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According to the prevalent theory, the Proto-Finnic name for Sweden (*Ruotsi), is derived from an Old Norse term for "the men who row" (rods-) as rowing was the main method of navigating the rivers of Eastern Europe, and that it could be linked to the Swedish coastal area of Roslagen (Rus-law) or Roden, as it was known in earlier times.[1][2] The name Rus' would then have the same origin as the Finnish, Estonian, Võro and Northern Sami names for Sweden: Ruotsi, Rootsi, Roodsi and Ruoŧŧa.[3] It is remarkable enough that the local Finnic and Permic peoples in northern Russia proper use the same (Rus'-related) name both for Sweden and Russia (depending on the language): thus the Veps name for Sweden and Swedish is Ročinma / Ročin,[4] while in the Komi language spoken further east the etymologically corresponding term Roćmu / Roć means already Russia and Russian instead.[5][6] The Finnish scholar Tor Karsten has pointed out that the territory of present-day Uppland, Södermanland and East Gothland in ancient times was known as Roðer or roðin. Thomsen accordingly has suggested that Roðer probably derived from roðsmenn or roðskarlar, meaning seafarers or rowers.[7] Ivar Aasen, the Norwegian philologist and lexicographer, noted proto-Germanic root variants Rossfolk, Rosskar, Rossmann.[8]
[1] Blöndal, Sigfús (1978). The Varangians of Byzantium. Cambridge University Press. p. 1. ISBN 9780521035521. Retrieved 2 February 2014. [2] Stefan Brink, 'Who were the Vikings?', in The Viking World, ed. by Stefan Brink and Neil Price (Abingdon: Routledge, 2008), pp. 4-10 (pp. 6-7). [3] https://www.etymonline.com/word/Russia Online Etymology Dictionary [4] Zaiceva M.I., Mullonen M.I. (Dictionary of Veps language). «Science», 1972 [5] Savvaitov P. I. (Komi - Russian dictionary) 1815–1895. Printed in Saint-Petersburg, Imperial Science Academy, 1850. [6] Beznosikova L.M., Zaboeva N.K., Kosnyreva R.I. (Russian – Komi dictionary) 2005 [7] The Russian Primary Chronicle: Laurentian Text . Translated by Samuel Hazzard Cross; Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor. Mediaeval Academy of America, Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1953. ISBN 978-0-910956-34-5. Retrieved 14 May 2016. [8] Ivar Aasen, Norsk Ordbog, med dansk Forklaring, Kristiania 1918 (1873), p.612