The Norse on Other Cultures
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- Опубліковано 29 тра 2024
- A look at how the Norse sagas talk about other cultures the Norse encountered (mostly the Sámi, the "Bjarmians," the Irish, and the "Skrælingjar" or American Indians).
Jackson Crawford, Ph.D.: Sharing real expertise in Norse language and myth with people hungry to learn, free of both ivory tower elitism and the agendas of self-appointed gurus. Visit jacksonwcrawford.com/ (includes bio and linked list of all videos).
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It seems that Finns always had a somewhat different attitude towards magic. In Kalevala, almost everyone is some kind of a sorcerer. When the main hero Väinämöinen needs to build a boat, he doesn't even try building it in a normal way, instead he uses magic to manipulate wood and iron. When he can't finish it because he forgot the right magic words, he embarks on a long journey to obtain those words from another magic user.
Lol did he have to use a boat on that journey?
@@schoo9256 He walked, if I remember right) But the trip is fun nonetheless. The guy who knows the magic words is a giant and accidentally swallows Väinämöinen, who gets bored sitting in his belly, so he builds a makeshift forge and starts forging stuff, which causes the giant one heck of a stomachache. When he escapes the giant's belly, he actually remembers the words he needs, so this whole trip was just a waste of time)
@@niemandkeiner8057 vore
Ultimate expression of effort for the sake of laziness. I can't be bothered to finish this boat by hand, so I shall embark on an epic Finland-spanning journey to find someone who knows the spell I need and then I shall return to finish my boat, with minimal effort!
@@niemandkeiner8057 just another Monday
5:16
Jackson: "Nothing can escape them, neither men nor animals."
Bighorn in the background, on the left: *perks up* "Excuse me w0t was that?"
We still have words derived from "íri" (Irish(man)) which have negative meanings in Faroese. Examples are: írahópur (group of Irish) which refers to a group of trouble-making boys, and a person who is either evil or seen as useless can be described as írasáð (Irish sperm/seed). Not sure how often these are still used but they are in the dictionary.
EDIT: Found another usage: at renna sum undan írum (like running to escape the Irish) is to run as if the Devil himself was chasing you.
As an irishman it's interesting
Ironic considering the Faroese have a lot of Irish ancestry.
Apparently the irish were some badasses.
The Irish have always been experts at guerrilla warfare and ambushing. Irish soldiers could be found serving in all manner of foreign armies because their cattle-rustling skills were legendary, any army with Irishmen in it was generally very well fed, and they tended to steal the enemies food supplies so two birds one stone.
@@samuelterry6354 Actually, this is probably exactly why we have them. "Oh, someone's annoying, he must be one of those with Irish ancestry."
The Norse ideas of Finno-Ugric language-speakers being mages/witches etc. is actually still somewhat present in popular culture. For example Tolkien's Elves were highly influenced by this, and the elven language "Quenya" in his books is largely based on Finnish. And though Finland for example ended up being an integrated part of Sweden for nearly 700 years, it was still as late as the 1960's that there were still Swedish people who believed that Finnish people or at least the land itself were somehow tied to magic. So you'd see things like people either wanting to refuse or specifically wanting Finnish people onto ships before setting out to sea because they believed having a Finn onboard would either bring them good or bad luck. It's also interesting that Finnish people have also seen the Sami people as sorcerers and witches and such. There are actually still practising Sámi "witch doctors" in Finland, as some people really believe they can cast healing spells etc.
Ofc these days Finns are pretty much just another Nordic nation, but still seen as a bit peculiar by the other Nordics.
Tolkien was influenced by the Finnish epic 'Kalavala'.
The cadence of his voice and tonal intonation is incredibly relaxing. I would listen to the sagas in old Norse as a delightful sleep aid.
I bet he could sing if he was trained (Baritone) for sure.
Due to his precise pronounciation - utterly delightful.
One's name being spoken was (as far as I'm aware) seen as a summoning in old finnish (and I'd assume also sámi) beliefs, which is considered to be the reason why finnish for example has literally over a hundred names/words for the bear, because speaking the bear's true name was seen as dangerous (because you wouldn't want to bump into a bear) and was to be avoided by using alternative names instead.
Based on this I'd _assume_ the men not being named during the three days would've been to avoid summoning them back from their (spiritual) journey, interrupting the whole thing.
That same belief also existed in Swedish culture and a lot of other cultures around the world. See the idiom "Speak of the devil and he doth appear".
That's what I thought. My friend who got me into looking into the Norse religions would never say any gods name 3 times because (according to him every time he did so) would bring about a sign from said god or deities power. When American gods the show came out he told me he said the spider god's name 3 times and suddenly he found many spiders in his home. He also has Odins ravens names on his arms and slapped two friends with the "3 years of bad luck" curse when one flies before the other (can't remember the specifics of that one right now) and over the next 3 years they both had terrible things happen to them. After the second time all of his friends who are also believers and followers threatened to skin the tattoos off if he did it a third time.
My understanding is that there's a conjecture that this happened in most Indo-European languages as well (not the number of separate words, but the broader use of euphemism to avoid summoning bears), and this is why many languages, including English, have common words for bear that are derived from an ancestor meaning simply "brown thing."
When you repeat mantra, you are using words of power to control something (most importantly your mind) or to heal. In hinduism true name of being is one with the energy of the being. Same thing in finnish magic where you use words of power, true names and knowledge of the true nature of the thing, to control or to heal. This is one finnish spell i remember.
Nouse luontoni lovesta, syntyni syvästä maasta, haon alta haltiani ! tuekseni, turvakseni, väekseni, voimakseni !
Let my true nature rise up from the oblivion/trance/netherworld, rise up from the dephts of the earth, from under the fallen tree come my elf. To my protection and support. Give me strength and spiritual power (mana). Sorry if i dont make any sense. Maybe i should have wrote tgis in the morning haha.
@@logitimate These "many languages" are all the Germanic languages. The Slavic ones call the bear "honey eater".
I find it interesting that the Finn and Hungarian languages are part of the same language family along with 8 languages in Central Russia north of the Caspian Sea.
When homie started speaking Norse, I was done, very impressive.
In northern Norway there are still rumors of magic among the Sami, with certain people being suspected of being able to harm others by "ganning" (sorcery). It is often thought to run in families. But these days it is usually other Sami that purvey these rumors, rather than the Norwegians.
I am part Saami and a had magic done to me.
It's entirely possible that it was mostly Sami who spread such rumors (or claims of their own power) during the Viking era; it's just that what has come down to is in writing from that time is largely "the Sami, at seen by the Norse," not "the Sami, as seen by other Sami."
@@logitimate I get that. I just wanted to say that ganning still goes on among the saami to this day. Whether it works or not... That's another question. :)
@@kahinaloren Is it really a question though? ^^
@@kahinaloren I'll answer that question for you right now; No, magic isn't real.
A very russian person here, your pronunciation of the Архангельск (
Arkhangelsk) was a really fresh and good one, if I can say so myself. It was really thrilling to hear and, not gonna lie, it kinda made my morning!
It's ridiculous pronunciation, it's not pronounced as ARRhhhhanIIl'sk. He kinda got Ль properl, though.
Guestimator
I know right? But what a fresh one it was doe
I read somewhere that the Swedish settlers in New Sweden in the 1600s brought Finns with them who created the first log cabins in North America along a Finnish style.
...and Dr. Jackson Crawford wins the award for best Zoom background.
The everyday Swede still considered Sámi & to a lesser scale the Finns to be magical peoples up untill the mid 1800s.
I feel magical all of a sudden. :')
I don't think Norwegians in general believe this today, but we are constantly wondering what Finnish "sisu" is all about. I think that this is perhaps most about respect for the natural elements and if so, then many Norwegians and Swedes have the same feeling. As a Norwegian I have lived in Denmark for 20 years and if there is anything I miss from the Norwegian mentality it is respect for nature and how it has a decisive influence on how we think and what we do in general.
@@Hvitserk67 Respect for nature is definitely a part of Finnish culture, but 'sisu' has more to do with your inner strength. I would define it as the ability to persevere despite hardships, or the resolve that makes you continue with your endeavour even if the odds are against you.
In that sense, 'sisu' is universal, and I would say anyone can have 'sisu' regardless of nationality. It's just us Finns who have made it a national myth, perhaps to motivate the people in difficult times.
@@EresirThe1st it was a few languanges actually,(like Welsh or so i have heard) but you can see the Finnish in elvish since some words like -tie- means road in elvish and Finnish.
@@michabach274 You're right. The word 'sisu' comes from 'sisus' and its derivatives which literally mean insides or intestines. So, sisu is just the Finnish version of guts.
I am very thankful to have discovered Dr Crawford's channel. So much great and educational information. If only more channels were like this one. It would be interesting to know historical accounts between the Vikings and Frank's. The town in northern France I grew up was attacked by both Norse and Danes for a period of almost 100 years. Both the monasteries of Hasnon and St-Amand les Eaux were pillaged a few times. I wish to know more. Thank you again for such a great channel.
Have you considered naming the Goats? I'd be interested in what you decide on and I think you like them enough to already have some ideas.
I wonder why the fuek all I ever learned in Dutch history class about this period, is that it was backwards "dark age". When there's so much recorded about this period, and it is so fundamental to establishing a good view on the period in which the surrounding nations came into existence, and came to develop and interact with each other. This time period is quite fundamental in developing where our western European nations come from.
15:13 In star trek there is "a universal translator"... everybody speaks their own language and the computer on board translates every other language into their own language... you can find a clip from the "star trek Diskcovery" series. IIRC this episode was in series 2 where the "universal translator" broke and only on being understood anyone else. He had put in the effort to learn the other languages...
As an Sámi I value your information immensly. Thank you Jackson
8:05 It's interesting to note that there's still some sort of faint notion of this traditional Finno-Ugric magic in Russia to this day, both in the regions you've mentioned but also in Siberia.
10:36 Could it be that this is because the written tradition that we have has several sources, some of which were people who only saw Gaelic slaves that were brought from faraway lands, while others were actually buying or capturing these slaves and interacting with powerful and warlike Irish nobility of the day? Not to mention the fact that the only Scandinavians who actually survived the Viking age in Ireland and Scotland were those who were baptized and managed to assimilate into the local clan structure.
16:11 An interesting topic would be the interaction with the Slavic peoples in general, as well as Franks and Anglo-Saxons you've mentioned in passing.
I’d love to read that account of the initial encounters of the Norse and Skraelingjar.
Thank you Dr. Crawford! My son is half Norwegian and Arab from his Palestinian mother. My hope is that he can be raised with some of my and some of her culture. Your lessons have been an education for me I hope to pass on to my son. Thank you very much.
Such a fitting background. Looks almost like parts of Sweden.
Norrlandske granskogar
2:10 It's interesting how in there in Norman period source from England. Recording the rebellion of Hereward the Wake. Hereward and his rebels held out against the Normans on the island of Ely, which was surrounded by marshes. The normans in response built a great scaffold and put a witch on top to curse then. But Hereward is supposed to have managed to set fire to the wooden tower and topple the witch. Interesting that the same practice is recorded well into the Christian period.
Thank you, love your videos! -Greetings from Sweden!
Enjoyed the video very much. I’m always intrigued by the interactions the Norse and the Welsh had. So often the focus is primarily on England or Ireland. A very interesting video though, I always learn something from your videos, thank you.
@@brittakriep2938 Yeah, 'Wales' is what the English call the place. We call it 'Cymru'.
@@therat1117 ..which devires from a Celtic term meaning "compatriot"
There is a great two-part documentary based on Swedish and Finnish research on relations between Norse and Finnic tribes living by the Baltic Sea, particularly how the Finnic tribes were instrumental in forming the eastern trade-route to Constantinople.
Link?
Seems very interesting. I'm definitely going to watch it!
Lund University from Sweden says the documentary is based on a book called "Identity Formation and Diversity in the Early Medieval Baltic and Beyond" by Johan Callmer, Ingrid Gustin and Mats Roslund (editors).
Wow, you live in the most beautiful place, and you have the most fascinating things to say! I'm just an ordinary person with a simple associates of liberal arts, not a liguist or anthropologist or anything special, but I'm addicted to your videos!
Gosh these are always SO GOOD!!
Remarkable how much Norse still is present in Norwegian.
Norwegian (like other Scandinavian languages) is descended/comes from Norse.
fun fact, the local dialect of Setesdal is very similar to old norse, but it is almost impossible to understand for other norwegians.
What a good one, Jackson! Thanks
Thank you very much for your time and knowledge. We have small stories and legends about Vikings in Ukrainian culture as the Vikings had a trade relationship with Kyiv Rus at that time.
Great content as always👍🍻
The fact that Sturlesson thought it significant to say that, “at that time, the language of England and the More was the same” also seems to imply that it was noticeable how much they had diverged by 1250 AD, less than 400 years later.
Thanks, Prof. Crawford. I always enjoy your content.
Very interesting! But I missed some comments about the Norse interactions with Slavic people.
Interesting, thankyou so much!💖
Thank you for another very interesting video and for promoting education accessible to all of us.
Excellent video, thank you.
Fantastic video, I love the topic and the landscape is especially interesting!
This channel is precious
Wonderful! Thank you for this video! I envy the weather (and the goats lol) it is raining here in South Ga USA. Thank you again 😊
I really love that you bring two of my passions together in your videos - Old Norse and animals. It's so lovely to see the creatures and nature in your area that you enjoy in person - I can enjoy them as you talk. It is wonderful, thank you.
Great video! Also, just discovered the wonder of UA-cam’s automatic closed captioning trying to make sense of your Old Norse!! 😂
Thanks for that beautiful video!
Greetings from the Czech Republic!
Goat crown at 10:21 is a treasure :)
Also very much enjoying your knowledge and soothing explanations!
I love this channel!!!!
Thank you for sharing! Interesting as my heritage is Norwegian, Irish, Swedish and German. Not to be over the top here, but I was thinking how I would watch this to "lull" me to sleep and then the words about being lulled to sleep came out of your mouth on this video.
Thank you again !
Amazing content
Hey, first. Keep teaching us new things/facts, Jackson! I'm currently learning old Norse with you! :D
Nicely done
Dr Crawford is the best in business... starting to understand some old nores just from watching his videos...
It’s awesome to see preservation of culture! To understand the thinking of a people from millennium ago can help understand how our present relates to each other now. There’s more resources than ever to understand one another, and this video shows that to this day cultures are still alien to one another as they were thousands of years ago.
Learn from the past to understand the present!
Awesome video!
The Bighorn sheep are a brilliant touch. I lived next to them near the -OKANOGAN, Wash. They would lick the "de-icer" off of the state highway and be struck by traffic. A conundrum. As a Norwegian descendant, I find your discussions fascinating. I think a fair amount of lecture could occur on the assimilation of American Scandinavians.
Thanks!
16:00 The British had a hell of a hard time settling in North America too, with the earliest colonies having to be abandoned soon after their establishment and the like.
As far as I know, gunpowder was far less decisive in the conquest of the Americas by the Europeans than people tend to think.
There's a difference between scrappy settler outfits with tens or hundreds of people and a whole kingdom sending a conquering armed force to start a colony, like Spain and Portugal racing to colonise South/Meso America. I'd agree though that we're talking about hundreds of years of history so "gunpowder" is obviously too simple of an explanation to describe everything, especially since most of indigenous North Americans died from all the Europeans' new illnesses. People are pretty easy to conquer when they're dead from pneumonia.
@@HessianHunter I wasn't comparing the British to the Spaniards, but the Vikings to the British.
The Spaniards were mainly so successful because they had plate armor, and steel weapons, neither of which the native’s weapons or armor could do much at all against, and large, organized forces employing tactics and strategies evolving from thousands of years of European warfare that were FAR superior to the relatively extremely primitive ones utilized by the natives. The gunpowder part is really overstated, as guns back then took so long to reload that they were mostly useful for the opening of a battle, and weren’t nearly as effective as modern firearms, especially once the two forces collided. Not to mention the Spaniards had horses.
@@WarriorofSunlight They were also helped a lot by the illnesses they brought along as well as by the fact that those central and South American empires were built on very shaky foundations. Cortez, for instance, could easily rally all the subjects of the Aztec empire against their masters. Without them, he would hardly have had an army large enough to successfully take on the Aztecs and conquer their capital city.
i live in the northen part of sweden and have always thought skraelingjar meaning something like skreamers or somebody that makes alot of noice. in many northen swedish dialects "skräla or skrääl" means screaming or complaining very loud. even sometimes it means brag about something so everybody can hear it.
Cool goats. I finally know how to pronounce, "Sámi."
I'm curious if the magical practices mentioned are based on anything that the Sámi did, if the Norse made it up for the stories, or if the Norse had similar traditions. We probably won't ever know.
@@finnicpatriot6399 Really? I usually assume that any pagan practices in Europe were supressed. It's fortunate when more than a remnant of a small culture survives.
@@finnicpatriot6399 do you happen to know of any reputable English-language translations/sources about these practices? I didn't know they were so well preserved.
Editing to clarify: I'm not trying to debate or doubt what you're saying, and I realize that might be how this comment comes off. I just wanna learn more about them.
@@harjutapa You could try the Encyclopedia of Saami Culture from the University of Helsinki (Saami spelled with a double a). It has an entry on 'shamanism' which briefly explains some of the things that a Sami 'shaman' would do.
When you google it, the website comes up in the search results as "Saamelaiskulttuurin ensyklopedia". On the front page, you can either use the search box to look for the entry on 'shamanism', or you can go through the 'Sisällysluettelo / Table of Contents'. Either way, be sure to select 'English' from the language menu, if the site keeps pushing you content in Finnish. =)
@@hoonterofhoonters6588 yeah the sami has lost much, we swedes did most of the work to kill their culture and the tensions are still going on. thats some of the darker parts of our more recent history that go on today
You're a Bloodborne fan??
Last week I heard a story in old (reconstructed) Dutch from around 1000 AD. It could have been old Norse for all I know…. I know that the Norsemen had many interactions with Frisians (coming from Denmark, we think). So it might be not that surprising that the languages were the same. So I was a bit surprised that the Norsemen would classify Middle German as unitintelligiable.
I don't think I've been this early to one of your uploads 😂💜
Jackson at one with nature :D
Thanks.
Professor Crawford you remind me of Rollo from the show Vikings on Netflix 😁
Fascinating subject! So maybe sometime, you could do a vid on the similarities and differences between the culture of the Old Norse and that of the old and current West of the United States. You know, places like rural Colorado and Wyoming. I think there are some strong similarities: and, of course, there are also significant differences between these on one side and contemporary urban culture on the other such that "wisdom" in the cultures of the Old West and the Old Norse might not necessarily be "wise" for those of us living in contemporary urban (and suburban culture).
It seems I have misunderstood the word "Skraelling" when I read the Vinland Saga. My take was that it was an epithet with the conotation of refuse, to put it nicely. Thanks so much for the insight you provide into this wonderful culture and language.
The more common interpretation is something like they who screech/make noise. For example Skråla in modern swedish is most often used about the way really drunk people sing. But that could of course bee a modern development of the word.
The problem with the term skrælingr is that depending on tone it can mean "weak", "screeching" or "leather clad."
Awesome I had on C.C. which does not do well any way. At the point you started in with the old Norse it totally lost it. Thanks for the information and a good laugh.
Such a cool video, I'm Finnish, Swedish, Algonquin, and Scottish (close enough??). Sicilian as well.
Does anyone know of a good resource to learn more about the Varangian Guard and interactions between Byzantines and Scandinavians?
Hey Mr. Crawford.
I'd like to ask you... in terms of Berserkr and Úlfhéðinn, is it the Norse warriors them selves or is it the animal skins that are described?
Could you say, like... that a Úlfhéðinn is actually talking about the wolf skin, or should héðinn in this case be described as to something like "heathen" making it "wolf heathen"?
Nice
I read somewhere (sorry I don't remember source) that Tyrke (sorry if misspelled) was Slavic and may explain why he wasn't understood more so than the fact he was continental German.
Maybe you could do Eireks Saga Víðförla, where the traveller supposedly meets the Byzantine emperor himself who instructs him in Christianity
Thnx Jackson for talking about it. As a Swedish/Finn/Sami völva you know I've been looking forward on your opinion 😀.
I'm having a hard time deciding whether it's a Norse video or an animal documentary xD
Anyway, very interesting as always
I'll buy your books as soon as they're back in stock at Hackett's european distributor
the wildlife is a wonderful touch and rather than listen I actually watched. fun stuff
the goats (?) found the talk interesting too, they were definitely listening
In a lot of countries, foreign witches and seers are thought to be more powerful than native ones. In early modern Britain, Gypsies were thought to be more magical, and even today fortune-tellers may pose as Roma.
😊
Very interesting. As a swede its interesting to hear a canadian explaining these old norse sagas.
Oh and that hat thing covering the evil eye. That goes way back in humanitys mythical history. One of the oldest examples being the story of Medusa and her head being attached to a shield. Athena the goddess then had Medusas head on her shield, and since then Greeks culture changed to that of Medusa being a counter to the evil eye, they would addorn armor, shields and ornaments with Medusas symbol and head to ward off evil.
It's fun to learn that the evil eye mystic spread all over europe, ofcourse it's changed to fit the cultures. But it is everywhere in the world.
Dr. Jackson Crawford is from USA, not Canada.
I've always been fascinated by the concept of the evil eye, ever since I heard about it in Greece and when I realized how widespread this belief actually is. Basically all cultures from Portugal all the way to India have some sort of belief in the evil eye, and you can buy "nazars" (basically a charm to protect you from the evil eye) all across the mediterranean and middle east. I never knew it was a thing in Norse culture though. The fact that it's *such* a widespread thing makes me think it would predate even the Greek tradition. I guess we'll never know.
You play Dark Souls?
@@EresirThe1st Lingually, yes.
Not Canadian, but smart enough to be one.
Goats!!
The Bighorn Sheep are lucky, they get live lessons :P
your Архангельск sounds like you pronounce it in Old Norse :-D
Yep the bighorn make me grin too
It would be interesting to know what the norse thought of the culture of the byzantine empire greeks.
About the word skrælingjar, modern swedish words ”skråla” or ”skräna” in english kind of means ”making loud noises vocally”. The words are mostly used in negative terms, for example if someone is being too loud, yelling or even if someone is singing badly.
If I’m not wrong Native Americans often made their distinct war cries when they charged into battles... Since those two words are quite similar to the word skræling the word could maybe had meant something like ”the loud people” / ”the people that are making loud and unpleasant noises”?
Might be far fetched but just a theory.
The skrælings themselves where probably Beothuk people (Newfoundland was sparsely inhabited by the Beothuk when John Cabot arrived in the late 15th century), but they are now extinct and we know almost nothing about their language or culture.
Good explanation (I´m Norwegian). By the way: That view on the sami people, that you are talking about, is (unfortunately) still something that is ... well, at least vaguely, part of our culture. Deep down, we still see them as wild and uncivilized. Just goes to show how deep these ingrained cultural conceptions are.
> Deep down, we still see them as wild and uncivilized.
What? Speak for yourself lol
It is a fact though that the Sami still engage in superstitious activities like 'ganding'. Its rarer these days but its an associated with them for a reason.
@@nicolaiby1846 Ganding? Ah ha ha, you just proved my point. No, they don’t do that anymore.
If they called sami Finna/finnr how did they distinct them from Finns? Did they have a special word for that or did they just call them all finn?
There used to be very many tribes in modern day Finland and they all probrably had different names for themselves and maybe swedes and norwegians just began calling every Finnish tribe Finns and Sami tribes sami, maybe Finns are called Finns nowadays because of a misunderstanding that happened 1000years ago (maybe someone went to study Finns but actually encountered Finns instead of Sami wich used to be called Finns)
My impression is that "Finn" in the saga-writing era meant more or less "member of a people who speak a Fenno-Samic language," and narrowed down to its present meaning later. I'm not aware of any specific term to distinguish settled "Finns" from nomadic Finns (i.e., Sami).
@@logitimate In the writings of the Greek/East Roman Procopius/Prokopios in the 500s, there is the word 'skrithiphinoi' (skridhfinnr), which is usually interpreted as 'skiiing Finns' and is thought to have referred to the mountain living Sámi population.
I'd just like to point out that the communicators worn in Star Trek include universal translators, which process known languages into the native language of the wearer. When encountering a new language, there's a delay before the ship computer can work out a translation. Yeah, so that means their lips shouldn't be moving to English words, but dubbing everyone (even if in their own voice) would probably make it feel like one of those old kung-fu movies.
It's not just about language but culture. Significantly different species to humans will probably be permanently incomprehensible both ways because of psychological differences and greatly different cultural conditions. You need a universal translator for each species too because there is no actual 'universal'. Translating between those and the massive differences... you still wouldn't be able to communicate much.
@@skyworm8006 🤦♂️
I have heard that there were contact between the western Roman empire and what later became the Norse? Love being educated like this. Adore the goats:D
Were the Skraelingr probably the Beothuk people?
Also, do we know what they thought about the Inuit and Dorset cultures?
The Norse in Greenland referred to the Inuit as skrælingjar. There most likely wasn't much contact between the groups, and what little contact there was probably wasn't very cordial. This is evidenced by the lack of cultural cross-pollination during the Norse settlement of Greenland. The Norse didn't adopt any of the tools or hunting practices of the Inuits, which was probably one of the factors for them failing to maintain the settlement during the medieval cold period known as the "Little Ice Age". The Inuits thrived with their harpoons and kayaks, whilst the Norse saw their crops and livestock whither away as the climate got colder. At that point they had also stopped receiving supplies from mainland Europe which only worsened the situation. This eventually lead to the Norse abandoning the settlement. Funnily enough, it was only after the protestant reformation that Denmark (having gained control over Norway and her overseas territories through the Kalmar Union) showed renewed interest in the then long forgotten and neglected settlement in Greenland. The thought of there still being Catholics (gasp!) somewhere that technically belonged to the Danish crown was enough to warrant sending missionaries and colonizers. To their surprise, once they got there they found no Norse Catholics to convert, so they had to make due with wreaking havoc on the Inuits' religion and customs instead.
I like the thought of the freedom to practice magic. The witch of Endor is the only witch I can think of that we learned of as a real person in history from the east. Everything seemed so off-limits there. Did they not have good witches as I'm assuming the Norse would have? Just thinking of The Wizard of Oz hundreds of years later having good and bad witches in our culture.
Do you know if the sagas have said much about the people of Scotland?
The Orkneyinga Saga deals with Shetland and Orkney, but they were part of Norway then and Old Norse speaking. Incidentally, there are several places with the word "Finn" in it in both places, such as "Finnstown", "Finnigord", "Funziegirt" , (pronounced Finniegirt, which is an ancient seemingly dividing wall separating the island of Unst in two), etc.. There are also numerous folk tales of the "little people", who were small and dark and who hid from those who were writing the sagas, but who possessed certain magic powers, were scared of iron and who sometimes worked caring for animals for payment in food and other things, but who if crossed, could create unfortunate happenings.
@@Vingul Scotland didn't exist then and Shetland and Orkney weren't part of it until the 15th Century, so I guess they would be members of whatever tribes lived in those parts at the time. Not necessarily Picts, perhaps some admixture of Sami but unlikely to be Scotti from what is now Ireland. There certainly isn't much left of their culture now as it was almost entirely surpassed by Norse culture - Shetland and Orkney do not have bagpipes, tartan, have Norse placenames and no history of Gaelic being spoken.
"Irish and unlikeable" boy some things just never change...we just can't catch a break. lol
I found that reference a bit puzzling. "...var írskr ok heldr óvinsæll", I'd read - admittedly with no proper deeper knowledge of old norse - as "var irsk og helt uvennesæl" in Danish. Although "vennesæl" is a rare word in modern Danish, I wouldn't first interpret it as "likeable", but rather as "friendly"; meaning the Irish person named is perhaps not just unlikeable, but actively unfriendly, or maybe even hostile? I've googled a little, and though "vinsæll" seems to mean popular or likeable, I also found one place making the distinction. I realise the manings overlap, but there is a nuance difference. Melkólfur was perhaps not directly unlikeable, but simply unfriendly or unwelcoming. In this sense it becomes less demeaning?
Dr. Crawford, are there any passages which shine light on how the Norse viewed the Wends, i.e. the Slavs along the western shore of the Baltic? I have heard that there are quite a few references to them in the sagas, and they were apparently just as active as traders and pirates in that Sea as the Norse themselves were.
Hey now, don't you come at Star Trek like that XD. Darmok is a super interesting episode specifically about trying to communicate with an alien species.
Just wrote a story for my audio-story podcast of a lost son of Hercules adventuring and performing labors in Nordic lands. Dr. Crawford’s knowledge and videos were invaluable!
I kind of expected the Slavs to be mentioned, but I guess there's probably a lot of bias in the info based on where most of the writings are from.
King Olav married a slav princess, daughter of Boleslaw. The norse didn't call them slavs, but vendere (a name for the western slavs)
The conquistadors had a much more important advantage than gunpowder, native allies. The natives of central american HATED the Aztecs, and were more than happy to ally with the newcomers against them. This is what allowed them to gain a massive foothold in the Americas, and convinced them to come over in force and press their luck further.
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Remote Viewing origin story!