Being from Sweden i have Viking blood in my Veins, it is sometimes confusing to decide wether to be proud or ashamed of this fact, considering that vikings might not be known for being the most heart warm people that ever lived. Either way one thing is sure, i am fascinated and intrigued by the history of vikings and i want to share with you 5 amazing facts you probably didnt know about vikings:
(1) Wide Influence In East
Vikings traveled far from shores of Sweden and some traveled quite far east. In current east europe these vikings were called Rus, which is derived from an Old Norse term for "the men who row". The Rus were the ones that gave their name to the biggest country in the world- guess which - thats right; Russia! It is also belived that the Tsars in Russia came from a bloodline of vikings.
(2) Can You Speak Viking?
Vikings have had a great influence on the english language, much more so then anyone originally thought.
The Viking settlers spoke old norse and many words today can be tracked directly backed to old norse. Here are some
examples:
Anger
angr (“=trouble, affliction”); root ang (=”strait, straitened, troubled”); related to anga, plural öngur (=”straits, anguish”)
Egg
egg = egg
Husband
husbondi (=”master of the house”)
Mistake
mistaka (=”miscarry”)
Want
vanta (=”to lack”
The examples go on and on. The fact is that the easiest languages for Native english speaking people to learn as a second language is Norweigan followed by Swedish, this further proves the fact that the languages are very similar.
(3) Not All Vikings Were Blond
Viking men that were not naturally blond bleeched their hair to blond color. Blond hair was considered the beauty ideal at the time. To bleech the hair they used a very strong soap that contained a hight leveled of lye, this substance could effectively bleach the hair. Some people even used this method to bleach their beard.
(4) A Proper Burial
In the Norse Religion Boats played a big role and it was believed that when people were buried in their ship they could
be transported safely to a glorious after life. These Ship graves were usually reserved for the more prominent people and leaders, and you can see these graveyards still today as they used stones to outline the shape of the ship.
(5) Where are the horns?
The fact is that Vikings didn’t wear any horned helmets, this is a common misconception. The only viking helmets that have been excevated had no hors indeed, the misconception might be due to the descriptions of northern europeans by the chronicles written by Greek and Romans, where there is reference to Germanic and Borse priest, which did wear the horned helmets for sacrifcial purposes. These priest lived long before the vikings time however and have thus no relation to the vikings at all.
Hope you like this post, i am myself of the opinion that one can never learn too much, and thus making posts like this is something i find very interesting because i also learn as i research! Hope you found out some facts about vikings that you didnt know and please let me know if there are some interesting facts which you would like to add? Have a great day!
When I was a young girl, I got a Viking book for a gift. It was so interesting to me, that I often read it. It's nice, that after more than 40 years, to read again something of Vikings. Thanks!
I'm very glad that you liked it ! I also had books about Vikings when I was small, there are certainly certain topics that never gets old and Vikings is truly one of them :) Thanks for your comment !
click here!This post received a 1.5% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @dandesign86! For more information,
i thought you were going to talk about vikings the tv series. i just started watching it a few days ago, and i am loving it
I started watching it a bit but I must say I was disappointed! It was very slow paced I believe. I guess I never really got into it..
same thing happened to me at the first season, just like game of thrones, but it keeps getting interesting...
Alright you definitely peaked my interest! Maybe I will give it another try :)
:)
Vikings will always get my upvote!
Thanks alot ! :)
I've read where Vikings weren't as much marauders as travelers. Rowing up river and settling for a time, joining communities. I can't confirm the history, so I'll leave it right there.
Don't be ashamed of your heritage, too much of that going on in the world today. You are what you are, can't change that.
It is true what you say, many vikings where actually tradesmen as well not just crazy pirates, and they created trading channels connecting scandinavia all the way to the Black Sea and Caspean Sea. I think you are right , we are what we are, as long as we are happy with ourselves then we should be proud! Thanks for your comment!
Cool! I visited to Norway last year but never know these before hand! thanks for sharing!
Im glad you found it interesting :)
Vikings have had a very great history and Alphabet is very interesting. Only i is i. Thanks for sharing.
Very happy you liked it! thanks:) Their alphabey was definitely different!
@dandesign86 wow! didn't know this stuff. Following and waiting for more :)
Im happy you liked it, i also discovered new information when i made research! History is always fascinating i think. Thanks for your comment!
Thumbs up! I always love a good history post. :)
Thanks Buddy,
it can be nice for a change on the steemit to go back in time and read some history :)
That was super interesting. I knew none of that, save for them being buried in boats. I also didn't know Norwegian and Swedish were easy languages for native English speakers. Thanks for laying some knowledge down!
Thanks bro I am glad you liked it ! We had an exchange student from America come and live with us for one year, here Swedish was very good when she left, she picked up real quick !
I have so much catching up to do! Can't wait to be back to normal. 😀
I can definitely understand what you mean, it's a dreadful situation and one can only wait it out
Fyi. Dan, just got the all clear that the dams will not flood any more homes so we are all clear now and electricity is back. 🤣 So relieved and grateful.
That is awesome news I am so happy to hear that ! Must feel so nice to get back to your home again:) In what condition is your house now ? I think you mentioned before that it wasn't greatly affected?
My place is good! We're really grateful. So much to do. Houston has really come together. It will take sometime to get everyone situated. It truly will take a village.
Im very glad to hear that your house is okay, that is a blessing for sure! It really is inspiration to see how people have come together!
Half my family is Norwegian. Great post. :)
Thank you my friend !
THX so much i love that stuff and could die for it ...you got a friend and resteem your post .. greets sven germany
Thanks a lot my friend ! I'm very happy you liked it and thank you so much for the resteem ! Vielen Dank!
Bleaching your beard with lye soap - that is something I've never heard of before.
I actually learned it when writing this post, i knew the other points from before, but this was for me also something new ! :)
This post has received a 30.00 % upvote from @lovejuice thanks to: @damira. They have officially sprayed their dank amps all over your post rewards. GOOD TIMES! Vote for Aggroed!
Very stange & hot
This post has received a 3.60 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @dandesign86.
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