Viking Discussion

Discussion of topics concerning life in the middle ages around the world, including architecture, history, and warfare.
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The Hordesman
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Post by The Hordesman »

TheOrk wrote:Wow, thats real interesting, I wonder whatever happened to the other three days. I know that I heard from somewhere that (Oden) Odensdag was Wednesday translated a dozen times, do you know what any of the other english translations were?
If you see the modern swedish daynames I think it reveals more about this...

Måndag (Monday)
Tisdag (Tuesday) The T is probably from T in Tyr
Onsdag (Wendesday) The modern form "onsdag" is probably a reformed word for oden, since oden was considered to be the evil in the "beginning of the darkness"
Torsdag (Thursday) Tor= Thor in swedish, just U instead of O there, in the english version.
Fredag (Friday) Fre, just a letter less, then translated to something easier to pronounce in english, Fri.
Lördag (Saturday)
Söndag (Sunday)
Last edited by The Hordesman on Mon Dec 26, 2005 9:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Horak the Great
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Post by Horak the Great »

From my understanding...

Our days (modern English) are based on a combination of Roman gods and
Old English/Norse gods

Sunday - Sun
Monday - Moon, ex: Lundi in French
Tuesday - named after Tiu/Tyr god of warfare
Wednesday - named after Wotan/Odin
Friday - named after Freya
Saturday - named after Saturn
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Horak the Great
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Post by Horak the Great »

Sorry I forgot Thursday - Thor, of course

So many of our days have Norse cognates
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The Hordesman
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Post by The Hordesman »

Horak the Great wrote:Sorry I forgot Thursday - Thor, of course So many of our days have Norse cognates
That seems to be true, and the months probably also have this origin, while August got it name from emperor Augustus (aka Octavianus). :wink:

Ever heard of the edit button? :P

Talking about something completely else, there is a myth about the origin of Dwarfs (or Dwarves, which is a Tolkien version of the word). The story tells us that midgets (or short people which is a nicer word) was banished from the vikings and settled out themselves, mining and forging in caves. While it does not need to be true, I think its a very interesting version of the true origin, perhaps there were atleast one "dwarf" who actually did mine and forge?

Edit: The picknicky Maedhros made me re-spell Octavianus. :o
Last edited by The Hordesman on Mon Dec 26, 2005 9:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Maedhros
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Post by Maedhros »

The Hordesman wrote: That seems to be true, and the months probably also have this origin, while August got it name from emperor Augustus (aka Octavius). :wink:
Sorry for being a bit nitpicky but wasn´t it Octavianus ;)

EDIT: :lol:
"Hinc satis elucet maiorem habere uim ad discenda ista liberam curiositatem quam meticulosam necessitatem.”
- Augustinus Hipponensis
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Formendacil
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Post by Formendacil »

TheOrk wrote:Wow, thats real interesting, I wonder whatever happened to the other three days. I know that I heard from somewhere that (Oden) Odensdag was Wednesday translated a dozen times, do you know what any of the other english translations were?
The Seven-day week is a Roman invention, as we know it. The days of the Week: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Juno and Saturn were the great lights of the sky- as well as some of the great gods of the Roman Pantheon. (Apollo for the sun and Diana for the moon.)

When the Anglo-Saxons conquered England and settled down, they adopted the Roman week, but converted the Roman gods to their Germanic gods, who were essentially the same as the Norse gods.

Apollo and Diana equally the Sun and Moon, giving us Sunday and Monday. Mercury was considered roughly equivalent of Tew, hence we get Tuesday. Mars was roughly equated with Woden (Odin in Norse), and so we get Wednesday (Woden's Day). Jupiter was equated as Thor, hence we get Thursday. Juno was roughly equivalent with Frey (Freyr), so we get Friday (Frey-day). Saturn, a rather gloomy Roman god with no close Teutonic or Norse equivalent (not that the others were truly close, but they could be made to fit), was left as it was, giving us Saturday.
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The Hag
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Post by The Hag »

Something on the Longship / helmets armour thing...

I cant promise anything historically accurate, as i am not an expert, but i saw this movie .. I 'm sure some of you have seen it aswell.

In 13th Warrior, Longships and Viking settlements are shown in full detail, aswell as their armours.
And i am sure they did some research on it before designing the costumes and structures. The story of the movie is loosly based on Beowulf, but thats not why the movie is great, its just because of the nice shots of vikings that i love this movie !
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