Skræling

Maps showing the different cultures in Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland and the Canadian arctic islands in the years 900, 1100, 1300 and 1500. The green colour shows the Dorset Culture, blue the Thule Culture, red Norse Culture, yellow Innu and orange Beothuk

Skræling (Old Norse and Icelandic: skrælingi, plural skrælingjar) is the name the Norse Greenlanders used for the peoples they encountered in North America and Greenland.[1] 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. 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.

Etymology

The term is thought to have first been used by Ari Þorgilsson in his work Íslendingabók, also called The Book of the Icelanders,[2] written well after the period in which Norse explorers made their first contacts with indigenous Americans. By the time these sources were recorded, skræling was the common term Norse Greenlanders used for the Thule people, the ancestors to the modern Inuit. The Thule first arrived in Greenland from the North American mainland in the 13th century and were thereafter in contact with the Greenlanders. The Greenlanders' Saga and the Saga of Erik the Red, which were written in the 13th century, use this same term for the people of the area known as Vinland whom the Norse met in the early 11th century. The word subsequently became well known, and has been used in the English language since the 18th century.[3]

The word skræling is the only word surviving from the Old Norse dialect spoken by the medieval Norse Greenlanders. In modern Icelandic, skrælingi means a barbarian or foreigner. The origin of the word is not certain. William Thalbitzer (1932: 14) speculates that skræling might have been derived from the Old Norse verb skrækja, meaning "bawl, shout, or yell".[4] An etymology by Michael Fortescue et al. (1994) proposes that the Icelandic word skrælingi (savage) may be related to the word "skrá", meaning "dried skin", in reference to the animal pelts worn by the Inuit.[4]

Pygmies and Skrælings

Another explanation for the etymology of the word Skræling is proposed by Kirsten Seaver in her work "'Pygmies' of the Far North."[5] The pygmy belongs to a vein of Monster races that was ubiquitous throughout Ancient and Medieval lore dating as far back as Homer's Iliad. Scottish writer Alexander Ross wrote of the phenomenon of the Pygmy

“ that there have been Pigmies in the world, that is, people of a cubit or two high. . . . I say there have been such, I make no question, when I consider the multitude of eminent Authours who have writ on them, and that no reason was ever yet alledged to deny them.[6] ”

The ubiquity of the term pygmy throughout many different cultures and places in the known world lends credence to the validity of their mythical existence. Other monster races referred to by Norse writers were based on the monster races created by Pliny the Elder in his work Natural History, including the infamous Monopod, which made an appearance in the Saga of Erik the Red.

A monopod. From the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493).

The pygmy was a known idea to Norse explorers like Leif Eriksson and as North America was a foreign and inhospitable land on the edges of the known world to the Norse, they were quick to label these new people as Pygmies, since they would have been smaller in stature to the Norse explorers. Kirsten Seaver contends that the word Skræling was a direct Old Norse translation of the Latin word Pygmaei, and referred to this newly discovered and misinterpreted monster race indigenous to North America.

Norse exploration of the New World

Norse exploration of the New World began with the initial sighting of North America by an Icelander named Bjarni Herjólfsson who spotted land after drifting off course on a journey to Greenland in 985 or 986.

“ They speculated among themselves as to what land this would be, for Bjarni said he suspected this was not Greenland.[7] ”

His voyage piqued the interest of later explorers including Leif Eriksson who would explore and name the areas of Helluland, Markland, and Vinland. He built some large houses on Vinland on his voyage and was said to inhabit the area for one year after, and this site is believed to be the archaeological site L'Anse aux Meadows discovered by Helge Ingstad.

Recreated Norse long house, L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

First contact

At the site of L'Anse aux Meadows, Eriksson laid the groundwork for later colonizing efforts in the generations to come by establishing a foothold on Vinland, when he constructed some "large houses." Upon his return to Greenland,

“ There was great discussion of Leif's Vinland voyage and his brother Thorvald felt they had not explored enough of the land. Leif then said to Thorvald, 'You go to Vinland, brother, and take my ship if you wish, but before you do so I want the ship to make a trip to the skerry to fetch the wood that Thorir had there'[7] ”

Thorvald has the first contact with the native population which would come to be known as the skrælings. After capturing and killing eight of the natives, they were attacked at their beached ships, which they defended:

“ 'I have been wounded under my arm,' he said. 'An arrow flew between the edge of the ship and the shield into my armpit. Here is the arrow, and this wound will cause my death.'[7] ”

Thorfinn Karlsefni

Statue of Thorfinn Karlsefni by Einar Jónsson in Philadelphia

Thorfinn Karlsefni was the first Norse explorer to attempt to truly colonize the newly discovered land of Vinland on the same site as his predecessors Thorvald and Leif Eriksson. According to the Saga of Erik the Red, he set sail with three ships and 140 men.[8]

Upon reaching Vinland, their intended destination, they found the now famous grapes and self-sown wheat which the land was named for. They spent a very hard winter at this site, where they barely survived by fishing, hunting game inland, and gathering eggs on the island. The following summer they sailed to the island of Hop where they had the first peaceful interactions with the native people, whom they traded with. Karlsefni forbade his men to trade their swords and spears, so they mainly exchanged their red cloth for pelts. Afterwards they were able to properly describe the aboriginal inhabitants, saying:

“ They were short in height with threatening features and tangled hair on their heads. Their eyes were large and their cheeks broad.[8] ”

Shortly thereafter the Norsemen were attacked by natives who had been frightened by a bull that broke loose from their encampment. They were forced to retreat to an easily defensible location and engage their attackers; at the end of the battle two of his men had been slain, while "many of the natives" were killed. As with anywhere in this foreign land, Karlsefni and his men realized that

“ despite everything the land had to offer there, they would be under constant threat of attack from its prior inhabitants.[8] ”

After this adventure they returned to Greenland—their three-year excursion would be the longest-lasting known European colony in the New World until Columbus' voyages nearly 500 years later initiated full-scale colonization.

Inuit folktales of the Norse

There are also indigenous accounts from the Inuit peoples which tell of the Norse travels to their land, and describe their interactions with them:

“ soon the kayaker sent out his spear in good earnest, and killed him on the spot...When winter came, it was a general belief that the Kavdlunait would come and avenge the death of their countrymen[9] ”

Kavdlunait was the Inuit word for foreigner or European. As with Norse accounts, the interactions between the peoples was still steeped in violence and revenge, thus hindering peaceful cohabitation and successful colonization by the Norse explorers.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Murrin, John M; Johnson, Paul E; McPherson, James M; Gerstle, Gary (2008). Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People, Compact. Thomson Wadsworth. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-495-41101-7. Retrieved 2010-11-24.
  2. ↑ Seaver, Kirsten (2010). The Last Vikings. I.B. Tauris. p. 62-63. ISBN 978-1845118693.
  3. ↑ "Skraeling". Oxford English Dictionary. June 1989. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
  4. 1 2 Ernst Hakon Jahr; Ingvild Broch (1 January 1996). Language Contact in the Arctic: Northern Pidgins and Contact Languages. Walter de Gruyter. p. 233. ISBN 978-3-11-081330-2.
  5. ↑ Kirsten A. Seaver, "'Pygmies' of the Far North", Journal of World History, Vol. 19, No. 1 (2008)
  6. ↑ Alexander Ross, Arcana Microcosmi (London, 1652), Book II, 105–11.
  7. 1 2 3 Keneva Kunz (Translator) The Saga of the Greenlanders, in The Saga of Icelanders, Penguin Books, New York, 2001. ISBN 0-670-88990-3
  8. 1 2 3 Keneva Kunz (Translator) The Saga of Erik the Red, in The Saga of Icelanders, Penguin Books, New York, 2001. ISBN 0-670-88990-3
  9. ↑ Henry Rink Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo, William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh 1875, p. 310

Further reading

External links

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