallar, but Hall just means stone and land just means land so there is no reason to assume that it means anything but cliffland, and the whole region of Western Skåne, from Söderåsen and up are technically known as Hallandet. As not only are the cliffs around Ängelholm and then the copious amounts of big Ice age rocks that were left in the lands there... so it's a fitting name.

[@Creekfull]

@@livedandletdie I was taught that the people from there were named after Hovs Hallar and so were called Halläningar and so its natural that the land be called after the people who inhabit it. Also Halland and blekinge used to be a part of the duchy of Scania, but Bohuslän used to be Norwegian and has nothing to do with Skåne.

[@joniskahavet]

@@livedandletdie "technically known as Hallandet"? That area is not known under such name. What do you even mean with 'technically'? Also, Bohuslän has never ever been considered a part of Skåne. It was Norwegian land until 1658 (then known as Baahuslen) and its dialects sound vaguely Norwegian to this day. Halland and Blekinge have lots of common history with Skåne, but you're pretty alone in considering them part of thereof. Only the most western part of Blekinge (Lister) was a part of Skåne a long time ago, and the dialect there is Scanian rather than Blekingish. There's a 19th century term "Skåneland(en)" denoting the former, pre 1658 Eastern Denmark (Skåne, Halland, Blekinge) but it's really out of use today and doesn't have real historical bearing.

[@moxplayy]

Hello another swede here. From what my teacher told me (may very well be incorrrect) when i still was in middle school Stockholm is named the way it is because the city of stockholm once upon a time was mainly built out of wood/logs. Also all the islands we have in "Stockholm Skärgård". Skärgård roughly translates to (according to google translate) Archipelago. Stock meaning log and holm meaning small islands.

[@tangfors]

The Provices (Landscapes) are what all Swedes use when they talk about where they come from and who have a certain "patriotism" attached to them, usually also those who characterize which dialect you speak. These have much more historical ties than Regions and Counties. So all Swedes when they say where they come from say which city or Province they come from, never region or countes, this has only to do with administration, but is nothing Swedes identify with (some may not even know which one they belong to), . So they are quite uninteresting to know where their name comes from. However, relatively many Regions and Provices are the same, Regions can change relatively often what their administrative area looks like, while the Provinces have looked the same for many hundreds of years.

[@tangfors]

And the names of the provinces, I would be very interested to see a video about and probably many other Swedes with me, these also all have their own coats of arms, landscape animals and landscape flowers.

[@red464]

Regions is a collection of counties. Provinces are the more historic split of the country, with counties existing for the local politics and regions being a collaboration of closely intertwined historically and economically counties

[@davidwennberg8773]

There is actually a difference between the Swedish counties and regions. There are 290 counties and 21 regions. On an administrative level, counties are in charge of things like schools and elderly care while regions are charged with things like overseeing public healthcare in the region as well as public transport.

[@emilekroth100]

Well we have a lot of cities that are called Köping (or has Köping in its name) here in sweden. Some examples are Jönköping, Köping, Norrköping, Söderköping, Linköping, Lidköping, Nyköping etc. I would therefore guess that the word Jön in Jönköping was put there to distinguis it from the other Köpings.

[@bobbyggare8364]

Yeah. there ws a nerby creek called Junebäcken. so you have absloutly right.

[@eruner11]

I've never heard that Jönköping would have been called just "Köping" at any point in time and I can't find any mention of it. The oldest mention of the city was as Junakøpung. Køpung referring to a trading place and Juna referring to a creek it was next to.

[@FluxTrax]

It's the same as Kaupang in Norwegian and Chipping in English

[@falukropp2000]

Could it be derived from Njudung, (June, Jöhn, Jön-) when Njudung still were an autonomous country?

[@eruner11]

@@falukropp2000 I'm no expert but my guess would be no. Jönköping isn't in Njudung and its historical equivelent was Tveta. It's not impossible that they'd be related somehow but the commonly accepted explanation is that it's named after the June brook

[@martindegn690]

I thought Västre- and Östergötland got their Name from the Geats rather than the Goths

[@NoName-yw1pt]

And I thought the Geats and the Goths are one and the same

[@Abiodun92]

You are indeed correct in your assumption, the areas were named after the Geats, the tribe of Beowulf.

[@samuellassman7668]

@@Abiodun92 thats actully debated because the text could mean the Geuts from Gotland. Gutar in Swedish

[@jonaswilde4781]

@@samuellassman7668 Gutar are the ones from Gotland

[@Brakvash]

To summarize, we all know stuff and we're all confused. Common thing when Swedes talk about our long lost brother people the Geats - and our extinct(?) island people, the Guts.

[@SIZModig]

If you ever want to speak Swedish, remember that G and K before soft vowels (A O U Å) is still a /g/ and /k/, bute before hard vowels (E I Y Ä Ö) it becomes a /j/ and /sch/-sound. Gävleborg = /jevleborg/

[@Liggliluff]

/ / is usually used for IPA pronunciation, which you haven't used here. So the "sch" sound is written as /ɕ/. Gävleborg would be /jɛvlɛ.bɔrj/ Jönköping would be /jœn.ɕøːpɪŋ/

[@SIZModig]

@@Liggliluff You're correct, but I can't really type that on my phone sadly.

[@neriidesu]

In swedish, the "provinces" that you refer them as, are called "Landskap" which directly translated would be "Landscape" or "Nature"

[@Enleuk]

Västermanland and Södermanland are most likely named so because of their location relative to the heartland of the Swedes. The Swedes lived in the counties around where Uppsala is located. The Swedes (svear in Swedish) joined the Geats (göter in Swedish) to form a united kingdom. Västra Götaland and Östergötland are named after where the tribe of Geats lived. The island of Gotland is named after its inhabitants, who call themselves gutes (gutar in Swedish). The names for the geats, gutes and goths all share a common origin, but the exact relationship between the three is unclear. E.g. it is not known if the geatas in Beowulf refer to people in Sjælland, Götaland and/or Gotland. The Gothic historian Jordanes claimed that the goths came from Scandinavia, but if so, it must have been a complex movement of people and/or culture over time.

[@victorcapel2755]

Well, It was a complex movement of peoples at the times, it's called the great migration period for that very reason. You have German/Polish Vandals ending up in North Africa, The Urgic peoples from central Sibera ending up in Hungary, Bolgars from the Volga region ending up i Bulgaria and so on.

[@Mortac]

Finland used to be the eastern half of Sweden, so that's why it's called Västerbotten (west-botten) even though it's on Sweden's east coast. Österbotten (east-botten) is a region on Finland's west coast.

[@Vinterfrid]

Forget translating "botten" with "bottom" - they don't have the same origin.

[@grasschannel5272]

Västerbotten and Norrbotten is Swedens most mountainous areas, so what you said is not true. The names of the counties simply refers to their location as to the gulf of bothnia. Norrbotten being north of the gulf of bothnia and Västerbotten being west of the gulf of bothnia. Then there's also Österbotten, which is located in Finland. Which of course is to the east of the gulf of bothnia.

[@neville1311]

9:24 Botten actually refferce to the large body of water next to the counties named ""Bothnia", or in Swedish Bottenhavet" meaning "Bottom Sea"

[@homes8524]

I'm Brazilian and I think Sweden is an interesting and cool country

[@jakegarvin7634]

Maybe the logs in log island were references to houses built on pole foundations.

[@riihikuiva]

Tack så mycket för den här videon. 😊

[@marna_li]

The name for the city: Up(p)sala I believe comes from the expression ”the Sala geographically higher up” in relation to another Sala. ”Sal(a)” has been interpreted a an building or hall where people gathered. Old English Tolkien word ”Meduseld” literally means ”mjödsal” in Swedish. However, Uppsala is in contrast with the Old Uppsala - ”Gamla Uppsala”. And older settlement which was moved to Östra Aros where Uppsala is today. The bishop also established himself there. The old name of Uppsala is Östra Aros due to being located at the eastern mouth of Fyrisån/Sala river, at Lake Mälaren.

[@marna_li]

The historical province in which Uppsala is located in is callef Uppland - ”the land up/above (in relation to the other traditional Swedish lands in the middle, I guess)

[@Liggliluff]

(4:10) You do well with the pronunciations, but to add extra vowels randomly, like Jönköping, where you add an 'e' between the consonants.

[@Vinterfrid]

?

[@Eeroke]

"Jone's shopping".

[@linusfotograf]

He added random vowels, yes.

[@fiamedknuff]

I would use the name of my province to explain where I'm from and put things in cultural context. I wouldn't use the county name unless I deal with the government.

[@hglundahl]

3:22 Kronoberg = crown _mountain._ Berg = Mountain Borg = Castle.

[@victorcapel2755]

In modern swedish, yes. The name is from 15th century or earlier, and the meaning might have changed or been translated out of it's original meaning. Worth noting is that "Berg" didn't get it's current spelling in Swedish until well after the castle was built, it was spelt (amongst other variations) "Bärg" or "Bergh" well into the 18th century. The word is one of those words that you'll find in Sanskrit as well, giving the hint of the "Indo" part of the "indo-european languages". In Sanskrit it's "Bhrant" and in protogermanic "Bhergo" witch means "high place of stone", witch really fits the description of both a castle and a mountain. One should also note that it's quite a distance from the castle to the nearest thing that could even remotly be considered a mountain. The highest peak in the whole county is 312 m above sea level and is located roughly 25 km from the castle, further giving credence to the use of "berg" as "borg" in this case.

[@hglundahl]

@@victorcapel2755 Berg has always meant mountain, like German Berg. Borg has always meant castle, like German Burg. Spelling "bergh" is from before 1700, spelling "bärg" was a very little used one (19th C.) and the normal spelling has mostly (since 1700) been "berg". However, some other spelling versions would survive in surnames. For meaning, there is no doubt that I am right and you are wrong, and spelling versions don't affect that.

[@hglundahl]

@@victorcapel2755 Looking at the actual place Kronobergs slott, I feel some doubt ... however, the island ("holme") on which it is built is a "mountain" in relation to the lake bottom.

[@victorcapel2755]

@@hglundahl The only thing you are right about is that it's a difference between "Berg" and "Borg" in modern swedish. Everything else you're not right about, as for example the use of the spelling "Bärg". It's been in use for longer and way more widespread than you claim. My point is that you should be really, really careful in drawing conclusions about 600 year old names from modern Swedish, considering Swedish is a Germanic language and the germanic and protogermanic root for the two words are the samt thing. Borg and Berg is litterally the same word from the begining. Also considering that Sweden have had a massive German influence in modern history (That is, the last 1000 years). Swedefied German names are all over the swedish language. Not to mention that you implicitly claim to know what someone thought about a word, 600 years ago. And again, there isn't even a mountain close to the place, while it actually is a borg.It also makes sense that the Crown would own a castle, it makes no sense what so ever that the Crown would own a mountain and that someone would name that mountain after it's owner. Occams razor would suggest that you're wrong.

[@victorcapel2755]

@@hglundahl And I'm hardly "wrong" since I havn't claimed to be correct or really claimed anything at all. I've raised a possibility. You are the only one of us that makes claims with any amount of "certainty".

[@dannestrom]

The word "dale" in English actually comes from old Norse during the viking age, so it's not a coincidence that the words are similar. For words like Väst = West, Öst = East, Nord/Norr = North and Syd/Söder = South is because both English and Swedish are germanic languages, so they have a lot in common.

[@Andersbrook]

Correction, best English name for "Örebro" is penny bridge.

[@Benni777]

I know you’ll probably get this suggestion, but can u plz do Norway and/or Finland next? 🙏🏼☺️

[@NoName-yw1pt]

That would be great. But the names of Norway are pretty self-explanatory

[@RealAdelie]

@@NoName-yw1pt The new ones, yes, but the old ones have more explaining to do

[@friderosendal2164]

🇸🇪 So we usually use the historic landskap or ”counties” for our cultural heritage. They are largely the same, like Skåke or Gotland but some in this video are ”new” like Stockholm, (Uppland and södermanland). These modern ones, called ”kommuner” are often named after the largest cities rather than the pre-viking tribes. Good video 👍🏻

[@Wulfzz]

I've heard that the word "stock" in Stockholm comes from Mälaren being used to transport logs downriver from the inland, whereas "holm" could be the islands / archipelago where they were accumulated. Giving rise to the location of "Stockholm".

[@muhex1897]

I believe "Landskap" is more common to use than "län" in sweden. People would have much harder knowing where Kronoberg is rather than Småland

[@iirovaltonen4258]

Västerbotten and Norddbotten also relate to Finland because one of the Western parts of Finland is called Österbotten in Swedish (or Pohjanmaa in Finnish, which would translate to Bottenland in Swedish).

[@jonaslindberg2579]

Yeah they are all named after their location relative to Bottenviken, which is the Swedish name for the sea between Finland and Sweden :) And in Österbotten it's common to speak Swedish, right?

[@williamsurname4669]

This was a very interesting video. I'm learning Swedish so this might be helpful if I ever go there.

[@abbelabbe7912]

Im from Uppsala, here in Sweden its more important with landskap then the counties (län), they are more for administration. For an exampel someone from the Kalmar region would call them selfs a smålänning becuse that is What the landskap is called. To note is that the landskaps dont share the exact borders with the läns and that they are diffrent in number. Exept of Skåne They have the exact same name and borders

[@Jonsson474]

It depends on where you live in Sweden. In some parts the county is more commonly used while in other parts the province is more common.

[@pereinarolsson3928]

This was interesting even as swede I never thought about the original of the names. We say landscape - land shaped - so the name is in connection to how the land is formed.

[@theprinceofawesomeness]

in sweden people refer to themself as comming from a province and not by county. the counties can be split up futher in to "communes", the counties decide on things like hospital spendings and the communes decides on things like rode spendings

[@stornasamedellangkille6485]

You should have gone with provinces, but great and informative video!

[@WikiRaze]

Provinces (landskap) are historical and are more commonly known and is used in everyday speech but their names are often used interchangeably with regions. Regions (län/landsting/regioner) are the largest administrative divisions of Sweden and they often share the same borders and names of the provinces, however some cities and the surrounding area are their own administrative regions. Other important devisions of sweden are; The 3 historical "lands of sweden" (Svealand, Götaland and Norrland) I would say that you often hear these names when watching the weather forecast on the news. The aforementioned "regions" are divided into municipalities (kommuner) which are the smallest administrative divisions of Sweden. While the "regions" controls the public health care and the public transport, the municipalities controls the school, parks and other local affairs.

[@curtpiazza1688]

Great educational video! 😊

[@jakoberson4162]

Hello! Swede, Uppsala county. The provinces that we call landskap are more commonly used in everyday conversation, but the counties (län) and regions are the actual administrative divisions and are the ones that matter in juridical and other stately matters. Counties and regions do share the same geographical borders but handle different matters. The region mostly handles healthcare and mass transit while the county handles basically everything else. There is confusion about why the system is like this and on several occasions the regions (formerly known as landsting) has been proposed to be abolished.

[@Xzeebo]

Your prononciation of skåne was on point!

[@Ai-em2pu]

Gävle isn't really named after the riverbanks, it's named after the stone walls thar was built to enforce the banks. One word for such type of walls is "Gavel/Gavlar" and that's what became Gävle. Fun fact Gävle in latin is Gevalia. Which is a well known coffee brand here. 😁

[@MrCarlBackhausen]

Regions and counties here in Sweden is just national compartmentalisation to make the bureaucracy of Sweden work better. The bureaucracy that handles the things like healthcare, education, markets/trade and law enforcement. It is split up like that to make all of that easier on the nation as a whole. Every county and region takes care of their own. Very much like how America has it with their states. But not at all the same in terms of politics and such. All counties and regions take care of their own population because that is just the better and most logical solution. Makes the peoples problems more personal and easier to handle.

[@Voix1000x]

Holm does not mean Inlet, it means Islet

[@permarkusrisman6471]

So regions is actually the name we use for the administrative units rather then counties and we started to do it rather recently. It’s part of an organic administrative reform. Around ten years ago we had two administrative units on the regional level. One was the counties and the other was municipal association. While the counties had responsibility for healthcare and transport, the associations dealt with regional development. The counties was elected while the association was represented by each municipality. However these two units where gradually united over time and to mark this the counties where renamed to region. So I live in what used to be called Uppsala county which is now the Region of Uppsala. The the name for regions is also secondary municipalities, in contrast to the primary municipalities which are on a local level. Corresponding to the regions/former counties we have a County administrative board in each county. This is a governmental agency lead by the county governor, or directly translated from Swedish the County chieftain (in Swedish landshövding). Unlike many counties where the governor is an elected official this one is appointed by the government as an representative for it in each region. The highest elected official in a regional level is called a County commissioner and is elected by the county council which in turn is elected by the citizens in each region every fourth year in proportional elections.

[@izackholmgren4686]

Najs video mannen. Äntligen en indepth Sverige video.

[@_loss_]

Love this stuff. If you chose to do the provinces, you'd have Södermanland, Västmanland and Uppland (upper land), in their respective positions. South, west and Nor... Up! :)

[@Liggliluff]

(1:20) To avoid mispronunciation, you should learn IPA and look up the pronunciations, that will help you a lot with a channel like this.

[@RobinPiff]

I love your pronunciation of the counties, especially Halland, Gotland, Jämtland and Södermanland, which were all pronounced correct.

[@hglundahl]

5:06 The "goth"-lands. 1) Gotland has a short O. 2) East and West "Götland" - Ö is approximately like UR in "hurl" and a G before it is, like before E, I, Y, also Ä, "soft" that is Y. Westergötland and Östergötland are more precisely names of the lands of remaining _possible_ Goths who never left Scandinavia : the ones referred to as Geats in Beowulf. Yes, Beowulf was from Westergötland.

[@hglundahl]

8:42 Whether you spell it Gävle or Gefle, it's pronounced YAVE-leh. G before E, I, Y, Ä and Ö is as said "soft" and pronounced Y.

[@Larry08]

I am from sweden and these are the "län" of sweden whitch is more provences but the other "landskap" is the parts of sweden witchare learn in school.

[@perennialcoma]

I was born in Västmanland, but in Surahammars kommun. So yeah. Agreed.

[@NoName-yw1pt]

@@perennialcoma Do the counties have flags or coat of arms?

[@matildacarlstedt]

@@NoName-yw1pt the ”landskap” has ”landskapsvapen” that are like heraldic shields. Every ”landskap” has its ”own” animal and flower aswell. Here is a wiki page, unfortunately not available in english but you can use google translate if you are interested in further reading 😊 sv.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landskapsvapen_i_Sverige

[@Voix1000x]

@@NoName-yw1pt Yes they do, but they’re just the coat of arms as banners.

[@Voix1000x]

Landskap/Provinces are historical divisions with no administrative use today.

[@BlazeLycan]

I think you did the right thing with going for the "country" name for these administrative divisions rather than "region". Reason why is because all of these län(counties) are in turn divided into kommuner(literally: communities) which I personally think work better in English to be called regions, especially as we ourselves would say something like "the Stockholm region".

[@anordicgayboi597]

Stockholms name comes from it being one of the biggest timber works in the begining, we used the channals to float the wood trough to cutting works and to awaiting trading ships/wagons

[@gabbemoja3647]

Jönköping is named after the stream that used to run through the town called Junebäcken (bäcken = the stream and june is a very old word that means constantly running), they destroyed the stream around the 1930s

[@danielkelly906]

Hallands namne comes from "the land/country behind Hovs Hallar"= Halland. Hovs hallar being located on the peninsula of Bjäre in the northwestern part of Skåne. Hallands län has got its name from the historical landskap/province of Halland which mostly makes up the county/län of Halland today.

[@reikmaner]

Västra Götaland, Östra Götaland and Gotland is not named for the goths but named after the two local tribes in Sweden, some think that that those tribes where the same as the Goths but its not confirmed

[@reikmaner]

One of the tribes where the Geats, which according to Wikipedia has the name coming from with semen

[@joakarst]

You could say Sweden is divided among steps of administrative power: The country itself and the state - infrastructure, military, police etc. Regions (län) - public transport, health care and they have the final say in certain topics. // regions have administrative power. Counties (landskap) - no real power other than a way to divide Sweden amongst 25 different places. Municipalities (kommuner) - eldercare, schools, street work, recreational activities and culture.

[@matildas3177]

just wanted to add that the regions can be made up of several län due to the re-organisation that took place a few years ago for administrative reasons. It used to be region=län, but now we've got a few combination regions.

[@hglundahl]

Län = recent historic county. Landscap = historic province. Region = some recent counties have been merged. Scania used to be Malmöhus and Christianstad counties.

[@PennyAfNorberg]

Gutar, Götar and Goth are that related, the goth götar connection was as Swedish propaganda around 1600, the goth are from well around present day Ukraine. Götar seems to be mentioned in beowulf.

[@Divedown_25]

You are mixing Landskap and Län to certain aspect. The north is Västerbotten, Norrbotten and Lappland if you want to keep talking about Landskap. Landskap doesn’t fill any as administrate purposes. They are there for historical reason and people prefer to say which Landskap they come from, and each Landskap has it’s own traditional dresses. Län is the administrative division and as such Skåne doesn’t exist but is divided in different Län. But good try at least

[@FredrikOstrozanszky]

Actually Malmöhus län and Kristianstad län both merged in 1997 into Skåne län.

[@hglundahl]

9:31 The uppermost part of the Baltic, the part that looks like a head above a body, is in fact called "Bottenviken" - the bottom bay, perhaps because it's the furthest in and perhaps because it's deepest in the Baltic. Westerbotten in Sweden is West of the Botten-Bay, and Österbotten in Finland is obviously East of the Botten-Bay.

[@hglundahl]

And Norrbotten is nearly all the North side of the Botten-Bay coast - there is in Finland a part called Nordbotten as well, but doesn't really get all the up to Norrbotten.

[@hglundahl]

I think the reason for the name is opposite. Bottenviken is shallow, so you "bottnar" - it's easy to walk on the sea bottom. Not sure this applies to human walkers, I think it's more like ships reach sea bottom too easily.

[@Vinterfrid]

No - "botten" does NOT mean "bottom" in this context!

[@hglundahl]

@@Vinterfrid Source please?

[@hglundahl]

On wikipedia I find a reference to Nordisk Familjebok, which says on etymology that OSw "botn" meant "bay" like in the Icelandic "fjartharbotn" - except fjorth in itself already means precisely a kind of bay.

[@Kfoglarsson]

I'm from Gotland (you pronounced it correctly) but the origin of Gotlands name is a little more complex. It is thought that it could originate from the Goths as you said, but also from the old word for seal, making it seal island (which is strange, as we have seals on some parts of the Island, but not commonly). Gotland has had a few different names in history, more recent was Guttland and earlier was Gulland, with Gull being the old word related to seals. And why the L's later on became T's could be because L and T used the same runic letter, making it hard to translate. The "Goths" you mentioned are called Gutar in Swedish, which makes more sense with the old Guttland name. But it could be that it's actually meant to be Gullar, that would roughly translate to something like Seal People. Now a days we are more akin to Sheep People. We're like Swedens Ireland.

[@Kfoglarsson]

Before someone corrects me, I might be mistaken with the L and T thing. I could have mixed it up with G and K, as I just remembered that Gotland also was called Kuttland! The old word for seal, and still the Gotlandic name for seal to this day, is Kute. My point is the origin of Gotlands name is not just as easy it is explained in the video.

[@andersholmstrom3571]

Södermanland and Västermanland relates to the position in relation to the lake of Mälaren

[@blepblops]

Your explanation of Gotland and the two Götaland;s seems a bit misled. Rather than them being named for the fact that the Goths at some point moved away from there, it is named after the people who lived there, who were related to the Goths (or were them) and used similar names to the Goths (The Gutes for Gotland and the Geats for Götaland) As well, I believe Södermanland & Västmanland, rather than being named due to their relative positions in the country, are named after their relative positions in the area inhabited by the tribes known as swedes, possibly as a way of differentiating between different groups within the swedes

[@caligulawellington3171]

Some pronunciation tips for anyone who wants to speak Swedish: Adding extra vocals where there aren't any sounds strange to a Swede. Ex. Kalmar isn't Kale-mar. The Ö-sound sounds nothing like O, but it is used in some English words like: work, serve and bird. Spelled with Ö they become wörk, sörve and börd. Ä sounds a bit like the English words: air, where and there. Making them är, wär and thär. The Å sound is used in words like wall, ball an call, making them wål, bål and cål. Some Swedish vocals also sound different. I sounds like the ee in English. Bee and see would become bi and si. The English I sounds ai to a Swede. Double consonants that creates the same sound, like ll, ck, ss, tt etc. gives the vocals a shorter "jumping" sound, like the English thing, back, off and buff. So all Swedish vocals have a long and short sound, which is mostly determined by the consonants.

[@johanfagerstromjarlenfors]

In sweden people identify themselves as a person from a provinve, not from a county.

[@hjalmarfreidenvall1655]

I want you to make your next video explaining the names of all of Swedens islands.

[@modmaker7617]

Try to pronounce the 16 Voivodeships/Provinces (Województwa) of Poland.

[@modmaker7617]

@@soundscape26 I honestly don't see any issue. Why not just use the English name if the Polish name is so hard? Województwo Dolnośląskie Lower Silesian Voivodeship Województwo Kujawsko-Pomorskie Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Województwo Lubelskie Lublin Voivodeship Województwo Lubuskie Lubusz Voivodeship Województwo Łódzkie Lodz Voivodeship Województwo Małopolskie Lesser Polish Voivodeship Województwo Mazowieckie Masovian Voivodeship Województwo Opolskie Opole Voivodeship Województwo Podkarpackie Subcarpathian Voivodeship Województwo Podlaskie Podlachian Voivodeship Województwo Pomorskie (Moje Województwo) Pomeranian Voivodeship (My Voivodeship) Województwo Śląskie Silesian Voivodeship Województwo Świętokrzyskie Holy Cross Voivodeship Województwo Warmińsko-Mazurskie Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship Województwo Wielkopolskie Greater Polish Voivodeship Województwo Zachodniopomorskie West Pomeranian Voivodeship

[@KornettenJoel]

Södermanland and Västmanland have both gotten their names from their location relative to lake Mälaren. The -botten parts of Västerbotten and Norrbotten refer to their coast to the Sea of Bothnia and gulf of Bothina, could be read as another way for bay. Bottenviken's technical name could be the Bay of the Bay.

[@somethingsomethin1232]

The county names of Södermanland, Västmanland and Uppland comes from their relative position to the Mälaren lake.

[@Smiffe]

Norr botten and väster botten is because they are in those directions of "botten viken" which is what we call that northen part of The baltic sea. google maps does a poor job of this but. We call it "botten havet" and "botten viken" where the "Botten viken" is the most northen part of the baltic sea ;)

[@Jonsson474]

The counties of Västerbotten and Norrbotten have different etymologies. The names comes from the Gulf of Bothnia / The Bothnian Sea or “Bottenviken/Bottenhavet”. Before Finland existed, both sides of the Bothnian Sea was part of Sweden. So the west side was Västerbotten and the east side Österbotten (Which it’s still called today). Basically east and west of the Bothnian Sea. Later Västerbotten was divided in two when Norrbotten was formed. The word botten comes from an old word for bay. It can also be seen in Icelandic in for example Fjarðarbotn.

[@Jungfrun1]

I'd you the names you explained are more like provinces rather then counties and the ones covered in this video is Swedens "landskap" meaning landscapes and lack administering functions those being covered by Swedens different "län" but läns are connected to cities usually.

[@matsrosenquist4620]

I am Swedish, but I think that regions are the larger parts of Sweden, called Götaland, Svealand & Norrland!

[@falukropp2000]

Those are rather kingdoms before the unification of Sweden turning it into Sweden. The Götar chose the Svea king to rule over both, and so Sweden became what it was until 1809 when the f*cker Napoleon destroyed us.

[@Furienna]

I have to point out though that the letter G is pronounced like J in front of the wowels E, I, Y, Ä and Ö. But other than that, well done!

[@OliviaSthlm]

With some exceptions. (Gest).

[@HenrikoMagnifico]

Eller "gem" :)

[@BurnBird1]

No, it's pronounced like Y. Swedish doesn't have the sound that J (usually) makes in English, which you probably already know.

[@Furienna]

@@BurnBird1 What is the difference between Y and J?

[@OliviaSthlm]

@@Furienna J is like the Y in 'Yes' and Y sounds like the vowel in 'Gym". Like a vowel-sound between U and I. No pun intended.

[@meatballboi5783]

Göta ≠ Goths. The gots as in götaland were its own tribe who were concuered or absorbed by the svear (we dont really know what happend) this is just an instance of similar names

[@joniskahavet]

Götar are actually called Geats in English, so there's a bit of confusion here.

[@MartinAhlman]

Definitely do one of the provinces/landskap. I'm from Hälsingland, which is a part of "Gävleborg". I feel more for Hälsingland than I do for Gästrikland (both are parts of Gävleborg, which really sounds made up to me). I'm also not born here, I'm from Medelpad, my parents are both from Ångermanland. But I spent my summer holiday and winter hollidays in Jämtland. I feel at home everywhere in Sweden really... But... If you say a bad thing about northern Sweden you're going to have a bad time :-D

[@anordicgayboi597]

We actually are divided into communes, multiple communes is one län/region and län is the biggest administrative divide

[@swedishbloke]

Dalarna is a precise plural form of the Swedish word Dal which means valley

[@CaptainBoban]

Not sure if anyone else pointed this out, but Östergötland and Västergötland is not the same as Gotland. Gotland does refer to the Goths, however the other two refer to the Geats. There is an important distinction between them, even if they are close etymylogically!

[@YusriRilke]

"The Wii-U outsold Swden"

[@Cyzzyx]

As many point out the provinces, while having no administrative purpose, still are important cultural/identity boundries (not everywhere though). Part of why this is, is historic, but "counties" (län) overtook "provinces" (landskap) as administration centers already in the 17th century, so its not the whole picture. One big reason provinces stuck around is their connection to the local environment. The "provinces" are usually defined by clear changes in local environment, and are defined by certain flora, fauna and geographic features. Because of this they also somewhat contributed to variations in culture (since people historically didnt move that much). For example most provinces have will have different sounding "traditional music"/food/dialects etc. For this reason I personally find the provinces more intresting while counties/regions feel... Empty.

[@carlwilliamkullenberg1304]

kronoberg+kalmar+jönköping form what is called småland and is much more refered to as the place of origin for the people living there, i would say almost exclusively used where the other names are more used for juristictional reasons and so on