Thirteenth-century historian Snorri Sturluson interpreted the meaning as "bare-shirt", that is to say that the warriors went into battle without armour, but that view has largely been abandoned. It likely means " bear-shirt" (compare the Middle English word ' serk, meaning 'shirt'), "someone who wears a coat made out of a bear's skin". The Old Norse form of the word was berserkr (plural berserkir). Berserkers are attested to in numerous Old Norse sources.Įtymology A modern reenactor in Germany
In the Old Norse written corpus, berserker were those who were said to have fought in a trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the modern English word berserk (meaning "furiously violent or out of control").
It probably depicts one-eyed Odin guiding a Berserker. One of the Vendel era Torslunda plates found on Öland, Sweden. For other uses, see Berserker (disambiguation) and Zerker (disambiguation).
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