The Norsemen (or Norse people) were a North Germanic ethnolinguistic group of the Early Middle Ages, during which they spoke the Old Norse language. The language belongs to the North Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages and is the predecessor of the modern Germanic languages of Scandinavia. During the late eighth century, Scandinavians embarked on a large-scale expansion in all directions, giving rise to the Viking Age. In English-language scholarship since the 19th century, Norse seafaring traders, settlers and warriors have commonly been referred to as Vikings. Historians of Anglo-Saxon England distinguish between Norse Vikings (Norsemen) from Norway who mainly invaded and occupied the islands north and north-west of Britain, Ireland and western Britain, and Danish Vikings, who principally invaded and occupied eastern Britain. Modern descendants of Norsemen are the

Danes Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. Danes generally regard t ...

Icelanders Icelanders ( is, Íslendingar) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nation who are native to the island country of Iceland and speak Icelandic. Icelanders established the country of Iceland in mid 930 AD when the Althing (Parliament) met for ...

Faroe Islanders Faroese people or Faroe Islanders ( fo, føroyingar; da, færinger) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nation native to the Faroe Islands. The Faroese are of mixed Norse and Gaelic origins. About 21,000 Faroese live in neighbouring countri ...

, Norwegians, and

Swedes Swedes ( sv, svenskar) are a North Germanic ethnic group native to the Nordic region, primarily their nation state of Sweden, who share a common ancestry, culture, history and language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countr ...

, who are now generally referred to as "

Scandinavians Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swede ...

" rather than Norsemen.

History of the terms ''Norseman'' and ''Northman''

The word ''Norseman'' first appears in English during the early 19th century: the earliest attestation given in the third edition of the '' Oxford English Dictionary'' is from Walter Scott's 1817 ''

Harold the Dauntless ''Harold the Dauntless'' is a narrative poem in six short cantos by Walter Scott, published in 1817. It employs a variety of metres. Set in the Durham area, the poem tells of Harold's rejection of his father Witikind's acceptance of Christiani ...

''. The word was coined using the adjective ''norse'', which was borrowed into English from Dutch during the 16th century with the sense 'Norwegian', and which by Scott's time had acquired the sense "of or relating to Scandinavia or its language, esp ciallyin ancient or medieval times". As with modern use of the word ''viking'', therefore, the word ''norseman'' has no particular basis in medieval usage. The term ''Norseman'' does echo terms meaning 'Northman', applied to Norse-speakers by the peoples they encountered during the Middle Ages. The

Old Frankish Frankish ( reconstructed endonym: *), also known as Old Franconian or Old Frankish, was the West Germanic language spoken by the Franks from the 5th to 9th century. After the Salian Franks settled in Roman Gaul, its speakers in Picardy an ...

word ("Northman") was Latinised as and was widely used in Latin texts. The Latin word then entered Old French as . From this word came the name of the Normans and of Normandy, which was settled by Norsemen in the tenth century. The same word entered Hispanic languages and local varieties of Latin with forms beginning not only in ''n-'', but in ''l-'', such as (apparently reflecting nasal dissimilation in local Romance languages). This form may in turn have been borrowed into Arabic: the prominent early Arabic source

al-Mas‘ūdī Al-Mas'udi ( ar, أَبُو ٱلْحَسَن عَلِيّ ٱبْن ٱلْحُسَيْن ٱبْن عَلِيّ ٱلْمَسْعُودِيّ, '; –956) was an Arab historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus ...

identified the 844 raiders on Seville not only as '' Rūs'' but also . The

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alf ...

, written in

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

, distinguishes between the pagan Norwegian Norsemen (''Norðmenn'') of Dublin and the Christian Danes (''Dene'') of the Danelaw. In 942, it records the victory of King

Edmund I Edmund I or Eadmund I (920/921 – 26 May 946) was King of the English from 27 October 939 until his death in 946. He was the elder son of King Edward the Elder and his third wife, Queen Eadgifu, and a grandson of King Alfred the Great. After ...

over the Norse kings of York: "The Danes were previously subjected by force under the Norsemen, for a long time in bonds of captivity to the heathens".

Other names

In modern scholarship, '' Vikings'' is a common term for attacking Norsemen, especially in connection with raids and monastic plundering by Norsemen in the British Isles, but it was not used in this sense at the time. In Old Norse and Old English, the word simply meant 'pirate'. The Norse were also known as , ''ashmen'', by the Germans, (Norse) by the Gaels and (Danes) by the Anglo-Saxons. The Gaelic terms (Norwegian Viking or Norwegian), (Danish Viking or Danish) and (foreign Gaelic) were used for the people of Norse descent in Ireland and Scotland, who assimilated into the

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

culture. Dubliners called them Ostmen, or East-people, and the name

Oxmanstown Oxmantown was a suburb on the opposite bank of the River Liffey, Liffey from Dublin, in what is now the city's Northside, Dublin, Northside. It was founded in the 12th century by Vikings or "Ostmen" who had migrated out of Dublin after the arriva ...

(an area in central Dublin; the name is still current) comes from one of their settlements; they were also known as , or Lake-people. The

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

, the Arabs and the Byzantines knew them as the '' Rus''' or (), probably derived from various uses of , i.e. "related to rowing", or from the area of Roslagen in east-central Sweden, where most of the Northmen who visited the Eastern Slavic lands originated. Archaeologists and historians of today believe that these Scandinavian settlements in the East Slavic lands formed the names of the countries of Russia and Belarus. The Slavs and the Byzantines also called them '' Varangians'' ( non, Væringjar, meaning "sworn men"), and the Scandinavian bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors were known as the Varangian Guard.

Modern Scandinavian usage

Modern Scandinavian languages have a common word for Norsemen: the word ( sv, nordborna, da, nordboerne, no, nordboerne, or in the

definite In linguistics, definiteness is a semantic feature of noun phrases, distinguishing between referents or senses that are identifiable in a given context (definite noun phrases) and those which are not (indefinite noun phrases). The prototypical d ...

plural) is used for both ancient and modern people living in the

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; literal translation, lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmar ...

and speaking one of the North Germanic languages.

Geography

The British conception of the Vikings' origins was inaccurate. Those who plundered Britain lived in what is today Denmark, Scania, the western coast of Sweden and Norway (up to almost the 70th parallel) and along the Swedish Baltic coast up to around the 60th latitude and Lake

Mälaren Mälaren ( , , or ), historically referred to as Lake Malar in English, is the third-largest freshwater lake in Sweden (after Vänern and Vättern). Its area is 1,140 km2 and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 kilometers from e ...

. They also came from the island of

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to the ...

, Sweden. The border between the Norsemen and more southerly Germanic tribes, the Danevirke, today is located about south of the Danish–German border. The southernmost living Vikings lived no further north than Newcastle upon Tyne, and travelled to Britain more from the east than from the north. The Norse Scandinavians established polities and settlements in what are now Great Britain (England, Scotland, Wales), Ireland, Iceland, Russia, Belarus, France, Sicily, Belgium, Ukraine, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Greenland, Canada, and the Faroe Islands.

Notable Norse people

Aud the Deep-Minded The Australian dollar ( sign: $; code: AUD) is the currency of Australia, including its external territories: Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, and Norfolk Island. It is officially used as currency by three independent Pacific Isla ...

( CE), ship captain and early settler of Iceland * Harald Bluetooth (died CE), king of Denmark and Norway, namesake of the Bluetooth wireless technology *

Bolli Bollason Bolli Bollason (also Bolli Bollison) was a key historical character in the Medieval Icelandic '' Laxdæla saga'', born around 1000. He grew up in Orlygsstadir, at Helgafell on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula in Iceland. He divided his time between H ...

(born CE), prominent Icelandic warrior and member of the Varangian Guard *

Freydís Eiríksdóttir Freydís Eiríksdóttir (born 970) was a Icelandic woman said to be the daughter of Erik the Red (as in her patronym), who figured prominently in the Norse exploration of North America as an early colonist of Vinland, while her brother, Leif E ...

(born CE), explorer and early colonist of Vinland *

Erik the Red Erik Thorvaldsson (), known as Erik the Red, was a Norse explorer, described in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first settlement in Greenland. He most likely earned the epithet "the Red" due to the color of his hair a ...

( CE), Norwegian explorer and founder of the first settlement in Greenland * Leif Erikson ( CE), Icelandic explorer thought to have been the first European to have set foot on continental North America * Estrid ( CE), powerful Swedish magnate and matriarch * Harald Fairhair ( CE), the first King of Norway * Gunnborga ( CE), Swedish

runemaster A runemaster or runecarver is a specialist in making runestones. Description More than 100 names of runemasters are known from Viking Age Sweden with most of them from 11th-century eastern Svealand.The article ''Runristare'' in ''Nationalencyklo ...

responsible for the

Hälsingland Rune Inscription 21 The Hälsingland Runic Inscription 21 is a Viking Age memorial runestone cataloged as Hs 21 under Rundata, located in Jättendal, Nordanstig Municipality, Hälsingland, Sweden. It is notable for being crafted by a female runemaster. Descripti ...

Hildr Hrólfsdóttir Hildr or Ragnhildr Hrólfsdóttir was a 9th-century woman who is referenced in various Old Norse sources including ''Óláfs saga helga'', '' Orkneyinga saga'', and ''Landnámabók'' and is also one of the few female skalds from whom verses survi ...

( CE), Norwegian

skald A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: , later ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry, the other being Eddic poetry, which is anonymous. Skaldic poems were traditionally ...

known for her poetry concerning the banishment of her father Rolv Nevia, the Viking

jarl Jarl is a rank of the nobility in Scandinavia. In Old Norse, it meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. ''Jarl'' could also mean a sovereign prince. For example, the rulers of several of the petty k ...

of Trondheim * Olaf the White ( CE), Viking sea-king, King of Dublin, and husband of

* Ragnar Lodbrok ( CE), legendary Viking hero and king * Þorbjörg Lítilvölva ( CE), renowned

seeress In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

of Norse colonial Greenland * Gunnlaugr ormstunga ( CE), Icelandic skald who widely served in Iceland, Norway, Ireland, Orkney, and Sweden *

Raud the Strong Raud the Strong was a Norsemen, Norse blót priest and seafaring warrior, who resisted conversion to Christianity in the late 10th century AD. Olaf Tryggvason was King of Norway from 995 to 1000 AD. He played an important part in the conversion o ...

( CE), Norwegian blót priest and seafaring warrior *

Steinunn Refsdóttir Steinunn Refsdóttir was an Icelandic skald active at the end of the 10th century. Two verses by her are preserved, in which she taunts the missionary Þangbrandr. The daughter of Refr ''hinn mikill'' ("the Great") and Finna, Steinunn was both des ...

( CE), Icelandic skald known for her verses taunting the Christian missionary

Þangbrandr Þangbrandr was a missionary sent to Iceland by king of Norway Óláfr Tryggvason to convert the inhabitants to Christianity. Snorri Sturluson described him as follows: Origins Þangbrandr's origins are uncertain. According to some sources, he ...

Rusla Rusla, also known as the "Red Woman" from Middle Irish ''Ingean Ruagh'', was a legendary Norwegian shield-maiden mentioned in the ''Gesta Danorum'' or "History of the Danes" of Saxo Grammaticus and in the Irish annals. According to Saxo, Rusla was ...

( CE), a.k.a. the "Red Woman", legendary Norwegian pirate fleet leader *

Steinvör Sighvatsdóttir Steinvör Sighvatsdóttir (early 13th–century – 17 October 1271; Modern Icelandic: ; Old Norse: ), was the politically most influential woman in Iceland in the Age of the Sturlungs. She was also a skald and listed as such in ''Skáldat ...

(−1271 CE), influential Icelandic matriarch and skald *

Egill Skallagrímsson Egil Skallagrímsson (Old Norse: ; Modern Icelandic: ; 904 995) was a Viking Age war poet, sorcerer, berserker, and farmer.Thorsson, 3 He is known mainly as the anti-hero of ''Egils saga, Egil's Saga''. ''Egil's Saga'' historically narrates a p ...

(), Icelandic war poet, sorcerer,

berserker In the Old Norse written corpus, berserker were those who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English word '' berserk'' (meaning "furiously violent or out of control"). Berserkers ...

, farmer, and anti-hero of '' Egil's Saga'' *

Snorri Sturluson Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of the ...

(1179–1241), Icelandic historian, poet, politician, and lawspeaker of the Althing whose work comprises a major source of

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

* Thorkell the Tall ( CE), semi-legendary Scanian lord and Jomsviking *

Veborg Webiorg, Wigbiorg or Veborg (died 750), was a legendary Scandinavian shieldmaiden who, according to the sagas, participated in the Battle of Bråvalla, which occurred in Sweden in approximately 750. She was of Swedish or Danish origin. The battle ...

(died CE), legendary shield-maiden known for her role in the Battle of Bråvalla

Notes

References

{{Viking North Germanic peoples Norsemen