Viking basics 101 – a quick-fire fact guide*
We’re super proud of our heritage. In school, we’re probably taught a bit more positively about Vikings and their travels than people are taught about it outside of Scandinavia; history lessons are always rather subjective.
We have collated some of our favorite tidbits of Viking knowledge for you in one handy post.
* To be fair, we’re a Scandinavian food shop and not a museum, so whilst we have done our best to find some fun facts, we’d be concerned if you base your dissertation on the content of this post.
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Viking is something you do, not something you are.
The word Viking comes from the people from the Vik, (vik means bay). People who would sail off to other places were ‘going Viking. The word Viking wasn’t used in English until the 19th Century – before this, we were just known as ‘Norsemen’ or ‘Danes’.
The Vikings originated from Sweden, Norway and Denmark.
It was not known as one or several nations to the Vikings themselves – this definition came later. Lots of tribes and settlements often fought each other when not busy travelling.
The first Vikings in the UK landed at Lindisfarme in 793.
The stories from this visit are not particularly friendly and don’t portray the Norse men in a very favourable light. After this, the Vikings settled over much of England, Scotland and Ireland. There may have been some disagreements with locals at times, but we found a way around it.
North America was first visited by Leif Eriksson in around year 1000.
They called it Vinland. Leif was the son of Erik the Red (Eiríkr hinn rauði) who was a pretty nasty guy having been banished from Scandinavia to Iceland for being too violent. Erik the Red was likely very ginger haired, hence his name.
This is not a photo of Leif; Leif wasn’t a hipster.
The Red head Viking was then in exile from Iceland
…for 3 years due to ‘a few murders’ – and spent this time exploring Greenland. This resulted in the first big marketing ploy in history: Erik marketed Greenland as ‘green and fruitful’, encouraging people to join him in settling there. Once they got there, they were not pleased, but they made the best of it (whilst Evil Erik went back to Iceland).
The Viking’s settlements and journeys
…stretched from New Foundland all the way to the Middle East. We picked up spices in Constantinople, traveled through Kyiv… Even made it to Jerusalem.
The Viking Age
…is commonly considered to have ended with the death of Harald Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066.
The word Beserk
…is a noun used to describe a Norse warrior who fought with uncontrolled ferocity – known as a Berserker. It comes from the Norse word ‘Beserkr’, from berr (bare i.e. without amour) and serkr (coat).
Viking women could divorce their husbands quite easily
…for reasons including ‘displaying too much chest hair’. After a divorce, men were required to pay maintenance. Women could also inherit property.
A long boat could travel up to 200km a day
In fact, sometimes, it would only take 3 days to reach England from Denmark, making it an ideal cruise holiday destination. The Vikings also had slower passenger and cargo ships called knörr (nothing to do with stock cubes).
A Viking long boat
…could take around 30,000 hours to build and wood from around 15 fully grown trees. They were usually built from oak – and 4000 nails. To make the sail for one boat would take about the same amount of hours.
Vikings worshipped the Norse god of skiing
..and also loved skiing for fun. God of Skiing’s name was Ullr and was often depicted wearing skis and holding a bow and arrow.
The Vikings were really clean people
…especially compared to, say, the English at the time. The Vikings had baths on Saturdays (the word Lørdag, Saturday, comes from the Norse word Laug = ‘bath’’. In England, the Vikings had a reputation for excessive cleanliness.
Vikings used an outdoor ‘loo’
…and wiped their bums with moss and sheep’s wool [How do we know these things? Really? – ed]
Viking Men ‘preferred’ being blonde
– some dark-haired men would bleach their hair (and sometimes beards) blonde using lye. (This also helped keep lice and fleas away – a total bonus). We do not recommend using lye.
The Vikings had issues with the English sh-sound.
Places like Shipton became Skipton. Most sk words in English are Viking in origin. We still have issues with the sh-sound today – many Swedes often mix up ch and sh sounds when speaking English (Shicken instead of chicken, shallenge, shild for child etc)
The medical name for a hangover, veisalgia,
…is an amalgam of the Greek ‘algia’ referring to pain and the Old Norse ‘kveis’, meaning the ‘unease one feels after a period of debauchery’.
No Vikings ever wore a helmet with horns.
No.
The word Bluetooth
comes from Harald Bluetooth, who was really good at making people get on with each other and ‘connect’. The symbol we use for Bluetooth today is actually runes for his initials.
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Ey Up
The traditional Northern English greeting “‘Ey up” is Viking – it comes from ‘se opp’ (look up).
Icelandic genetics today
…show a lot of British trace – suggesting that the Vikings picked up British and Irish people along their way there. The Vikings were active slave traders – slaves were known as Thralls and sold on markets across the world
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William the Conqueror was the grandson
…of Viking king Rollo – the Norsemen were just a few generations from the Normans.
