Oh yeah, one of the North tribes were called “Žuvėdai” which translates to fish eaters. Though my knowledge is not deep enough to know if it was about modern Swedes.
It’s true. Swedes used to be called “žuvėdrai”, which means fish eaters.
Swedes were called “žuvėdai” (“fish eaters”) around the time when Sweden fought with the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania (~17-18th century)
It’s true, however we don’t call swedes like that anymore. Atleast I haven’t heard anyone use that word apart from history lessons.
Never heared of it
“Žuvedrai” is an archaic word for swedes, but translating it as “fish-eater” is folk etymology. It just sounds like fish-eater in the modern standard
Oh it’s definetely true, we even have folk songs that call swedes “žuvėdai”, which literally translates to “fish eaters”.
Yes, but I’m more concerned why Brits call turnips “swedes”
It’s sorta old term for both sweeds and vikings in general
True, but it was never (afaik) derogatory. It’s like calling Northern Europeans “Vikings”. Nowadays no one calls Swedes that, it’s “Swedes”, “Scandinavians”, “North Europeans” and similar.
The term “Žuvėdai” comes from the Lithuanian words “žuv” (meaning “fish”) and “ėdai” (related to “ėsti,” which means “to eat”). So, it roughly translates to “fish-eaters.” However, this term wasn’t originally used as an insult; it simply became a common way to refer to people from what is now Sweden. It’s similar to calling someone “Dutch” instead of “Netherlandian”—a distinctive label rather than a derogatory one.
The term “Žuvėdai” comes from the Lithuanian words “žuv” (meaning “fish”) and “ėdai” (related to “ėsti,” which means “to eat”). So, it roughly translates to “fish-eaters.” However, this term wasn’t originally used as an insult; it simply became a common way to refer to people from what is now Sweden. It’s similar to calling someone “Dutch” instead of “Netherlandian”—a distinctive label rather than a derogatory one.
In Lithuanian Sweden is Švedija (pronounced like shvedia) and Swedes are Švedai (shvedai) which is phonetically similar to žuvėdai (zhuvedai) which translates as “fish-eaters”. It has indeed some truth in it, but it might be historical pun like pejorative name for some reason, maybe it came during the times of Swedish-Commonwealth wars in 17 century. Commonwealth was doing not that great and lost some lands to Sweden, including parts of what was the Duchy of Lithuania. Or maybe it’s more ancient like from Viking times which certainly warred between tribes along the coast of Baltic sea. There was not much stuff to steal and people were too angry and also did bit of pirating, so Vikings preferred to plunder monasteries and rich people in British isles and elsewhere, but the folk name might have stuck even since then.
In any case it’s very archaic, nobody uses that anymore for a long time.
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First I’m hearing it.
Oh yeah, one of the North tribes were called “Žuvėdai” which translates to fish eaters. Though my knowledge is not deep enough to know if it was about modern Swedes.
It’s true. Swedes used to be called “žuvėdrai”, which means fish eaters.
Swedes were called “žuvėdai” (“fish eaters”) around the time when Sweden fought with the Commonwealth of Poland and Lithuania (~17-18th century)
It’s true, however we don’t call swedes like that anymore. Atleast I haven’t heard anyone use that word apart from history lessons.
Never heared of it
“Žuvedrai” is an archaic word for swedes, but translating it as “fish-eater” is folk etymology. It just sounds like fish-eater in the modern standard
Oh it’s definetely true, we even have folk songs that call swedes “žuvėdai”, which literally translates to “fish eaters”.
for example this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-elyK2cnxI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-elyK2cnxI)
Yes, but I’m more concerned why Brits call turnips “swedes”
It’s sorta old term for both sweeds and vikings in general
True, but it was never (afaik) derogatory. It’s like calling Northern Europeans “Vikings”. Nowadays no one calls Swedes that, it’s “Swedes”, “Scandinavians”, “North Europeans” and similar.
The term “Žuvėdai” comes from the Lithuanian words “žuv” (meaning “fish”) and “ėdai” (related to “ėsti,” which means “to eat”). So, it roughly translates to “fish-eaters.” However, this term wasn’t originally used as an insult; it simply became a common way to refer to people from what is now Sweden. It’s similar to calling someone “Dutch” instead of “Netherlandian”—a distinctive label rather than a derogatory one.
The term “Žuvėdai” comes from the Lithuanian words “žuv” (meaning “fish”) and “ėdai” (related to “ėsti,” which means “to eat”). So, it roughly translates to “fish-eaters.” However, this term wasn’t originally used as an insult; it simply became a common way to refer to people from what is now Sweden. It’s similar to calling someone “Dutch” instead of “Netherlandian”—a distinctive label rather than a derogatory one.
In Lithuanian Sweden is Švedija (pronounced like shvedia) and Swedes are Švedai (shvedai) which is phonetically similar to žuvėdai (zhuvedai) which translates as “fish-eaters”. It has indeed some truth in it, but it might be historical pun like pejorative name for some reason, maybe it came during the times of Swedish-Commonwealth wars in 17 century. Commonwealth was doing not that great and lost some lands to Sweden, including parts of what was the Duchy of Lithuania. Or maybe it’s more ancient like from Viking times which certainly warred between tribes along the coast of Baltic sea. There was not much stuff to steal and people were too angry and also did bit of pirating, so Vikings preferred to plunder monasteries and rich people in British isles and elsewhere, but the folk name might have stuck even since then.
In any case it’s very archaic, nobody uses that anymore for a long time.
HTH.
Its true
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