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History => Ancient and Medieval History => Ships and Navies => Topic started by: Erpingham on March 13, 2018, 06:28:56 PM

Title: The word for ship in Old Norse
Post by: Erpingham on March 13, 2018, 06:28:56 PM
You know the old saying about eskimos having umpteen words for snow.  The ultimate point being that if something is important in a culture a lot of vocubulary will develop about it?

This article (https://ssns.org.uk/resources/Documents/NorthernStudies/Vol13/Simek_1979_Vol_13_pp_26_36.pdf), courtesy of Medievalist.net, is an old one but a great resource especially for those who want to name their ships in a Viking campaign, or wish to correctly differentiate between ship types.  And you have to love those kennings.  How about hestr svanfjalla "horse of the mountains of the swans (i.e. the waves)"?
Title: Re: The word for ship in Old Norse
Post by: Nick Harbud on March 15, 2018, 02:29:42 PM
Quote from: Erpingham on March 13, 2018, 06:28:56 PM
How about hestr svanfjalla "horse of the mountains of the swans (i.e. the waves)"?

Presumably the hestr were white given the context...   ???