What is the definition of the word Skraeling?
What is the definition of the word Skraeling?
A member of a race of native people encountered by early Norse settlers to Greenland, often equated with Inuit or American Indians. noun.
Is Skraeling a derogatory term?
The Norse referred to the indigenous peoples they encountered in Greenland and the New World as skraeling, a derogatory term meaning wretch or scared weakling, and the sagas make it clear that the Norse considered the natives hostile.
What were Viking outcasts called?
Skogarmaor
A Skogarmaor (meaning “man of the forest”), also called útlagi (meaning “outlaw”), is a Norse outcast who has been banished from their community for various crimes. Full outlawry was also called skóggangr (meaning “going into the forest”).
What is the meaning of the term Skraeling?
The term is used to refer to a member of any race, including blacks and whites. A related term is Skraespeak, which is used to refer to the African American dialect.
What did the Norse say about the Skraelings?
The Norse had nothing good to say about the people they met: skraelings means “little men” or “barbarians” in Icelandic, and in the historical records of the Norse, the skraelings are referred to as poor traders, primitive people who were easily scared off by Viking prowess.
Where does the word skræling come from in the sagas?
In the sagas, it is also used for the peoples of the region known as Vinland whom the Norse encountered during their expeditions there in the early 11th century. The word is most likely related to the Old Norse word skrá, meaning “dried skin”, in reference to the animal pelts worn by the Inuit.
Where did the name Skræling come from in Greenland?
Skræling ( Old Norse and Icelandic: skrælingi, plural skrælingjar) is the name the Norse Greenlanders used for the peoples they encountered in North America (Canada and Greenland). In surviving sources, it is first applied to the Thule people, the proto- Inuit group with whom the Norse coexisted in Greenland after about the 13th century.