: Berserk is "bärsärk" in Swedish.
: "Bär" is another version of
: "björn" (modern-day Swedish for bear and a
: fairly common male name) and "särk" is the
: newer version of "serkr", translated as
: "chemise" or "shift" in English.
: Basically an old type of rough shirt.
Thanks for the literal translation. Yes, it's "Bear Shirt," not "Bear Skin". Hey, does "Bjork" come from the same root?
: Whether this means "bearshirt" or "bear
: wearing shirt" or whatever the Hell it might be,
: I think these berserk were common only in myth or
: legends. I doubt that many Vikings (who's most
: important contributions were in fact peaceful ones)
: were actually this ferocious as individuals.
Depends how you define "Vikings" (since no one at that time actually called themselves that). If you're calling all the Norse of the time Vikings, as a lot of modern scholars do, then yes, berserks made up a very small fraction of that group. But if you're using the term (as I was) to refer only to the Norse who actually went "a-viking," doing the whole looting and pillaging routine, then the berserks were not an inconsiderable fraction of those folks. They made up the cream of their fighting force.
--SiliconDream
