Hi folks,
we have many place names in Ireland with Viking roots. Now I wonder how the Vikings themselve have called Ireland and the Irish people. Any ideas??
Thanks, Stefan
Moderator: the_power
I knew that those provinces' modern names were of Norse origin - but if this is correct, then the name 'Ireland' itself is too. It does make sense, I guess I just never thought about it.It is also interesting to note that the second element
in the names of the three provinces, Ulster, Leinster and
Munster is derived from the O.N. stathir (plural of stathr,
’a place ’), while the name Ireland (O.N. Iraland) is Scandi-
navian in form and replaced the old Irish word Eriu during
the Viking period.
Freebeard wrote:I don't know of waht the Scandinavians called us, but i know we called them "genti" (heathens), Finngall (Norse - fr. Finn Gall - Bright, light haired foreigner), Dubhgall (dark haired foreigner - Danes), Ostmen (men of the east - supposedly we thought scandinavia lay east of ireland, not north).
these are afew of the terms we had for them, now it is interesting to find out what they called us.
Freebeard wrote:i forgot that "genti" means pagan or heathen, and wasn't only attribted to teh vikikngs, but to irish people as well. but w know that vikings were called genti due ot their raiding on church sites
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