berserkr

Old Norse

Etymology

From bjǫrn (“bear”) and serkr (“shirt, coat”) thus literally "a warrior clothed in bearskin." Probably not from berr (“bare, naked”); see berserk.

Noun

berserkr m (genitive berserks, plural berserkir)

1. a raging warrior of superhuman strength, who fights in a frenzy
2. a Scandinavian warrior

Declension

  Declension of berserkr (strong i-stem, s-genitive)

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	berserkr	berserkrinn	berserkir	berserkirnir
accusative	berserk	berserkinn	berserki	berserkina
dative	berserk	berserkinum	berserkum	berserkunum
genitive	berserks	berserksins	berserka	berserkanna

Descendants

• → Danish: bersærk
  • Norwegian Bokmål: berserk
• → English: berserk
• → Finnish: berserkki
• → Faroese: berserkur
• → Icelandic: berserkur
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: berserk
• → Scots: berserk
• → Swedish: berserk, bärsärk

References

• “berserkr”, in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press