Tyrker (or Tyrkir) is a character mentioned in the Norse

Saga of the Greenlanders ''Grœnlendinga saga'' () (spelled ''Grænlendinga saga'' in modern Icelandic and translated into English as the Saga of the Greenlanders) is one of the sagas of Icelanders. Like the ''Saga of Erik the Red'', it is one of the two main sources on t ...

. He accompanied Leif on his voyage of discovery around the year 1000, and is portrayed as an older male servant. He is referred to as “

foster father Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home (residential child care community, treatment center, etc.), or private home of a state- certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent" or with a family me ...

” by

Leif Ericson 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 ...

, which may indicate he was a freed

thrall A thrall ( non, þræll, is, þræll, fo, trælur, no, trell, træl, da, træl, sv, träl) was a slave or serf in Scandinavian lands during the Viking Age. The corresponding term in Old English was . The status of slave (, ) contrasts with ...

, who once had the responsibility of looking after and rearing the young Leif. Leif and his company wintered in the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

after building

Leifsbudir Leifsbudir (Old Norse: Leifsbuðir) was a settlement, mentioned in the Greenland Saga, founded by Leif Eriksson in 1000 or 1001 in Vinland. Later, 160 Greenlanders, including 16 women, established themselves there under the leadership of Norseman ...

(''Leif’s dwellings''), perhaps somewhere in

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

or the adjacent area. According to the saga, he divided his men into two parties, which took turns in exploring the surrounding area. He cautioned his followers to keep together and return to sleep at their quarters. One evening Tyrker did not return with his party. Greatly distraught, Leif, at the head of twelve men, went in search of him, and he had not gone far when he discovered the old thrall, greatly excited, gesticulating wildly, and evidently drunk. “Why, my fosterer,” cried Leif, “have you come so late? What made you leave your companions!” Tyrker answered in his own language, but when remembering that the

Norsemen 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 pre ...

could not understand him, he spoke, after some time, in their tongue: “I have not gone very far; still I have some news for you. I have discovered vines loaded with

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

s.” “Are you telling the truth, my foster-father?” exclaimed Leif. “I am sure of telling the truth,” Tyrker said, “for in my native land there are vines in plenty.” This caused Leif to give the country the name of

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 ...

. Tyrker's origin is debated among historians, with evidence presented for German, Hungarian, Slavic or even Turkish backgrounds. The saga refers to him speaking a language that has variously been interpreted as referring to "German" or "Turkish", the latter in which case would account for the last three possibilities of ethnicity, upon finding the wine berries on Vinland. Additionally, the story shares the element of wild grapes with the

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

The Voyage of Máel Dúin ''The Voyage of Máel Dúin'' (Old Irish: ''Immram Maele Dúin'') is the tale of a sea voyage written in Old Irish around the end of the 1st millennium AD. The protagonist is Máel Dúin, the son of Ailill Edge-of-Battle, whose murder provides ...

''. However, the Norse word used in the saga is . While this sometimes refers to grapes, it also translates into "wine-berry", and there is a long-standing Nordic tradition to make wine out of berries available. We know from historical records that the Icelanders and Greenlanders even made wine from

crowberry ''Empetrum nigrum'', crowberry, black crowberry, or, in western Alaska, blackberry, is a flowering plant species in the heather family Ericaceae with a near circumboreal distribution in the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually dioecious, but there ...

. In the Newfoundland/Labrador area,

squashberry ''Viburnum edule'', the squashberry, mooseberry, moosomin, moosewood viburnum, pembina, pimina, highbush cranberry, or lowbush cranberry is a species of shrub native to Canada and the northern parts of the US. It stands roughly 2 m (6.5 ft) tall w ...

gooseberry Gooseberry ( or (American and northern British) or (southern British)) is a common name for many species of ''Ribes'' (which also includes currants), as well as a large number of plants of similar appearance. The berries of those in the genu ...

, and

cranberry Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry ...

all grow wild, and may serve as an explanations for Leif’s discovery of "wine-berries". Remains of a Norse settlement from the period in question has been found at

L'Anse aux Meadows L'Anse aux Meadows ( lit. Meadows Cove) is an archaeological site, first excavated in the 1960s, of a Norse settlement dating to approximately 1,000 years ago. The site is located on the northernmost tip of the island of Newfoundland in the Ca ...

, Canada.

References

* which in turn cites: **

Adam of Bremen Adam of Bremen ( la, Adamus Bremensis; german: Adam von Bremen) (before 1050 – 12 October 1081/1085) was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. Adam is most famous for his chronicle ''Gesta ...

, ''Historia Ecclesiastica'' {{Authority control Icelandic explorers Vinland 10th-century births