"Landskrona", "Sibirien" and "Jeriko": Borrowed Place Names in Sweden down the Ages

Abstract

Since the Middle Ages, a succession of names has been added to the place nomenclature of Sweden that have been borrowed, ready-made, from other countries. In many cases, these names have the form native to Swedish, e.g., 'Kina' (China) and 'Sibirien' (Siberia). Names borrowed in something closer to their original form have often been reshaped linguistically, once they have been incorporated into the Swedish placename stock. Borrowed names may sometimes be examples of ‘pure name transfer’, the principal reason for their adoption being the prestige and glory associated with their original bearers. Others may have become attached to the site in question as a result of their secondary associations, e.g., 'Kina' for a yellow house or 'Sibirien' to refer to fields that are remote, exposed to frost or difficult to cultivate. Medieval examples of loan names of German origin are the town names 'Landskrona' and 'Falkenberg' and the common settlement name 'Rosendal' (Ger. 'Rosenthal'). In the 18th century some French and Italian names were introduced. In the 17th and 18th centuries, many smallholdings on large estates were named after foreign places associated with Sweden’s many wars, e.g., 'Lützen' and 'Narva'. A special group of name borrowings consists of Biblical names, e.g., 'Betlehem' and 'Jerusalem'.