Viking Legend (25 page)

Afon Hafron- River Severn in Welsh

Alpín mac Echdach – the father of Kenneth MacAlpin, reputedly the first king of the Scots

Alt Clut- Dumbarton Castle on the Clyde

Bardanes Tourkos- Rebel Byzantine General

Bebbanburgh- Bamburgh Castle, Northumbria

Beck- a stream

Blót – a blood sacrifice made by a jarl

Blue Sea- The Mediterranean

Bondi- Viking farmers who fight

Bourde- Bordeaux

Bjarnarøy –Great Bernera (Bear island)

Byrnie- a mail or leather shirt reaching down to the knees

Caerlleon- Welsh for Chester

Caestir - Chester (old English)

Casnewydd –Newport, Wales

Cephas- Greek for Simon Peter (St. Peter)

Chape- the tip of a scabbard

Charlemagne- Holy Roman Emperor at the end of the 8
th
and beginning of the 9
th
centuries

Celchyth- Chelsea

Cherestanc- Garstang (Lancashire)

Corn Walum- Cornwall

Cymri- Welsh

Cymru- Wales

Cyninges-tūn – Coniston.  It means the estate of the king (Cumbria)

Dùn Èideann –Edinburgh (Gaelic)

Din Guardi- Bamburgh castle

Drekar- a Dragon ship (a Viking warship)

Duboglassio –Douglas, Isle of Man

Dyrøy –Jura (Inner Hebrides)

Dyflin- Old Norse for Dublin

Ein-mánuðr- middle of March to the middle of April

Faro Bregancio- Corunna (Spain)

Fey- having second sight

Firkin- a barrel containing eight gallons (usually beer)

Fret-a sea mist

Frankia- France and part of Germany

Fyrd-the Saxon levy

Garth
- Dragon Heart

Gaill- Irish for foreigners

Galdramenn- wizard

Glaesum –amber

Gleawecastre- Gloucester

Gói- the end of February to the middle of March

Grenewic- Greenwich

Haughs- small hills in Norse (As in Tarn Hows)

Heels- when a ship leans to one side under the pressure of the wind

Hel
- Queen of
Niflheim
, the Norse underworld.

Here Wic- Harwich

Hetaereiarch – Byzantine general

Hí- Iona (Gaelic)

Hjáp
- Shap- Cumbria (Norse for stone circle)

Hoggs or Hogging- when the pressure of the wind causes the stern or the bow to droop

Hrams-a – Ramsey, Isle of Man

Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog- King of Gwynedd 814-825

Icaunis- British river god

Itouna- River Eden Cumbria

Jarl- Norse earl or lord

Joro-goddess of the earth

Knarr- a merchant ship or a coastal vessel

Kyrtle-woven top

Leathes Water- Thirlmere

Ljoðhús- Lewis

Legacaestir- Anglo Saxon for Chester

Lochlannach – Irish for Northerners (Vikings)

Lothuwistoft- Lowestoft

Lundenwic - London

Mammceaster- Manchester

Manau/Mann – The Isle of Man(n) (Saxon)

Marcia Hispanic- Spanish Marches (the land around Barcelona)

Mast fish- two large racks on a ship for the mast

Melita- Malta

Midden- a place where they dumped human waste

Miklagård - Constantinople

Nikephoros- Emperor of Byzantium 802-811

Njoror- God of the sea

Nithing- A man without honour (Saxon)

Odin
- The "All Father" God of war, also associated with wisdom, poetry, and magic (The Ruler of the gods).

On Corn Walum –Cornwall

Olissipo- Lisbon

Orkneyjar-Orkney

Penrhudd – Penrith Cumbria

Pillars of Hercules- Straits of Gibraltar

Ran- Goddess of the sea

Roof rock- slate

Rinaz –The Rhine

Sabrina- Latin and Celtic for the River Severn.  Also the name of a female Celtic deity

St. Cybi- Holyhead

Syllingar Insula- Scilly Isles

Scree- loose rocks in a glacial valley

Seax – short sword

Sheerstrake- the uppermost strake in the hull

Sheet- a rope fastened to the lower corner of a sail

Shroud- a rope from the masthead to the hull amidships

Skeggox – an axe with a shorter beard on one side of the blade

South Folk- Suffolk

Stad- Norse settlement

Stays- ropes running from the mast-head to the bow

Strake- the wood on the side of a drekar

Suthriganaworc - Southwark (London)

Syllingar- Scilly Isles

Tarn- small lake (Norse)

Temese- River Thames (also called the Tamese)

The Norns- The three sisters who weave webs of intrigue for men

Thing-Norse for a parliament or a debate (Tynwald)

Thor’s day- Thursday

Threttanessa- a drekar with 13 oars on each side.

Thrall- slave

Tinea- Tyne

Trenail- a round wooden peg used to secure strakes

Tynwald- the Parliament on the Isle of Man

Úlfarrberg- Helvellyn

Úlfarrland- Cumbria

Úlfarr- Wolf Warrior

Úlfarrston- Ulverston

Ullr-Norse God of Hunting

Ulfheonar-an elite Norse warrior who wore a wolf skin over his armour

Volva- a witch or healing woman in Norse culture

Waeclinga Straet- Watling Street (A5) Windlesore-Windsor

Waite- a Viking word for farm

Withy- the mechanism connecting the steering board to the ship

Woden’s day- Wednesday

Wulfhere-Old English for Wolf Army

Wyddfa-Snowdon

Wyrd- Fate

Yard- a timber from which the sail is suspended

Ynys Môn-Anglesey

Anglo Saxon London

Northumbria circa 800 AD