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''Skræling'' (
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...
and
Icelandic: ''skrælingi'', plural ''skrælingjar'') is the name the
Norse Greenlanders
This is a demography of the population of Greenland including population density, ethnicity, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Populations
the resident population of Greenland was estimated at 56,562, a ...
used for the
peoples
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, ...
they encountered in North America (Canada and Greenland). In surviving sources, it is first applied to the
Thule people
The Thule (, , ) or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by the year 1000 and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people ...
, the proto-
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
group with whom the Norse coexisted in Greenland after about the 13th century. In the
saga
is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...
s, it is also used for the peoples of the region known as
Vinland
Vinland, Vineland, or Winland ( non, Vínland ᚠᛁᚾᛚᛅᚾᛏ) was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John ...
whom the Norse encountered and fought during their expeditions there in the early 11th century.
Etymology
The word is most likely related to the Old Norse word , meaning "dried skin", in reference to the animal pelts worn by the Inuit.
William Thalbitzer (1932: 14) speculated that might have been derived from the Old Norse verb , meaning "bawl, shout, or yell".
In modern
Icelandic, means "
barbarian
A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either Civilization, uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by som ...
", whereas the Danish descendant, , means "weakling".
The term is thought to have first been used by in his work , also called ''The Book of the Icelanders'',
written well after the period in which
Norse explorers made their first contacts with
indigenous Americans. By the time these sources were recorded, was the common term Norse
Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
ers used for the
Thule people
The Thule (, , ) or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by the year 1000 and expanded eastward across northern Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people ...
, the ancestors to the modern
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
. The Thule first arrived in Greenland from the
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n mainland in the 13th century and were thereafter in contact with the Greenlanders. The ''
Greenlanders' Saga'' and the ''
Saga of Erik the Red
The ''Saga of Erik the Red'', in non, Eiríks saga rauða (), is an Icelandic saga on the Norse exploration of North America. The original saga is thought to have been written in the 13th century. It is preserved in somewhat different version ...
'', which were written in the 13th century, use this same term for the people of the area known as
Vinland
Vinland, Vineland, or Winland ( non, Vínland ᚠᛁᚾᛚᛅᚾᛏ) was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John ...
whom the Norse met in the early 11th century. The word subsequently became well known, and has been used in the English language since the 18th century.
"
Kalaallit
Kalaallit make up the largest group of the Greenlandic Inuit and are concentrated in Kitaa. It is also a contemporary term in the Greenlandic language for the indigenous people living in Greenland (Greenlandic ''Kalaallit Nunaat'').Hessel, 8 Th ...
", the name of the largest ethnic group of
Greenlandic Inuit
Greenlanders ( kl, Kalaallit / Tunumiit / Inughuit; da, Grønlændere) are people identified with Greenland or the indigenous people, the Greenlandic Inuit (''Grønlansk Inuit''; Kalaallit, Inughuit, and Tunumiit). This connection may be r ...
, is likely derived from ''skræling''.
In 1750,
Paul Egede
Paul or Poul Hansen Egede (9 September 1708 – 6 June 1789) was a Dano-Norwegian theologian, missionary, and scholar who was principally concerned with the Lutheran mission among the Kalaallit people in Greenland that had been established by his ...
mentions that the Inuit used "Inuit" among themselves, but used Kalaalit when speaking to non-Inuit, stating that this was the term used by Norse settlers.
Norse exploration of the New World
Norse exploration of the New World began with the initial sighting of North America by an Icelander named
Bjarni Herjólfsson
Bjarni Herjólfsson ( 10th century) was a Norse- Icelandic explorer who is believed to be the first known European discoverer of the mainland of the Americas, which he sighted in 986.
Life
Bjarni was born to Herjólfr, son of Bárdi Herjólfsso ...
, who spotted land after drifting off course on a journey to Greenland in 985 or 986.
His voyage piqued the interest of later explorers including
Leif Eriksson
Leif Erikson, Leiv Eiriksson, or Leif Ericson, ; Modern Icelandic: ; Norwegian: ''Leiv Eiriksson'' also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to have set foot on continental North ...
, who would explore and name the areas of
Helluland
Helluland () is the name given to one of the three lands, the others being Vinland and Markland, seen by Bjarni Herjólfsson, encountered by Leif Erikson and further explored by Thorfinn Karlsefni Thórdarson around AD 1000 on the North Atlantic ...
,
Markland
Markland () is the name given to one of three lands on North America's Atlantic shore discovered by Leif Eriksson around 1000 AD. It was located south of Helluland and north of Vinland.
Although it was never recorded to be settled by Norsemen, ...
and
Vinland
Vinland, Vineland, or Winland ( non, Vínland ᚠᛁᚾᛚᛅᚾᛏ) was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John ...
.
First contact
Leif laid the groundwork for later colonizing efforts by establishing a foothold on Vinland, where he constructed some "large houses." Upon his return to Greenland,
Thorvald has the first contact with the native population which would come to be known as the ''skrælings''. After capturing and killing eight of the natives, they were attacked beside their beached ships, which they defended:
Thorfinn Karlsefni
Thorfinn Karlsefni
Thorfinn Karlsefni Thórdarson was an Icelandic explorer. Around the year 1010, he followed Leif Eriksson's route to Vinland in a short-lived attempt to establish a permanent settlement there with his wife Gudrid Thorbjarnardóttir and their fol ...
was the first Norse explorer to attempt to truly colonize the newly discovered
Vinland
Vinland, Vineland, or Winland ( non, Vínland ᚠᛁᚾᛚᛅᚾᛏ) was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John ...
, on the same site as his predecessors Thorvald and Leif Eriksson. According to the
Saga of Erik the Red
The ''Saga of Erik the Red'', in non, Eiríks saga rauða (), is an Icelandic saga on the Norse exploration of North America. The original saga is thought to have been written in the 13th century. It is preserved in somewhat different version ...
, he set sail with three ships and 140 men.
[Keneva Kunz (Translator) ''The Saga of Erik the Red'', in ''The Saga of Icelanders'', Penguin Books, New York, 2001. ]
Upon reaching Vinland, their intended destination, they found the now famous grapes and self-sown wheat for which the land was named. They spent a very hard winter at this site, barely surviving by fishing, hunting game inland, and gathering eggs on the island. The following summer they sailed to the island of Hop where they had the first peaceful interactions with the native people, with whom they traded. Thorfinn forbade his men to trade their swords and spears, so they mainly exchanged red cloth for pelts. They described the aboriginal inhabitants:
Shortly thereafter, the Norsemen were attacked by natives frightened by a bull that broke loose from the Norse encampment. They were forced to retreat to a more defensible location before engaging their attackers; at the end of the battle two of his men had been slain, while "many of the natives" were killed. As with any inhabited foreign land, Thorfinn and his men realized that
After this adventure, they returned to Greenland. Their three-year excursion would be the longest lasting known European colony in the New World, until
Columbus's voyages nearly 500 years later initiated full-scale European conquest of the Americas.
Inuit folktales of the Norse
There are also accounts from the Inuit:
Kavdlunait (plural) was the Inuit word for foreigner or European. Compare modern Greenlandic ''
qallunaaq'' ("Dane"), formerly spelled ''ĸavdlunâĸ''.
See also
*
Skraeling Island
Skraeling Island lies off the east coast of Ellesmere Island in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, at the mouth of Alexandra Fiord. Buchanan Bay lies to its north-east.
History
The Norse referred to the indigenous peoples they encountered i ...
References
*Hans Christian Gulløv, ed., ''Grønlands Forhistorie'', Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 2005.
*Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson (Translators), ''The Vinland Sagas : The Norse Discovery of America'', Penguin Books, 1965 Translation, 13th reprint of 1985, p. 65,
*Kane, Njord (2015) The Vikings: The Story of a People (Spangenhelm Publishing)
Further reading
*"Skraeling: First Peoples of Helluland, Markland, and Vinland.” Odess, Daniel; Stephen Loring; and William W. Fitzhugh, in ''Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga.'' Fitzhugh, William W. and Elisabeth I. Ward, editors. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2000. Pages 193–205. .
*"The Viking discovery of America: the excavation of a Norse settlement in L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland." Ingstad Helge. Checkmark Books. New York, 2001. .
*Kane, Njord (2015) The Vikings: The Story of a People (Spangenhelm Publishing)
*http://blogmeridian.blogspot.com/2008/08/unknowing-world.html
*http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01416a.htm
*"Norse contact with Native Americans before the Viking Age" by Njord Kane, 2016 * http://spangenhelm.com/norse-contact-native-americans-viking-age/
External links
Online etymology dictionary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skraeling
Indigenous peoples of North America
Norse colonization of North America
Ethno-cultural designations
Exonyms