Viking Trivia

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

Here's a couple of pieces of Old Norse / Viking trivia....

Just as in modern times we might say "he bit the dust" of someone who was
slain, the Vikings said, "he bites the grass" (Bita i graeset).  Modern
scholars assume that both of these terms arose from convulsive contraction
of the jaw muscles of a slain fighter as he fell to the ground dead, causing
the jaws to snap shut as if "biting dust" or "biting grass".

Another modern phrase used of someone who is cowardly is "lily-livered" or
"yellow".  The Vikings used the term "hvitr" or white to mean cowardly or
effeminate. In antiquity, describing a man as hvitr in Old Norse meant that
he was blonde or pale-complected, and this usage remained current for
describing women.  However, by the Viking Age, "hvitr" meant a coward or
milksop when used to refer to a male.  This is why the term "Hvitakristr" or
White Christ came into usage... in order to contrast the god of the meek
southerners with the manly, virile, war-like Red Thorr.  (Other words
meaning "white" such as bjartr, bleikr, and ljoss did not carry the
perjorative connotation.)

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Bertil Wahlqvist, Vikingarnas Oear.  1996.

Albert M. Sturtevant, "The Contemptuous Sense of Old Norse 'Hvitr'"
Scandanavian Studies.  24(3):119-121, 1952.

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::GUNNORA::

Gunnora Hallakarva
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