What we know today as Scandinavia was called Jutland. It was first populated in 10,000 B.C. (meso/neo-lithic period). It was primitive until 3000 B.C. with the beginning of agriculture. We don't know how it developed. It was a tenable pursuit at that time. 1500 B.C. Indo-Europeans came in and eclipsed the population there because they had metal weapons (copper mostly, some bronze). Indo-European (a language family) is a postulated language (none found, no words known, no origin known). In the 19th Century, someone recognized Indian and European similarities in certain words, investigated this, and discovered that the languages of India, Persia, and most of Europe all had cognates that were the same or slightly varied. It was eventually figured out that a mother tongue possibly began somewhere around the southern steppes of Russia, possibly as faras Bulgaria. It spread in two directions, East and West. The West is called the Centum Branch (100 Latin languages). The East is called the Shatum Branch (100 Sanskrit languages). These are the two major divisions. The Centum side is vast and varied. This may explain the parallels between Celtic, Scandinavian, and Indian, mythologies.
Indo-European:
Scandinavian/Germanic
Celtic
Romance
Slavic
Finno-Uguric:
Finnish
Estonian
Magyar: (a difficult language, 17
case endings for each noun not counting gender and number) began very far
north, the peoples spread across Northern Russia, Manchuria, China, and Mongolia.
They were stopped by the Holy Roman Empire in the Hungarian Basin where they
stayed.
Basque: the maverick language of Europe. No origin is known. Not very many speakers eacept in the Pyrenees and in Idaho. The Basques have been in the Pyrenees as long as we know. They speak Basque, French, and Spanish.
The Scandinavians (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic) used to be Norse (Swedish/Norwesgian), Jutlanders (or Jutes [next to Denmark]), and from Denmark itself. What originally was the same language family with dialectic differences evolved into separate languages. The Jutes moved into Britain and settled into southeast Kent. Jutland is the buffer between Denmark and Germany.
The Scandinavians were not Vikings -- Norse, maybe. They are best known as Vikings, but a Viking is a Scandinavian pirate -- a mariner who sails to the unknown, but basically a pirate. Circa the 8th Century, they expanded like crazy. They wanted to colonize, loot, trade, make war, obtain more land. They were a very wild bunch. They could sail anywhere. Their boats were designed so that 14 inches of water was sufficient depth for them to sail. They sailed and plundered on every major river in Europe. They went to Iceland. Erik the Red thought of calling Greenland "Iceland" and Iceland "Greenland," despite their respective characteristics. Those who went to Iceland, stayed isolated. So today, old Norse text can still be read by Icelanders. Thus our knowledge of their mythology. Circa 790, they hit Britain and began to maraud. They made their way all through France because of the rivers. In 920, Charles the Bold (King of France) gave a large segment of land to the "Northmen." It became known as Northmansland, or Normandy. William the Conqueror was of Scandinavian descent, but the people of Normandy spoke French. The Red People, the Rus, populated Russia (those who went east). Most of Russia was populated by Scandinavians. They went to Ireland and founded the Town of the Black Pool, Dubhlinn, which became Dublin. Although, Dublin was founded by Norsemen, Northern Irish was spoken there until the 1200's. The Norse sailed north around Scotland to get to Ireland. Some settled in northern Scotland. Some went on to Ireland. They were driven out and fled to the Western Scottish Isles. Many Scots are not purely Celtic -- the northern and western clans especially. There was a great deal of intermarriage. Primary Scandinavian stock (Nordic stock) was tall with light hair, light eyes, and light skin. Survival of the fittest and selective breeding yielded a large, strong people -- a very powerful people.
The Move into Scandinavia
The first Scandinavians (Indo-Europeans) came in 1500 B.C. In 500 B.C., iron weaponry developed, and a severe climatic shift took place, destroying agriculture and herding. Food became short. Circa 100 B.C., they came in contact with the Romans and learned to value gold, money, ceramics for cookware and other uses, cloth, fine linen. They didn\'t have much to trade but fur (from wolves and bears) and slaves (Scandinavians didn't use them, but the Romans did). The Vikings plundered because of the values the Romans taught them. They were called Vikings in the late 700's A.D.
The first official raid was in 789 in Portland Bill, England. The mayor of the town sent a representative to the Vikings to negotiate. The representative was beheaded. Vikings traveled 30-40 men per boat. They were never in a good mood. They traveled across ivy waters in terrible weather. They had to row. Even their horses were mean.
The second major raid was an Abbey at the Scottish border on the eastern coast of England. There are carvings of Vikings coming with both hands raised, one with an axe and one with a sword. They were big, powerful, dirty, angry men -- with axes. If met by armed knights, their axes could remove a horse's head in one blow. They hacked people to bits. They weren't afraid. They were never sent into battle -- they were always led. The chief led them at the forefront (not the divine right of kings system). Men would kill the leader in a heartbeat. They chose the best fighters to surround the leader. They chose nearly psychotic men to be the armed guard. These men would go out alone and kill a bear and wear the skin. Before battle, the armed guard would drink lots of mead (a liqueur like Drambuie or Irish Mist). But they drank to the point where they got to be mean drunks, not falling-down drunk. They whipped themselves into a battle frenzy. They were known as the Bear Shirts or the Bear Skirts -> Berserk. They were called Berserkers. There were only a handful of these men per Viking army.
Battle Frenzy
It is a worldwide phenomenon that various kinds of people do various things to themselves to become invincible in battle. The Hashashin (the origin of the word "assassin") in the East smoked hashish before killing a man even though they would die. The Celts decoratedthemselves like wild men and went into battle naked. In Indo-China, warrior took opium to numb themselves and wrapped wet bamboo around their testicles. When it dried, it shrank, causing them great pain. This practice is what is known as "running amok." In battle, these men would behave in a crazed and fearless fashion, making them all the more dangerous. That's why the .45 was invented in 1910. A successful weapon could not just wound; it had to knock the enemy down. The Berserkers are responsible for a large part of the Viking reputation. They terrified the people of Europe. One reason for their fierceness and cruelty is that Scandinavian religion was very pessimistic. They had virtually nothing to live for. The best fate possible was to die heroically. The worst fate was what was called a Straw Death, or "to die on the straw bed," i.e., to die in one's sleep. This attitude is similar to that of the Old American West: "A cowboys gotta die with his boots on." Much of the attitudes of Britain and Northern Europe comes from this. They used understatement a lot. The British still love to use it. In an Olde English poem called "The Battle of Mauldin," in describing a king's bitter defeat, it says, ". . . and that king had very little cause to rejoice." If captured, they might not die bravely. They died sneering at their captors. They had to prove their hatred. Another use of understatement appears in one of the sagas: "Those new broad-plated boar spears are very popular these days."
They lived a hard life, but had a strong sense of humor, and a strong sense of pathos and love. They loved to laugh more than anything. This explains the presence of humor in Scandinavian mythology.
Pronunciation:
j = /y/ (as in "fjord")
ei = /i/
vowels are the same as in the rest of Europe