berserkr
Old Norse
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From bjǫrn (“bear”) and serkr (“shirt, coat”) thus literally "a warrior clothed in bearskin." Probably not from berr (“bare, naked”); see berserk.
Noun
[edit]berserkr m (genitive berserks, plural berserkir)
- a raging warrior of superhuman strength, who fights in a frenzy
- a Scandinavian warrior
Declension
[edit]| masculine | singular | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| indefinite | definite | indefinite | definite | |
| nominative | berserkr | berserkrinn | berserkir | berserkirnir |
| accusative | berserk | berserkinn | berserki | berserkina |
| dative | berserk | berserkinum | berserkum | berserkunum |
| genitive | berserks | berserksins | berserka | berserkanna |
Descendants
[edit]- → Icelandic: berserkur (learned)
- → Faroese: berserkur (learned)
- → Norwegian Nynorsk: berserk (learned)
- → Swedish: berserk, bärsärk (learned)
- → Danish: bersærk, berserk (learned)
- Norwegian Bokmål: berserk
- → English: berserk
- → Scots: berserk
- → Finnish: berserkki
Further reading
[edit]- Zoëga, Geir T. (1910) “berserkr”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive