Austrvegr

Old Norse

Some ancient trade routes

Etymology

austr (“east”) +‎ vegr (“way”), compare Norðvegr, Noregr (“Norway”).

Proper noun

Austrvegr

1. Route from the Varangians to the Greeks (the area roughly bounded by the Volga and Dnieper river systems, connecting Byzantium with ancient Scandinavia)
   • (Can we date this quote?), chapter 2, in Haralds saga Sigurðarsonar:

     Haraldur dvaldist í Garðaríki nokkura vetur og fór víða um Austurveg. Síðan byrjaði hann ferð sína út í Grikkland og hafði mikla sveit manna. Þá hélt hann til Miklagarðs

     Harald stayed in Garðaríki for some years and fared far and wide around the Austurveg. Afterwards he began his journey out to Byzantium and had a large group of men. Then he held to Constantinople.

Descendants

In modern Scandinavian the descendants of Austrleið are used more frequently

• → Norwegian Nynorsk: Austerveg (learned)
• → Swedish: Österväg (learned)

See also

• Garðaríki (“Kievan Rus'”)
• væringr (“Varangian”)