I thought we'd acquired 'sark' meaning garment from Scottish and before that Norse, and Wikipedia doesn't say exactly that but still goes with me in outline: "The earliest surviving reference to the term berserker is in Haraldskvæði, a skaldic poem composed by Thórbiörn Hornklofi in the late ninth century in honor of King Harald Fairhair, a famous ruler of Norway. The poem was preserved by Snorri Sturluson. In this poem, Harald's army includes a warrior gang of berserkers fighting under the name of the Norse god of war, Tyr, in the battle of Hafrsfjord. In it, they are described as Ulfheðnar ("men clad in wolf skins"). This grounds a connection between bears and wolves in Norse warrior culture and the common assumption that the word "berserker" itself originates from men wearing the skin of the bear. An alternative etymology is from "bare", meaning unencumbered by a mail shirt.[1]"
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-11-09 12:37 pm (UTC)I thought we'd acquired 'sark' meaning garment from Scottish and before that Norse, and Wikipedia doesn't say exactly that but still goes with me in outline:
"The earliest surviving reference to the term berserker is in Haraldskvæði, a skaldic poem composed by Thórbiörn Hornklofi in the late ninth century in honor of King Harald Fairhair, a famous ruler of Norway. The poem was preserved by Snorri Sturluson. In this poem, Harald's army includes a warrior gang of berserkers fighting under the name of the Norse god of war, Tyr, in the battle of Hafrsfjord. In it, they are described as Ulfheðnar ("men clad in wolf skins"). This grounds a connection between bears and wolves in Norse warrior culture and the common assumption that the word "berserker" itself originates from men wearing the skin of the bear. An alternative etymology is from "bare", meaning unencumbered by a mail shirt.[1]"