Prehistory and Origin of Stockholm - Origin of The Name

Origin of The Name

The first, verified, mention of the name 'Stockholm' is from two letters written in Latin in 1252; the first, written in July, is a letter where the King Valdemar and Birger Jarl offered their royal patronage to Fogdö Abbey; and the other, written by Birger Jarl in August, urged the peasantry in Attundaland to pay their tithes to the Uppsala Cathedral. Both letters were written in Stockholm, but give no further information of the city itself or any explanation on the background of the name. However, it can be assumed at least some sort of dwelling in consistence with the station of a Swedish jarl existed at that time.

While the name itself easily splits into two distinct elements - stokker, or in modern Swedish stock, meaning "log", and holme, meaning "islet" - a matter-of-fact explanation for the name is much harder to produce, and over the years many popular myths have, accordingly, attempted to give a background. The first attempt to a more serious explanation was put forward by the German humanist Jacob Ziegler in his work Schondia (Scandinavia) printed in 1532. Writing in Latin, he describes the city as the stronghold and trade post of the Swedes, located among paludibus, meaning either marshes or lakes, and - like Venice - resting on poles. Most likely, while in Rome Ziegler must have come in contact with prominent Swedes like Johannes Magnus who supplied him with the description of the city, which still today styles itself "The Venice of the Nordic countries" (Nordens Venedig).

Other interpretations includes stock being an allusion to:

• poles erected either to indicate frontiers or temporary market places,
• trap logs, used to catch animals,
• stubs supposed to have been abundant on the central island of the city,
• fiskestock - either the local "fish livestock" or a hollowed out log used as an osier basket,
• the place where the watercourse and/or logs clogs (stockar sig),
• the name Stocksund for the stream flowing through the city, as mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Ynglinga saga and the saga of Saint Olaf (see below), thus supposing the original name of the city was Stocksundsholm ("Log-strait-islet"),
• a footbridge stretching over the stream, supposedly built before 1000, and,
• probably the most widespread explanation, logs drilled into the strait for either defensive purposes, or to force ships to pay tolls.

To add to the enigma, Stockholm have been called Eken ("The oak") in many contexts. While it is mostly associated with slang today, it is supposedly derived from Stockhäcken, the name the city was given by traders from Västergötland (called Västgötaknallar).