Valtonen-Description of Northernmost Europe in the Old English Orosius

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AN INTERPRETATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OF NORTHERNMOSTEUROPE IN THE OLD ENGLISH OROSIUS

Pro Gradu ThesisDepartment ofEnglishUniversity of OuluAugust 1988Irmeli Valtonen



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AN INTERPRETATION OF THE DESCRIPTION OF NORTHERNMOSTEUROPE IN THE OLD ENGLISH OROSIUS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION...........................................3

1. THE OLD ENGLISH OROSIUS.............................61.1. The Latin Orosius..............................61.2. The manuscripts of the Old English Orosius.....71.3. The authorship.................................81.4. The authorship of the interpolations on

northern Europe...............................101.5. The historical reliability of the accounts of

Ohthere and Wulfstan..........................131.6. The dating....................................151.7. Research history..............................17

2. NORTHERN EUROPE IN THE GEOGRAPHY OF GERMANIA.......202.1. The interpretation of the terms of direction..202.2. The identification of the northern boundary of

Germania......................................252.3. The location of Mægþa lond....................272.4. The lands of the Danes........................282.5. The location of Burgendan.....................39

2.6. The location of the Swedes and their neighbours40

3. THE ACCOUNT OF OHTHERE.............................493.1. The introduction of Ohthere...................49

3.1.1. The relationship between Ohthere andAlfred.................................49

3.1.2. Ohthere's home.........................543.2. The voyage to the White Sea...................58

3.2.1. The meaning of for unfriþe.............713.2.2. The lands of the Beormas...............753.2.3. The identification of the Terfinnas....83

3.2.4. Whale-hunting and the trade in walrusivory..................................85



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3.3. The description of Ohthere's economy..........933.3.1. Ohthere's reindeer property............943.3.2. The taxation of the Finnas............100

3.4. The geography of Norðmanna land..............1043.5. The description of the Cwenas................1123.6. The voyages to Sciringesheal and to æt Hæþum 123

3.6.1. The meaning of ambyrne wind...........1343.6.2. Iraland or *Isaland?..................136

4. THE ACCOUNT OF WULFSTAN...........................1394.1. The nationality of Wulfstan..................1404.2. The voyage to Truso..........................141

CONCLUSION...........................................145

ABBREVIATIONS........................................148

BIBLIOGRAPHY.........................................150

APPENDIX 1. A Finnish translation of Ohthere's account andthe beginning of Wulfstan's account

APPENDIX 2. A Modern English translation of the geographyof Germania

APPENDIX 3. Proper names in the Old English text

MAPS 1-4



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INTRODUCTION

The subject of this paper is the description of

northernmost Europe which is contained in a shortgeography of Germania and in two travel accounts byOhthere and Wulfstan in a ninth century Anglo-Saxon workcalled the Old English Orosius (OE Or.). My aim is tointerpret these passages by analysing and commenting ondifficult, controversial or interesting Old English (OE)expressions and by comparing the information in the textwith the knowledge that we have from the period. Thus theinterpretation is interdisciplinary.

The purpose is not only to understand the OE text butalso to see how the information in it corresponds with the

known or presumed historical circumstances of the time.The interpretation of an old written source cannot beseparated from its context. The presentation of thesyntactic and grammatical analysis of the text does notserve my purpose; it has been done several times beforeand the language represents rather simple OE prose. Thetext includes a lot of proper names many of which arediscussed in detail. Etymology is left to the minimumunless it helps in the interpretation of the text. I willalso translate the OE text into Modern English (MnE) andprovide an up-to-date Finnish translation of Ohthere's

account and the beginning of Wulfstan's account as well asa MnE translation of the geography of Germania in theappendices.

Northernmost Europe is limited to the Fenno-Scandinavian countries including Denmark. Because of thegeographical limitation about half of the geography ofGermania is not discussed in detail. For the same reasononly the beginning of Wulfstan's account is dealt with andthe ethnographic description of the funeral rites amongthe Este is left out.

The disposition of this paper is based on the OE text

which is divided into three logical sections. Each ofthese is in turn divided into smaller and rational unitsaccording to the content of the text, and the OE text andthe MnE translation are presented in the beginning of eachchapter.



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In the geography of Germania there is bound to be someoverlap since the same territories and peoples arereferred to in each of the three main sections. Appendix 3

provides a list of the proper names. The paper begins,however, with an expanded introduction to the OE Or. It isimportant to realize in what kind of circumstances thework originated to be able to evaluate its contents.

The interpretation is primarily based on the OE textbut since this part of the work has been discussed for acouple of centuries by philologists and historians, it isnecessary to refer to and criticize some of theaccumulated scholarship. I shall also compare several ofthe many MnE translations with each other when it isnecessary. I have been able to acquire most of the

research literature that has contributed to theinterpretation of the relevant text, despite the limitedlibrary collections in Oulu.

There is very little written contemporary materialfor comparison. I am not going to refer very often toclassical and other medieval documents including the OldNorse sagas, because that would unreasonably expand thepaper.

Ohthere's account is probably the most cited textfrom the Viking Age because it is believed to containunique contemporary information about the North from a

period that is otherwise known mainly from archaeologicalmaterial. Despite its popularity it is not often studiedas a whole and rarely in connection with the otherinformation about northern Europe in the same work. InFinland, to my knowledge, this kind of study has not beendone since H.G. Porthan's translation with commentary inthe late eighteenth century. That is why a moderninterpretation of the whole of the description of thenorthernmost Europe is appropriate.

The ninth century was a turbulent one in Europeanhistory. While the Byzantine empire flourished the

Carolingian empire had disappeared by the end of thecentury and Europe was attacked by the Saracens in thesouth, by the Slavs and the Bulgars in the east and by theVikings in the west. The Vikings had reached the BritishIsles already in the late eighth century, but really beganto make their presence felt in the 830's.



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In the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex King Alfred ledthe battle against the Vikings almost throughouthis reign (871-99). Finally in 896 Alfred's campaigns

resulted in the dispersal of the Vikings and they settledin Danelaw and left the West-Saxons in peace. Alfred hasnot only the reputation of an effective warrior king, butalso that of a civilized and learned ruler and reformer.He is also the king whose activities eventually led to thepolitical unification of England. (Alfred the Great 1985,pp. 9-44.)

It was obviously at his court where the OE Or. wastranslated from a Latin original. The OE Or. is not anaccurate translation but rather a paraphrase includingapproximately four fifths of the original. Among the

numerous alterations and additions throughout the work themost famous ones are the travel accounts of Ohthere andWulfstan in Bk.I Ch.I., where the geography of the worldis presented. It is assumed that the OE Or. formed a partof King Alfred's cultural plan of educating his people,i.e. the free-born young men who wished to be educated(Alfred the Great 1985, pp. 29,124-26; Bately 1980c, pp.10-11).

I have taken the OE text from the latest edition ofthe OE Or. by Janet M. Bately published for the EarlyEnglish Text Society in 1980. is the sign for 'and' in

the OE text.Arabic numerals indicate the class of strong verbs,roman numerals that of weak verbs.

The archaeological chronology employed in this paperis as follows: Scandinavia Finland/North FinlandThe Stone Age 8000 B.C.-1900 B.C. 7500 B.C.-1300 B.C.The Bronze Age 1900 B.C.-500 B.C. 1300 B.C.-500 B.C.The Iron Age 500 B.C.-A.D. 1030 500 B.C.-A.D.1200/1600The Early Iron Age 500 B.C.-A.D. 600 500 B.C.-A.D. 800The Late Iron Age A.D. 600-A.D. 1030 A.D.800-A.D.1200/1600The Germanic Iron Age A.D. 600-A.D. 800 A.D. 600-A.D. 800The Viking Age A.D. 800-A.D. 103 A.D. 800-A.D. 1030

(Johansen 1982, p. 46; Huurre 1983, p.24; Helgelandshistorie 1985, p. 10).The Middle Ages is used here in a wider sense referring toA.D. 600-1500.



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1. THE OLD ENGLISH OROSIUS

1.1. The Latin Orosius

Paulus Orosius was a Spanish priest who wrote hisHistoriarum adversum Paganos Libri Septem at thesuggestion of his master Church Father St. Augustine, andpresented the work to him in A.D. 417 (Orosii 1882;Shotwell 1939, pp. 370-71,418; Smalley 1974, p. 44).

The purpose of Orosius' universal history was toexplain the disappearance of the Roman empire as a resultof paganism and warfare and that the restless times helived in were due to the adoption of Christianity, asclaimed by opponents. Orosius based his work on

Augustine's ecclesiastical philosophy of the six ages ofthe world and the four monarchies. (Smalley 1974, pp. 44-45,187.1) This Christian view of history is important tobear in mind when considering the reasons why the LatinOr. was translated into OE during the Christian KingAlfred's reign (Bately 1980c, pp. 10-11).

Orosius' Historiarum was a very popular book in theMiddle Ages and had "the merit of being comprehensive andcomprehensible", though, judging by modern standards, itwas not a work of high quality, neither literally norhistoriographically (Shotwell 1939, p. 374; Anderson 1966,

p. 270; Smalley 1974, p. 45). However, Orosius isconsidered to be a historian who introduced the importanceof geographical knowledge into the presentation of thehistory of the whole world (Smalley 1974, p. 46). The textbegins with a geographical description of the known worldand then goes on to describe historical events in apolemic way (Orosii 1882). Probably because he was anative of the Mediterranean, or because he was unable toacquire information, Orosius did not include a survey onthe geography on northern Europe in his work.

___________________1. A parenthetical reference follows all punctuation andends with a period when the work(s) referred to is (are)cited in the entire paragraph or in more than one of the

preceding sentences, as in this case.



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1.2. The manuscripts of the Old English Orosius

There are four MSS of the OE Or. still extant.

1. British Library, Additional 47967, the Lauderdaleor Tollemache MS (MS L). It is dated to the tenth century,possibly early tenth century, and it is written by a singlescribe probably identical with the second scribe of theParker MS of the ASC working on the annals 892-912. MS Lwas presumably written at the Winchester scriptorium andits language represents the eWS dialect with some Mercianinfluence. It is complete except for folios 9-16 whichcontained the last two-thirds of the account of Ohthere,obviously the account of Wulfstan and seven chapters of theearly history of the world. These folios had been lost or

stolen before the seventeenth century. The text in Bately'sedition is taken from MS L except for the missing section.(Bosworth 1859, p. XVIII; Bately 1980b,pp. XXIII-XXIV,XXXIX.)

2. British Library, Cotton Tiberius B.i. The Cotton MS(MS C) forms the basis for the section missing in MS L. Itis written in four hands of the eleventh century of whichhand I has written all the chapters dealt with in thisstudy. As the dating suggests, the language is standard lWSthough with a number of 'early' features as well as non-West-Saxon features. MS L and MS C do not differ from each

other significantly. They are at least two removes from theoriginal translation and had a common ancestor. (Bately1980b, pp. XXV,XXXIII,XXXIX,XLIX,LIII.)

3. Bodleian, Eng. Hist.e.49 (30481). The Bodleyfragment contains parts of Bk. III and it is dated to theeleventh century. The language is mainly WS. (Bately 1980b,pp. XXVI, LIII.)

4. Vatican City, Reg.Lat. 497, f.71. The Vaticanfragment of one leaf corresponds to Ch. XI in Bk. IV and itis written in eWS dialect though it is dated to theeleventh century (Bately 1980b, pp. XXVI,LIV).



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There is also evidence of lost MSS in a quotation onthe flyleaf of Rouen MS 524 and in an Old French poem,Calendre's Les Emperors de Rome, which is based on the OE

version of Orosius' History. Bately (1980b, pp. XXVII-XXXI)does not exclude the possibility of a Latin translation ofthe OE Or. based on a now lost MS, which also Nickel (1966,p. 109) has suggested.

1.3. The authorship

For centuries the translation of the OE Or. wasattributed to King Alfred himself. The first one to do sowas a twelfth century churchman and historian William of

Malmesbury. What William's source(s) of information was isnot known and it is possible that he drew his conclusionfrom the account of Ohthere (Whitelock 1969, pp. 88-89).Later arguments in favour of Alfred's authorship have oftenbeen based on assumptions of Alfred's character and hisinterests, and on the fact that he played a primary role inthe translation of other works (cf. Thorpe 1853, pp. 155-77; Bosworth 1859, pp. VII,XI; Schilling 1889, pp. 3-4).

Not until the 1950's was the matter scholarlyquestioned by Raith (1951, pp. 54-61). He bases hisargument on the occurrence of the periphrastic form

beon/wesan + present participle (wæron winnende, wæsfeohtende) in the works ascribed to Alfred, and comes tothe conclusion that Alfred could not have been responsiblefor the translation of the OE Or., or at least thehistorical part of it.

Nickel (1966, pp. 107-37) and Mitchell (1976,pp. 478-79 n.1,485) have studied the same data but they donot agree with Raith. They think that the differences inthe use of the periphrastic form cannot form sufficientgrounds for denying Alfred's authorship. But Bately (1979,p. 191 n. 1) has quite rightly pointed out that if the

handling of the periphrastic form does not deny Alfred'sauthorship, neither does it prove that he was the author.



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A combination of linguistic and literary/historicalevidence proves that the OE translations of Gregory's CuraPastoralis, Boethius' De consolatione Philosophie, St.

Augustine's Soliloquies, and perhaps the first fifty psalmsof the Paris Psalter, as well as at least some parts of theLaws of Alfred, were the work of King Alfred, but probablywith the help of others. Comparative studies of the syntaxand the vocabulary show that the differences between the OEOr. and the 'Alfredian' works are so great that the OE Or.could not have been written by Alfred, nor by thetranslators of Bede's Ecclesiastical History and Gregory'sDialogues. The compilers of the ASC have also been excludedas possible authors. (Whitelock 1966, pp. 66-99; Bately1970, pp. 455-58; ibid. 1980a, pp. 127-29; ibid. 1980c, pp.

3-5; Liggins 1970, pp. 289-322; Alfred the Great 1985, pp.28-35,301.)The proximity of authors in time and space has caused

the similarities between Alfred's works, the OE Or. andcertain parts of the ASC (Bately 1982, p. 86). However, theauthor of the OE Or. was in some way connected withAlfred's court and the translation was probably undertakenon his orders (Liggins 1970, p. 321; Bately 1980b, p.LXXXVII; Lund 1984, p. 6; Alfred the Great 1985, p. 33).

It is necessary to stress the fact that we knownothing about the translator's experience of writing, the

order of translation, the possible participation of anamanuensis or amanuenses; we do not know whether the textwas revised, or whether the translation was a continuouswork, or whether there were breaks in it. What seems to beobvious, however, is that the compiler of the list of thechapter headings was not the author of the body of thetext. (Kirkman 1930a, p. 12; Bately 1980b, pp. LXXX-LXXXII.)

There is still the question of dictation, firstdiscussed by Schilling in 1886 (p. 56). It is believed thatthe text was dictated to a scribe because of the many

mistakes made in the spelling of proper names. The dictatormay have been a Welshman of Latin education dictating to ascribe with an Anglo-Saxon background and the dictated text



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was possibly in OE, not in Latin (Kirkman 1930a, pp. 2-21;ibid. 1930b, pp. 140-49; Bately 1966, pp. 261-96,304; ibid.1980b, pp. CXIV-XVI).

1.4. The authorship of the interpolations on northernEurope

In the Latin Or. there are no equivalents to thegeography of Germania and the accounts of Ohthere andWulfstan. Other matching sources have not been discovered(Bately 1980b, p. 166; Whitaker 1981, p. 8). Even the twoshort chapters before the interpolations and the most ofthe description of continental Europe after Wulfstan's

account until where the British Isles are dealt with, mustbe considered as rewritten (Bately 1980b, p. LXVII). Thegeography of Germania and the reports of Ohthere andWulfstan are thus originally composed in OE and representrare independent eWS prose, making up about five percent ofthe MS.

The author of the body of the text was presumablyresponsible for the writing of the geography of Germaniaand the information was evidently taken from varioussources, mostly unknown (Bately 1980b, pp. LXIII-LXX).It is noteworthy that there is no clear instance of OHG

influence in the ortography of the proper names (Bately1966, pp. 277-78).Suddenly there is an abrupt change in the text when

Ohthere's account starts as an indirect narrative andfinishes off almost as abruptly when Wulfstan's accountbegins. The abruptness, i.e. the lack of any adaptation tothe rest of the text, is quite remarkable and does troublethe reader a lot as to concluding anything definite, oreven probable, about the authorship or dating. ProfessorBately (1980c, p. 6) has also paid attention to this. Atthe same time it makes it difficult to understand the

motives for including these travel accounts into a worldhistory



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the main purpose of which was to reveal God's hand inhistory (Bately 1980c, p. 11). Even though the accountsbegin suddenly, they appear to have been fitted in

appropriate contexts: the Norðmenn connect Ohthere'saccount to the geography of Germania, and a place called ætHæþum and the Danes connect Wulfstan's account to that ofOhthere's.

On linguistic grounds it is evident that the author ofthe OE Or. did not write these two accounts. They havefeatures that differ from the usage of the author. Theunusual ones in Ohthere's account include: æghwilc notgehwilc 'each'; sped, spedig not wela, welig 'wealth,wealthy'; mor for 'mountain', not as elsewhere in the OEOr., beorg, munt, or dun; the use of hyrð in on, up in on,

and wið uppon; a sole instance of the construction aþeroððe...oððe while elsewhere oðer...oððe...oððe 'either...or': and possibly the use of byrdest 'most well-born'(Bately 1970, pp. 439 n. 31,540; ibid. 1980b,p. LXXII n.4).

Peculiar features in Wulfstan's account include: theuse of nænig 'not any', huru 'about, at least', forhwæga'somewhere', ungefoge 'excessively', twegen 'two', þeowanot þeow 'slave', and possibly heahþungen 'of high rank';a preference of bið rather than is; on with the meaning 'ata distance of'; and the construction betweonan him (Raith

1951, pp. 60-61; Bately 1970, pp. 439 n. 31,449; ibid.1980a, p. 126; ibid. 1980b, p. LXXII).It is also obvious that two different persons wrote

these accounts because of differences in vocabulary andmorphology (Craigie 1925, p. 396; Raith 1951, p. 61; Bately1980b, pp. LXXI-LXXII). In Ohthere's account we have onþæt steorbord 'on the starboard side', on þæt bæcbord 'onthe port side', but in Wulfstan's account on steorbord, onbæcbord. Ohthere's account, as well as most of thepreceding text, has the WS contracted forms of the thirdperson singular present indicative of strong verbs, cymð

'comes', lið 'lies', but Wulfstan's account has mostly theAnglian uncontracted forms, cymeð, ligeð. In the latter theAnglian form Weonodland contrasts to Wineda lond elsewhere.



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In the light of present knowledge a partlyhypothetical reconstruction can be made as to how theaccount of Ohthere came about. The text is thought to

reveal the presence of an interrogator (Hübener 1925-26, p.45 n. 1; Whitelock 1966, p. 99; Fell 1984, pp. 56-57). Hewould be detectable especially in contexts where mattersunfamiliar to the Anglo-Saxons are reported. As Whitelock(1966, p. 99) has put it, "Ohthere's account reads like aset of replies to questions put to him". The interviewerand Ohthere seem to have searched for mutuallyunderstandable expressions when the subject was strange tothe interviewer. We do not know the identity of thesupposed interviewer, and that means that we cannot excludeKing Alfred who apparently was present. Nor do we know

whether the interviewer and the recorder making notes wereidentical. The text indicates at the same time that aninterpreter was not used (Fell 1984, pp. 56-63). OE and ONwere still fairly close to each other in the ninth century.There were some difficulties in comprehension but possibleto overcome, and it is reasonable to assume that Ohthereand the Anglo-Saxons he met were to some degree familiarwith each others' languages (Bately 1980b, p. LXXI; Fell1984, p. 56; Lund 1984, pp. 11-12).

In this kind of communication situation there hascertainly been some loss of information. It is a natural

part of a communication situation, and we can findinstances where Ohthere and the assumedinterviewer/recorder were striving to reduce the loss.

Accordingly, notes were taken at the time of theinterview (Bately 1970, p. 439 n. 31; Lund 1984, p. 11). Itis possible that these notes were in the form of theaccount, and unless the account was a later addition to thework, the author had access to the notes and inserted theaccount to the OE Or. (Bately 1979, p. 191 n. 1; ibid.1980b, p. LXXXI). Or maybe at this point the authordiscarded some of the information in the notes and chose

the themes of the account. Here we could have a possiblesecond stage where information was lost or misunderstoodand led to repetition or inconsequence or possiblecorruption of names and numbers.



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It is believed that this assumed course of eventswould have resulted in the tones of spoken language, thenature of speech-based prose, detectable in the accounts,

though it is difficult to know to what extent it representsspoken OE language, because of our imperfect knowledge ofit, at the time (Whitelock 1966, p.99; Kerling 1982, p.289). Many scholars have praised Ohthere's love of detailand his accurate manner of description but they havesometimes forgotten that despite the tones of spokenlanguage, what we have is the author's account of Ohthere'svoyages and not a travelogue written by Ohthere himself.

1.5. The historical reliability of the accounts of Ohthere

and Wulfstan

The historical reliability of the accounts of Ohthereand Wulfstan has been questioned by Tristram (1982; cf.Pilch & Tristram 1979, pp. 68-70). She has studied thenarrative technique, the themes and expressions in theaccounts and compared them with other medieval descriptionsof voyages and geography, especially with Aethicus Ister's'Cosmography' reported in a Latin work dating from theseventh or eighth century.

She concludes that scholars should take a cautious

attitude towards the historical truthfulness of these twoaccounts because they belong to a conventional literarytradition of accounts of travels, which fulfil therequirements of this literary genre as well as theexpectations of the audience of that time. She thinks theaccounts should be interpreted with cum grano salis, eventhough they were based on actual voyages.

According to Tristram the accounts share certainfeatures common in medieval travel accounts: at least twolevels of reporting (the author tells us what the Beormastold Ohthere--unfortunately not elaborated in the text);

gradual transition from one form of narration to another



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(author-controlled direct discourse changes into indirectdiscourse); references to the traveller's own observationsand to a prominent person (King Alfred) to give historical

reliability; the use of exaggerating exact numbers,hyperboles, and stories of mirabilia (unknown mythicalpeoples and animals); and the world is described fromaboard a ship and from a continental perspective (Norway,Schleswig).

Tristram's comparative material in her paper isclearly not large enough and she examines the account fromtoo narrow a perspective, drawing conclusions as aliterary historian. The sharing of some features common inmedieval conventional travel accounts should make theinterpreter critical, but it should not prevent her from

establishing historical truthfulness with the help of otherdisciplines, though there are dangers in this as well. Itwould be natural if the structure, themes and expressionsof the accounts were influenced by the literary conventionsof the time, but the difficulty lies in detecting theseconventions, as well as the facts.

I agree with Tristram that the narrative structure inthe accounts should always be born in mind. A strongargument against her theory, however, lies in theassumption that the main reason for inserting the accountsinto the OE Or. was to give the readers a more detailed

picture of the geography and economy of the northernmostareas known. But why is the additional information in theform of two exciting travel stories? Have the literaryconventions of the time anything to do with it? Is thepossible use of an interviewer a convention? Thesequestions cannot be answered in this paper.

It has been suggested that the information in Ohthere-Wulfstan interpolation was not integrated into thegeography of Germania because it was so special that itcould not be compared or combined with information fromother sources (Lund 1984, p. 11). It is true that wealth,

possessions and trading are given a fair share in theaccounts. However, it is supposed that some of theinformation in the geography



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of Germania was actually gathered from oral sources,including Ohthere (Jaakkola 1956, pp. 308-09; Bately 1980b,p. LXVIII; Julku 1986, p. 54).

Tristram's theory does not explain the strongmercantile interests that are so obvious. It is importantto point out that the concept of 'literature' did not existduring the Anglo-Saxon Age; books were not meant to be readas literature, they had a more practical, utilitarianpurpose, as did the whole educational programme of KingAlfred (Whitelock 1966, p. 100; Stanley 1981, p. 235).Political and mercantile interests should be taken intoconsideration when we try to find out the reasons forinserting travel reports into a geographical context.

I think that there is no real reason to doubt that

these accounts are based on two factual travellers' tales.Tristram's definition of a conventional literary travelstory does not convince one that the accounts areimaginary. But we must not take every word as true andexact word of the speaker; in the end the accounts are theproduct of an Anglo-Saxon mind. And unfortunately we mustrely very much on guesswork and assumptions when trying tounderstand the circumstances and motives that led to theinsertion of these accounts into the OE Or.

1.6. The dating

Nothing definite can be said about the date of thecomposition of the OE Or. As it does not belong to theworks translated by Alfred, the chronology of these worksis not of much help. Even though Cura Pastoralis was thefirst translation belonging to the educational scheme ofAlfred undertaken by himself and completed perhaps around890, it is very probable that other works were writtenbefore the full scheme took shape or the works were writtenat times simultaneously (Whitelock 1966, pp. 74-77; Bately

1980b, p. LXXXVII; Alfred the Great 1985, pp. 35,216 n.46).



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The additions of contemporary information are then ofvalue in the problem of dating. The leaving out of theHungarians in the geographical section would relate to the

situation before 889 (perhaps between 884 and 889), but thecomposition of the work took place after that date (Bately1980b, pp. LXXXIX-XC; cf. Two Voyages 1984, p. 67). Thereis, however, another explanation for the absence of theHungarians (cf. Linderski 1964, pp. 437-39). In the samesection a reference to the Burgundians north-east ofProvence could picture a time after 888 (OE Or. 1980, p.18; Bately 1980b, p. LXXXIX n. 3).

There are two mentions in the OE Or. that could beborrowings from works written at Alfred's court: one fromthe Boethius, the other from ASC, but this is very

uncertain (OE Or. 1980, pp. 138-39,155; Whitelock 1966,pp. 74,82; Bately 1970, p. 190; ibid. 1980b, pp. XCI-XCII).Ohthere's account includes a few uncertain clues to

the problem of dating the OE Or.; uncertain because theyall are based on events that in turn have not been dateddefinitely. In Haralds saga in hárfagra (Heimskringla 1979,pp. 108-09) we are told that king Harald Fairhair annexedNorway to the eastern coast of Oslofjord down to the Götariver in modern Sweden before the battle of Hafrsfjord,which statement contradicts Ohthere's information that thearea belonged to Denmark (cf. Malone 1930a, pp. 79-80;

Bately 1980b, pp. LXXXVII-LXXXVIII; Crumlin-Pedersen 1984,p. 30). The modern dating of the battle and Ohthere'smention that Hedeby belonged to the Danes, and not yet tothe Swedes, would allow a possible date of the compositionsomewhere in the middle period of Alfred's reign (Bately1980b, pp. LXXXVII-LXXXVIII).

The absence of the name Iceland in Ohthere's accountand the implication that he collected tribute to himself,and not to Harald Fairhair, are not decisive in the datingbecause we do not know the reason why Iceland is absent andbecause Ohthere's collecting of the tribute to himself is



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not strictly dependable on the date of the battle ofHafrsfjord, which was the starting point of the unificationof Norway.1

It has been suggested that there could have been aninterval of ten years between Ohthere's visit and thecompletion of the translation (Whitaker 1981, pp. 7-8). Thenotes of the account may have been preserved in thearchives quite some time before utilization (Bately 1980c,p. 6). There is nothing to contradict nor to support theassumption that the OE Or. was under compilation at theprecise time Ohthere was visiting Wessex.

The internal evidence is then that the OE or. may havebeen written in the decade between 889 and 899, possibly asearly as the period 890-91, which would be appropriate in

view of Alfred's educational scheme (Bately 1980b, pp.XCII-XCIII; Alfred the Great 1985, p. 35).

1.7. Research history

Hardly anything is known about the history of the twoextant MSS or the interest in them before the sixteenthcentury when new interest in antiquity was inspired in menby Renaissance Italy (cf. Bosworth 1859, pp. XII-XXIX;Brewer 1952-53, p. 205 n. 1). The account of Ohthere's

voyages is apparently the first piece of OE to be mentionedin print. This was done in 1557 by R. Recorde,a mathematician and an antiquary (Bosworth 1859, p. XXXIX;Brewer 1952-53, p. 202; Bright 1971, p. 184). Ohthere'saccount attracted attention throughout the sixteenth andseventeenth centuries among antiquaries and thoseinterested in exploration voyages and the finding of theNorth-West Passage (Brewer 1952-53, pp. 204-05).

______________1. Heber has been able to date Ohthere's reign as chiefover Halogaland and modern Finnmark: 868-83, but I shallnot rely on this extraordinary result since he does notpresent his deduction. Heber, G. 1952, Finnmarks historie,

p. 7. Stencileret i Oslo.



18

The first translation of a part of Ohthere's account,not a very close one, was made in English in 1576. InHakluyt's Voyages, published in 1598, there was a

translation of Ohthere's account and the beginning ofWulfstan's account. Since then the interpolations werecontinued to be published in original or in translation inseveral works in Britain. (Bosworth 1859, pp. XLI-L; Brewer1952-53, pp. 207-09.)

The first edition of the OE Or. appeared in 1773 byD. Barrington. This edition was used by H. G. Porthan,professor at Åbo, when he commented on the interpolationson northern Europe and translated them into Swedish in the1790's. His edition was finally published in 1800 inStockholm and it is Finland's first treatise on the English

language and includes many critical and intelligentobservations on the text and on Barringtons edition(cf. Enkvist 1958). Porthan's work was much praised by theyoung and famous Danish philologist Rasmus Rask, whopublished his Danish translation of the description ofnorthern Europe with a commentary in 1815. A Germantranslation was produced by C. F. Dahlmann, professor atKiel, in 1822.

In the nineteenth century several editions of theentire OE Or. were published in Britain: by B. Thorpe withan English translation from the German of R. Pauli in 1855,

by J. Bosworth in 1855 and by H. Sweet in 1883, which wasthe most widely used edition until the excellent one byJ. M. Bately, now professor at the University of London,in 1980. A facsimile edition of the MS L was published byA. Campbell in 1953.

In the late nineteenth century eighteen Germandissertations were written about the syntax of the OE Or.and the other 'Alfredian' works, e.g. H. Schilling in 1886,H. Philipsen in 1887, A. A. Lehmann in 1891, K. Bock in1892, and E. Wülfing in 1894-1901. The authorship of the OEworks were also discussed in some of these studies.



19

The voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan are translated andpublished in many selections of Anglo-Saxon prose inBritain and elsewhere. Some sections of them have been

translated and commented on in several scholarly andpopular works and papers about the Anglo-Saxon Age and theViking Age. Historians and archaeologists refer frequentlyto the interpolations because they provide us with detailsabout the northern Europe not elsewhere described till muchlater. The easiness of the syntax and the simplicity of thelanguage have not hindered students of English fromdiscussing the many proper names, rare OE expressions anddifficulties of interpretation that there are in the text.Ohthere's account has always been of great importance tothe Scandinavians, especially to the Norwegians, and their

contribution to the Orosian studies has been profound,though not in recent years.During the first half of the twentieth century scholars

were mainly interested in the subject matter in theinterpolations. From the 1930's onwards the 'Alfrediangeography' and the terms of direction have been debated bymany commentators, at times vigorously. It is possible thatit was this debate that resulted in the emergence of a newand more critical attitude towards the text and the the OEOr. as a whole in the 1960's. The new approach is mainly dueto J. M. Bately and other scholars who combined linguistic

and historical evidence in their studies.In May 1980 an Orosius Conference was held at Bologna,Italy, where among others Paula Loikala Sturani read apaper on Ohthere's voyage to the White sea.1 Her paper is agood example of the repeating of traditional views andinterpretations, whether correct or not, and not producinganything new. Some of the recent scholarship on theinterpolations on northern Europe follows thetraditions established in the nineteenth and earlytwentieth centuries,

_______________1. Cf. Loikala, P. 1980, I bjarmi di Ohthere, in Quadernidi filologica germanica, Vol. 1, 175-186; Lendinara, P.1981, Alla traduzione anglosassone delle "Historiaeadversum paganos" di Orosio..., in Schede Medievali, No. 1,

125-129.



20

but fortunately the research done during the last fewdecades has not been ignored by other scholars. Thedescription of northern Europe in the OE Or. has been

studied for centuries as a primary source in the history ofvoyages and it seems that it will not cease to attractattention.

2. THE GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF GERMANIA

2.1. The interpretation of the terms of direction

In the geographical section of the OE Or. whereterritories and peoples are located in relation to eachother terms of direction are understandably abundant. Someof these terms, especially those in the passages onnorthern Europe, have been discussed for over twocenturies. Early scholars, such as Porthan (1873, pp. 56 n.45, 58 n. 54), Rask (1815, pp. 73 n. f, 87 n. c), Schilling(1886, p. 16), and Storm (1894, pp. 93-95) stated thatcertain bearings should be shifted clockwise in order tobecome intelligible.

In the early twentieth century Weibull (1934,

pp. 118-28) argued that the directions of the Scandinaviansin the Viking Age differed from that of ours, and Malone(1930b, passim) maintained the use of two distinct systemsof orientation in the OE Or.: the classical and theshifted, the latter with a 45° degree deviation clockwisedominating in the interpolations on northern Europe butalso detectable elsewhere in the OE Or.

In 1938 Ekblom presented his theory of the existenceof an Old Scandinavian (OSca.) orientation system where Nwas 60° E. The figure is the average of the data hegathered from the OE Or. (geography of Germania, accounts

of Ohthere and Wulfstan), Adam of Bremen's description ofDenmark and the Knytlingasaga (Ekblom 1941-42, pp. 122-23).In his last



21

paper (1960, p. 6), however, he was only concerned withthe OE Or. According to Ekblom (1960, p. 3) the directionof the Norwegian coast from Stad promontory to the

Nordkinn promontory, "or rather certain parts of it", andthe average direction of the great rivers in northernSweden gave rise to OSca. N-S and E-W. Collinder (1953, p.15) has also pointed out that the course of the greatrivers in Swedish Lappland influenced the terms ofdirection of the Scandinavians, the Finns and the Saamisuntil recently.

The theories of the existence of a shiftedorientation system (45° or 60° clockwise) in the VikingAge have not been accepted by later scholars (Hübener1931, p. 428; Reuter 1934, pp. 6-15; Beckman 1938, passim;

Brown 1978, p. 245 n. 99; Binns 1980, p. 37; Pritsak 1981,p. 689 n. 17; Lund 1984, p. 12; Korhammer 1985a, p. 262).Malone and Ekblom, who studied the matter in great detail,have been criticized because of their procedure. Malonetreated the compass terms as if they indicated precisepoints on a modern map and did not pay sufficientattention to the comparison of the Latin Or. and the OEOr., to the OE vocabulary, nor to the fact that the workonly survives in two MSS with probably somecorruptions (Derolez 1971, pp. 254,256-58).

The same criticism applies to Ekblom's theory. His

method was deceptively simple and unscientific, anddemands a lot of patience from the reader. Some of theapparent deviations are the result of his arbitrary choiceof mechanical pivotal centres and modern methods ofcalculation as well as the use of a modern map. We do notknow the method the author used in describing the relativepositions of territorial units. Ekblom does not actuallyadduce any proof for his theory in his articles (cf.Derolez 1971, pp. 258-60; Korhammer 1985a, pp. 253-57). Iagree with Korhammer that if such a system really existed,the author would have known about it.

Other explanations for the apparent deviations havebeen proposed. In Ohthere's account they could be due tothe roughly NE-SW direction of the western coast ofNorway,



22

which was generally understood to lie N-S (Storm 1894, p.93; Nansen 1911, p. 131 n. 2; Beckman 1938, p. 254;Simonsen 1957,p. 10; Binns 1961, pp. 50-51).

Ellegård (1954-55, pp. 3-5,7) emphasizes the principleof economy. The astronomical N was known to Ohthere butsince the purpose of the account, in the form we have it,was not to give a detailed description of the geography ofthe North, the four-point system that was used was quitesufficient. He points out that the voyage to the Beormasis not explicit and clear. Bately (1980b, p. 181) remindsus that we cannot expect all the terms to be exactly thosewhich Ohthere used. The voyage to the Beormas is somewhatobscure and it is possible that the directions arerelative and approximate (Ellegård 1954-55, p. 3; Djupedal

1969, p. 115), but the language had the necessaryprecision required (Stokoe 1957, p. 302). Korhammer(1985a, pp. 260-62) says that the wind directions given inthis section show that Ohthere was perfectly capable ofusing the sun to determine the directions.

Difference in vocabularies is obviously an importantfactor. The OE vocabulary only distinguishes the fourcardinals but there are signs of attempts to create anative nomenclature for a compass with eight points. Thisis not to say that precise orientation was impossible whenrequired (Derolez 1971, pp. 262-63). The interpretation of

compounds and phrases with and indicating directions istricky. The compounds are commonly translated as half-cardinal points but it is possible that thisinterpretation is not accurate in every case, particularlywhen west and east precede norð and suð (Brown 1978, pp.235,239). Some apparent deviations may have originatedfrom the translation of Ohthere's ON termsinto OE (Bately 1980b, pp. 181,184; Binns 1980, p. 37).

Bately's (1980b, pp. 182-83) suggests that in twocases the terms of direction could have been deduced longafter the voyage from Ohthere's recollection of the winds

he used. However, as we have no knowledge of the timeelapsed between Ohthere's journeys and the recording ofhis report,



23

it is more probable that someone with such a greatinterest in trade as Ohthere apparently had, would noteasily forget the course of a trade-route.

The OE Or. normally makes use of four points of thecompass, when e.g. N means a range of north and refers toa quadrant of a circle (Beckman 1938, pp. 153-54; Bately1980b, pp. 181-82,184-85), and only when the author hadmore precise information at his disposal did he usesmaller sectors and consequently we can speak of a four(-to-eight)-point system of orientation (Korhammer 1985a,pp. 262-63,269).1

Ellegård (1954-55, pp. 8-14) thinks that an itinerarymodel underlies much of the medieval geography. Heconsiders the geography of Germania to be based on oral

information which led to schematism and simplification inthe location of peoples along the traveller's route andwas bound to cause deviations in directions. Wulfstan'saccount would be a good example of this: his route wascomprehended as a straight line with peoples and landsplaced schematically in relation to it. Ellegård (1960,passim) suggests that Icelandic "proximate" and "ultimate"orientations could solve some possible problems indirections.2 A trade route from Lüneberg to Lübeck andalong the West-Jutland coast could account for theapparent displacement of some of the neighbours of the

Old Saxons (Bately 1970, p. 61 n. 3).A new approach in the explaining of the apparentdeviations was started by Labuda (1961, p. 96, nn. 75-76).He suggests the use of a map to explain the location ofMægþa land and Sermende. Shortly afterwards Linderski(1964, pp. 436-37) concluded on the basis of the placingof Dacia-Vistula and Carentania-Bulgaria that the authormust have used an offspring of the Commentarii of Agrippaand his now lost mappa mundi.

_____________________1. The compass as a navigational device was not known inthe Viking Age.

2. More about Icelandic orientation in Einarsson, S. 1942,Terms of Direction in Modern Icelandic, in ScandinavianStudies presented to George T. Flom. Illinois Studies inLanguage and Literature, Vol. 29, No. 1, 37-48; Haugen, E.1957, The Semantics of Icelandic Orientation, in Word,Vol. 13, 447-459; Sköld, T. 1966, Islänska väderstreck, in

Scripta Islandica. Isländska sällskapets årsbok 16/1965.



24

Derolez (1971, pp. 264-66) in turn suggests that theuse of a map may have influenced the author on any point.The apparent deviations in a number of directions may be

due to the use of an enlarged mappa mundi on which the'literary'-minded geographer, i.e. the author or hisimmediate source, had transferred a traveller's mainlyastronomical and more reliable system of orientation, butturning each astronomical N,S,W,E given by the informantto cartographic septentrio, meridies, occidens, oriens.Even if the oral information was preserved as accuratelyas possible, errors were bound to arise on a maprepresenting orbis terrarum with east normally at the topof the map. In the whole European quarter of a mappa mundithe errors would deviate clockwise. However, there is no

conclusive evidence of the use of a mappa mundi (Bately1972, p. 60).While almost all of the additional OE material in the

geography of the world other than continental Europe hasthe support of extant Latin texts, though positiveidentification is not possible, the sources of the newinformation on continental Europe are not known; they mayhave been oral or written (Bately 1972, passim; ibid.1980b, p. LXVI). This renders many speculativeexplanations for apparent deviations possible.

Moreover, the indications of orientation by their

very repetitiveness were more liable to corruption thanthe rest of the text1, particularly in the geography ofGermania where the technique of description is moreeconomical than elsewhere (Derolez 1971, pp. 254-56,259).

Some possible deviations may have originated fromthe presentation of a complex of peoples, of which onlyone group was named (e.g. Ælfe muþa, Frisland; Hæfeldan),or mistaken beliefs (e.g. direction of the JutlandPeninsula; Wascan), or separate information may have beenincorrectly combined (e.g. Ongle hæt 7 Sillende 7 sumnedæl Dene) (Bately 1972, pp. 52-54,61 nn. 4-5; ibid. 1980b,

p. 205). It is not impossible that Ohthere's report wasinterpreted in terms of

__________________

1. Proper names were generally the most vulnerable.



25

contemporary geography (Derolez 1971, p. 267 n. 1). In thecase of written or a cartographical source it should beremembered that it too had to have a source (Bately 1980b,

p. LXXVIII).There are eighty-one terms of direction in thepassages dealt with in this paper. At some stage of thedebate it has been suggested that all the terms inOhthere's and Wulfstan's accounts and twenty-seven offifty-one instances in the geography of Germania woulddeviate clockwise. Most of the suggested deviations caneither be explained to originate from some other reasonthan a shifted system of orientation, or they are notdeviations in the first place. Derolez (1971, p. 254) andBately (1972, p. 46) point out that this subject and the

OE Or. should be studied as a whole. It is unfortunatelyeasy to separate the geography of Germania and the twotravel accounts from the rest of the text and forget whereand when the entire work originated. Likewise it is easyto pick a sentence or a phrase from e.g. Ohthere's accountand apply a suitable shift to it. The OE Or. should alsobe studied together with other geographical literaturefrom antiquity and the Middle Ages but that is impossibleto do in this paper.

The references to and the theories of a shiftedorientation have led to many opposing theories and

explanations, which in turn have caused comments. In thispaper each of the suggested deviations is discussedseparately in its proper context, if it is considerednecessary.

2.2. The identification of the northern boundary ofGermania

OE ... norþ oþ þone garsecg þe mon Cwensæ hæt: binnanþæm sindon monega þeoda, ac hit mon hæt eall Germania.(OE Or. 1980, p. 12)

MnE ... north as far as the ocean called the Cwensæ;within these boundaries live many people but it is allcalled Germania.



26

The northernmost areas named in the geography ofGermania are Cwensæ and Cwenland. Cwenas and Cwena landoccur in Ohthere's account (cf. p. 112), which suggests

that it was Ohthere who provided the information for thegeographical part (Jaakkola 1956, p. 308; Vahtola 1980,p. 466; Julku 1986, p. 54). Cwensæ was obviously namedafter the people Cwenas who lived close to this sea.

The identification of Cwensæ usually depends on wherethe Cwenas are located, but not always. It has beenidentified with the Gulf of Bothnia (Malone 1930b,pp. 151,154; Ekblom 1941-42, p. 130 n. 1; Vahtola 1980,p. 461), with the northern parts of the Baltic (Rask 1815,p. 68 n. d; Geidel 1904, p. 29), with the White Sea(Bosworth 1859, appendix; Laborde 1923, p. 134; Helm 1963,

p. 168; Two Voyages 1984, p. 64), with the Arctic Ocean(Porthan 1873, p. 50 n. 17; Vilkuna 1969, pp. 34,117;Pekkanen 1987, p. 1), with the North Sea (Kötzschke 1939,p. 344), and with an imaginary sea connected with theSarmatian Ocean (Labuda 1961, p. 92 n. 50; Pritsak 1981,p. 685 n. 11).

There is a plausible theory for identification ofCwensæ requiring two presuppositions: 1) Cwensæ actuallymeant the Gulf of Bothnia, and 2) the source ofinformation was Ohthere (there is nothing to contradictit).

We cannot assume that the author was very familiarwith the configurations of the Fenno-Scandian seas andgulfs, neither can we be certain that Ohthere had no morethan a rough idea about the location and extension ofCwensæ. Ohthere's point of observation was in northernNorway and he located the Cwenas to the east of it. Healso uses the term Westsæ of the sea along his homelandand he mentions no Cwenas during his voyage to the WhiteSea. He appears to have been aware that Cwensæ was notconnected with the Western Sea, i.e. Westsæ, in thenorthern end.

The author may have erronously thought that Cwensæmeant the Arctic Ocean and because his purpose appears tohave been to give a systematic description of Germania,Cwensæ became the northen boundary and enclosed thenorthernmost peoples, at least in the author's mind



27

(cf. Jaakkola 1956, pp. 307-09; Julku 1986, pp. 54-55).If the author had a mappa mundi at his disposal, with mostcertainly inaccurate contours of Fenno-Scandia, it is

possible that per litus septentrionalis oceanis of theLatin Or. (Orosii 1882, p. 21) was easily turned into þonegarsecg þe mon Cwensæ hæt 'the ocean called Cwensæ'. Whatthe informant meant was misunderstood by the receiver ofthe information.

Another explanation is that Cwensæ really meant theArctic and is correctly used in the text. It is not,however, probable that the Arctic was named after theCwenas who supposedly visited the coast as suggested byVilkuna (1969, p. 34) and Pekkanen (1987, p. 1). Afterall, we learn from the same source that it was the Finnas

who inhabited these regions and were in a better positionto name the sea.

2.3. The location of Mægþa lond

OE Be norþan Horoti is Mægþa land, 7 be norþan Mægþalonde Sermende oþ þa beorgas Riffen. (OE Or. 1980, p. 13.)

MnE To the north of the Croats is Mægþa land and

north of Mægþa land the Sarmatians as far as the RipheanMountains.

One of the interpretations is that mægþa is gen.pl.of OE mægþ 'woman'. 'The Land of Women' may either belongto the tradition of Amazons or a land ruled by womendescribed by classical and medieval authors, or it hasindependently originated in the Middle Ages in the areanorth of the Chorwati or the Croats in eastern continentalEurope (Porthan 1873, p. 57 n. 51; Hübener 1931, p. 432;Kötzschke 1939, p. 347; Ekblom 1941-42, pp. 133-34; Labuda

1961, p. 96 n.75; Pritsak 1981, p. 688; Two Voyages 1984,p. 65).It is sometimes assumed that western Finland is in

some old sources (Tacitus, Adam of Bremen) called 'a landof women', but it is clear that the interpretation







30

ways of describing the relative positions of theterritories. He could have set out from a pivotal area asa centre and indicate the general direction of the

surrounding territories relative to this pivot, or hecould have followed the boundaries of the pivotal area andenumerate the bordering territories, but the author'schoice may not have been a conscious one (Derolez 1971, p.259). Whitaker (1981, p. 7 n. 29) does not accept the viewof a pivotal system of organizing the material. He refers,however, only to Laborde's paper, and Laborde's ideas havenot been fully accepted by later scholars. Anyway, thedescription is very general and the method a cumbersomeone, involving repetition and error. The majority of thepivotal areas were probably chosen because of their

political importance (Laborde 1923, p. 135; Bately 1980b,pp. LXVIII,LXIX n. 1).The location of the lands of the Danes in the OE Or.

still produces unsolved difficulties. It is assumed thatthe author makes a distinction between the Danes of theJutland peninsula (and the island of Fyn and the smallislands surrounding it) on the one hand, and the Danesliving on the islands and on the southern Scandinavianpeninsula on the other (Rask 1815, p. 88 n. c.; Porthan1873, p. 58 nn. 54,57; Geidel 1904, p. 39; Ekblom 1939-40,p. 187; Pritsak 1981, p. 686).

In the geography of Germania, however, no names ofthe islands occupied by the Danes are mentioned. Nor isthat done in Ohthere's account where Gotland and thenSillende are located on the opposite side of a great waterwhich lies south of Sciringesheal. When Ohthere sailedsouth from Sciringesheal he had Denmark on the port forthree days and then on the starboard were Gotland,Sillende and many islands two days before he came toHedeby, and during the following two days he had on theport those islands that belonged to Denmark. Hedeby wassituated between the Wends, the Saxons and the Angles and

belonged to the Danes. Wulfstan's account tells us thatLangeland, Lolland and Falster as well as Sconeg belongedto Denmark (see Map 1).



31

The verb hieran, hyran I 'to belong to, be subjectto' is used in both accounts. It normally takes thepreposition to (Mossé 1945, p. 373, n. 106), as in

Wulfstan's account, but in Ohthere's account thepreposition used is on or in on.Jones (1984, p. 110 n. 1) wonders whether the use ofdifferent prepositions might imply a semantic difference.Nobody else who has commented on these usages has referredto a possible distinction in meaning (cf. Raith 1951,pp. 60-61; Bately 1970, p. 439 n. 31; Bright 1971, p.191). I wonder whether the translation 'pays tribute toDenmark' (Crossley-Holland 1982, p.62) is some sort ofmisunderstanding.

It seems that in Ohthere's account 'the great sea

that extends up into the land' south of Sciringesheal,i.e. Kaupang near Larvik in Vestfold, Norway (see p. 126),means the Skagerrak, the Kattegat and the Baltic, andrefers to the same waters as Ostsæ, which term occurs onlyin the geography of Germania (Malone 1930b, p. 160;Ellegård 1954-55, p. 14; Bright 1971, p. 190; Bately1980b, p. 195; Two Voyages 1984, p. 66). 'South' is quitecorrect here and needs not to be amended.

Ostsæ f.nom.acc. is described to lie north of theSouth Danes and north of the North Danes, north of theOsti, west of Bornholm and probably south of the Swedes.

There is no need to assume that the Ostsæ did not extendbeyond Bornholm to the east, the author has simply notmentioned it (cf. Bately 1980b, p. 178; see Map 1).

There is an obvious geographical connection betweenOstsæ and Westsæ mentioned in Ohthere's account, alreadynoticed by Porthan (1873, p. 64 n. 80). This does not,however, mean that it was Ohthere who informed the authorof the term Ostsæ as presumed by some commentators (Malone1930b, p. 157; Ekblom 1960, p. 11). The name may notoriginate from ON Austmarr but it can be a borrowing fromOS or OHG ost 'east' (Forster and Raith in Bately 1980b,

p. 176). The Scandinavians' term for the sea was Ostarsaltaccording to Einhard's Annals s.a. 808 (Quellen 1980,p. 88), corresponding ON Eystrasalt 'the Eastern Sea'.



32

The OE Or. is the first record where the name of theBaltic is found in the meaning 'the Eastern Sea', but themodern terms may have a different origin.

Next we shall turn to Ohthere's Gotland. It isgenerally identified with the northern half of Jutland.Why then northern Jutland is denoted Gotland? A scribalerror is of course a possibility and we cannot excludepossible later modifications by the author (Bately 1980b,p. 195). However, the name occurs twice in the account inexactly the same form which suggests correct spelling(Malone 1928, p. 338).

Malone (1928, p. 339) argues that Ohthere said*Eutland or *Ioutland, which was anglicized, and not ONJótland suggested by others (in Malone 1928, p. 337),

because the term did not exist in Alfred's time. Malonerejects his earlier interpretation that Ohthere's term wasON Gautland < ON Gautr 'the Geats'.

There may, however, be another explanation for theuse of Gotland which would take us to the complicatedworld of the Icelandic sagas and the history of the Gothsand the Geats. In short, there is some evidence in thesagas that Jutland was called Reiðgotaland or Gotland andit is possible that that this was already a tradition byOhthere's time (cf. Egilsson 1966, p. 276; Heimskringla1979, pp. 35-36; Pritsak 1981, pp. 14,216-17).

Sconeg in Wulfstan's account is no doubt Skåne. OEeg, a variant of ieg f. 'an island', in Sconeg provokesthe question whether the author or the informant thoughtof Skåne as an island? Most scholars believe thatScandinavia and Skåne have a common etymology: they arederived from the same compounded word the second elementof which was a word meaning 'an island' (de Vries 1962, p.482; Ståhl 1965, p. 247). This would reflect the ancientconception of Scandinavia as an island. Scedenigge inBeowulf (1967, p. 78) is interpreted to mean Skåne and toinclude ig 'an island' (Noreen 1920, p. 20; de Vries 1962,

pp. 106,482).Assuming that Wulfstan was familiar with the coastalterritories of the Baltic, he must have known that Skåne



33

was not an island. There is a possibility that eg is hereused in the sense 'land by water' (Ekwall in Svennung1963, p. 44 n. 13). But Sconeg may well be an anglicized

form of ON Skáney, Skánøy, a transformation of atraditional name and no attention was paid to its originalmeaning. In a final position following a front vowel OE gwas pronounced like MnE y in yet (Sweet 1974, p. 4).

Sconeg does not necessarily mean the samegeographical area as modern Skåne does. Studies of placenames indicate that at least the north-eastern part ofmodern Skåne was under Swedish rule probably alreadyduring the Swedish Vendel Period (about A.D. 550-A.D.800), but not later than in the ninth century (Hellberg1980, pp. 202,204).

The next term that must be discussed is Sillende,which occurs both in the geography of Germania and inOhthere's account. There seems to be a general agreementthat Sillende is the Sinlendi in Einhardi Annales s.a.815, and in the Life of the Emperor Ludvig form the firsthalf of the ninth century (Quellen 1980, pp. 106,294).Ekblom (1939-40, pp. 178-80) states that it is usuallyunderstood to refer to the whole breadth of the SouthJutland by the rivers Konge and Eider, sometimes to thewestern part of it. He thinks that Sillende/Sinlendi was"used rather as an appellative than as a proper name", and

that it meant the eastern coastal district of SouthJutland. His view is shared by others (Bright 1971, p.190; Pritsak 1981, p. 687 n. 61; Crumlin- Pedersen 1984,p. 31). There still exists opinions in favour of theearliest interpretation proposed, i.e. the island ofSjaelland (Simonsen 1957, p. 7; Binns 1980, p. 40;Crossley-Holland 1982, p. 62; Schnall in Two Voyages 1984,p. 67).

It is suggested that if Sillende refers to the wholeof South Jutland and means 'the great land, mainland', thename might have been given by the traders and seafarers

who had to cross the South Jutland peninsula from theNorth Sea to the Baltic and vice versa by land via theHedeby-route along the Eider and Schlei (see Map 4)(Bately 1980b, pp. 168-69; Two Voyages 1984, p. 67). Mostprobably such



34

an overland route was being used but unfortunately thereis no archaeological nor literary evidence for theexistence of such a route from the Viking Age (Roesdahl

1982, p. 38; Sawyer 1982, p. 75; cf. Jankuhn 1972, pp.65,67-69).In any case, Sillende is understood to lie north of

the Eider, which was apparently the border between Danishand Saxon territories in the ninth century. If Sillendemeans the whole of South Jutland it is reasonable toassume that at least part of it belonged to the Danish'state' (cf. Quellen 1980, p. 88,294). In Ohthere'saccount it is said to precede Hedeby.

The location of Ongle does not help much in thelocating of Sillende. Possibly the author did not know

himself where exactly the territory of his ancestors layin relation to Sillende and the Danes, and he might havebeen influenced by Bede's description of Angulus in thispoint (Bede 1968, pp. 55-56; Bately 1980b, p. 169; TwoVoyages 1984, p. 67). Ekblom (1939-40, p. 180) remarksthat during the last decades of the ninth century "itwould seem that Angeln was sometimes regarded as a part ofSillende, sometimes as a separate district". It ispossible that in the OE Or. Sillende and Angeln overlapone another.

Buchloch (1981) comments on the Ongle in the OE Or.

According to him the author, who belonged to the learnedand ruling 'politicians' of Alfred's court, insertedAngeln to serve Alfred's political purposes. Angeln hadhad a central position in the Germanic world and like Bedebefore him, Alfred needed an honourable region of origin,a homeland, in order to create a politically andculturally unified nation strong enough to fight againstexternal, i.e. the Vikings, and internal enemies. Theinsertions of Angeln in the geography of Germania and inOhthere's account would reflect Alfred's motives.Patriotic motives may well be reflected in these

insertions but if the author wanted to make politics orpropaganda, he certainly had much better possibilities todo that in a world history than he seems to have realized.



35

Next to Sillende were sumne dæl Dene. It isreasonable to interpret sumne dæl as an adverbial phrasem.acc.sg., expressing degree and meaning 'some, to some

extent'. Normally the expression is in the dative (OE Or.1980, pp. 66,77; Bately 1980b, p. 355; Mitchell I 1985,pp. 579-81).

Let us then discuss some of the terms of direction inthe section on Danes. Many scholars think that most of thethem show an apparent deviation clockwise (Rask 1815, p.87 n. c; Porthan 1873, p. 38 n. 54; Geidel 1904, p. 33;Malone 1930b, pp. 154-55; Ellegård 1954-55, p. 13; Labuda1961, passim; Derolez 1971, p. 264; Bately 1972, p. 61).As concluded previously there is not enough evidence tosupport the view that the apparent deviations are due to

the use of an orientation system different from ours.The adverb westnorð may mean 'north-west', but it mayalso mean 'W 30° N' (Brown 1978, pp. 238-39). A comparisonbetween the compounds including two cardinals in the OEOr. shows that there is a noticeable tendency to put westbefore norð or suð; there is no distinction in the case ofeast. This supports Derolez's (1971, p. 262) similar kindof observation in the Latin-Anglo-Saxon Corpus Glossary,the source of which was possibly the Latin Or.

It is possible that westnorð deviates from thepresumably more correct 'north'. Ellegård (1954-55,

pp. 13-14) sees this as a result of fulfilling a model;the neighbours of the Old Saxons were placed from west tosouth-west and because of the placing of the northernmostSlavic tribe the author knew, i.e. the Abodriti, the Daneswere pushed to north-west due to lack of space. It is alsosaid that some Old Saxons lived south of the South Danesand the Abodriti east of them. It seems that the author isdescribing the positions in relation to the centre of histwo pivots, i.e. the Old Saxons and the South Danes (cf.Bately 1972, p. 61 nn. 1-2). However, Ongle, Sillende and'some Danes' may overlap each other and, furthermore, we

do not know what was the area the Old Saxons were thoughtto occupy.



36

It is also plausible that an apparent deviation isdue to the use of a traveller's description of thelocation of peoples and lands along his route "with

deductions of the type 'x is north of y, and z is west ofx; therefore z must be northwest of y'" (Bately 1972, p.61 n. 3).

If the main direction was incorrectly comprehendedthe whole description was to suffer (Ellegård 1954-55,p. 13). For instance, a map showing the Jutland peninsulastretching north-west, not north, may have caused theexpression be eastan him [i.e. the South Danes] sindonAfdrede (Bately 1980b, pp. LXVIII n. 4,177).

The North Danes are said to live be eastan him 7 benorþan, him referring to the South Danes. Derolez (1971,

p. 263) thinks that some of the phrases consisting of twocardinals linked by other words besides and must mean'both to the...and to the...', but he does not say whichones. It is difficult to interpret which phrases mean anintermediate point on the compass because of theinstability and the freedom reflected in the use of termsof direction in OE. Similar expressions are to be foundelsewhere in the work (OE Or. 1980, pp. 12,18,20), and itcould be that it is the immediate context which definesthe meaning. The opinions in this particular instance aredivided: some support 'east and north' (Laborde 1923, p.

137; Ekblom 1941-42, pp. 127-28; Ellegård 1954-55, p. 14;Labuda 1961, p. 99 n. 78; Korhammer 1985a, p. 296 n. 2),others 'north-east' (Rask 1815, p. 23; Porthan 1873, p.58; Malone 1930b, p. 155).

There are six compounded terms of direction in thegeography of Germania (twenty-seven terms altogether inthe OE Or., adverbs or adjectives, or as a part of acompound noun or adverb). This makes one wonder whetherthere might be a semantic difference between these twoways of expression, i.e. compounds and phrases (cf.Korhammer 1985a, p. 269 n. 2). It is quite possible that

the terms South Dane and North Dane caused confusion andwe have here an attempt of rationalization; the author mayhave thought that the North Danes lived to the north, aswell as to the



37

east, of the South Danes simply because their namesindicate this position (Bately 1972, p. 61 n. 6).

The North Danes are said to live on the mainlands and

on the islands north and east of the South Danes. On þæmmaran landum n.dat.pl. is normally taken to mean Skåne andHalland, sometimes also a part or whole of Blekinge andeven Bohuslän (see Map 1) (Rask 1815, p. 88; Thorpe 1853,p. 557; Malone 1930b, p. 155; Ekblom 1941-42, p. 187;Mossé 1945, p. 373; Lund 1982, p. 49; Roesdahl 1982, p.15; Crumlin-Pedersen 1984, p. 30; Jones 1984, p. 110).These interpretations are supported by Ohthere's accountwhere Denmark lay to Ohthere's starboard for three dayswhen he sailed south from Kaupang, and Wulfstan's accountwhere Skåne is said to belong to the Danes. Ellegård

(1954-55, p. 7) points out that Ohthere's account givesthe impression that right after Kaupang Denmark was to hisleft. We must be careful in the interpretation of thisstatement because of the many uncertainties in regard tothe source itself, and also because the debate still goeson about who ruled the east coast of Oslofjorden and westcoast of Sweden during the last decades of the ninthcentury--the Norwegians, the Swedes, the Geats, or theDanes.

Because of the plural form landum there is apossibility that some North Danes lived on the Jutland

peninsula and thus 'to the east and to the north' would becorrect (Bately 1980b, p. 175).The problematic terms South Dane and North Dane have

led to suggestions that they should rather be South-Westor North-East Dane (Malone 1930b, p. 154) or West and EastDane (Raith in Bately 1980b, p. 175). The division isundoubtedly a strange one. What is obvious is that theSouth Danes lived somewhere on the Jutland peninsula andthey bordered some of the Old Saxons in the south, in thesame direction where the mouth of the Elbe was. This makespossible the conclusion that sumne dæl Dene refers to the

South Danes.There is no evidence of the existence of two Danishkingdoms in the end of the ninth century (Lund & Hørby



38

1980, p. 49; Roesdahl 1982, p. 15; Jones 1984, p. 111; TwoVoyages 1984, p. 64). At the turn of the ninth century andduring its first half Denmark, or at least the southern

part of Jutland, was a more or less united kingdom, butthe conditions in the second half of the century remainobscure in lack of written and archaeological evidence(Graham-Campbell 1980, p. 196; Roesdahl 1982, pp. 51-56).There does not appear to be any proof that the Danishkings in South Jutland in the early ninth century had anypower on the Danish islands (Sawyer 1982, p. 53), thoughWeibull (1984, p. 10) thinks that Jutland, Skåne and allthe islands formed a loose political unity in the 810's.It can be concluded, however, that Denmark was probablynot only a geographical unit but also a political unit in

the ninth century and the inhabitants thought ofthemselves as Danes subject to Danish rule which may havebeen divided (Lund & Hørby 1980, pp. 48-49; Jones 1984,pp. 110-111). But the division of the Danes into twogroups according to the points of the compass stillremains mysterious.

All the more confusing is that Ohthere's accountgives the impression that Ohthere recognized threedifferent areas: Denamearc, Gotland and Sillende (cf.Ekblom 1939-40, p. 186; Crumlin-Pedersen 1984, p. 31).Does this mean that Ohthere's knowledge of the area was

not utilized in the geography of Germania?If Denmark was not divided into two separatepolitical units it is possible that the terms reflect anearlier state of affairs and they had lost theirgeographical appropriateness as a result of subsequentexpansions (Geidel 1904, p. 33; Bately 1980b, p. 175). InWidsith (1962, pp. 24-25) we find the terms Sædenum andSuþdenum and in Beowulf (1967, passim) norð-dene, west-dene, suð-dene and east-dene. It is thought that theseterms are used because of their alliterative convenienceand for semantic reasons and do not reflect political

reality (cf. Wessén 1969, p. 17; Crossley-Holland 1982, p.42 n.; Bately 1980b, p. 175).1

___________________1. See also Tolkien, J. R. R. 1982, Finn and Hengest: TheFragment and the Episode, 163-164. London: George Allen &

Unwin.



39

Nevertheless, it is remarkable that Danes are sooften compounded with the terms of direction (Wessén 1969,p. 17). Another source that shows an example of similar

division is a tenth century rune-stone from the island ofLolland: suþr[tana] (Jacobsen and Moltke in Bately 1980b,pp. 175-76). Saxo Grammaticus (1839, pp. 713,926) mentionsthe division in his work, but it dates from the thirteenthcentury.

It is likely that North and South Dane are notpolitical terms. Ohthere and Wulfstan make no suchdistinction and after all they travelled in the country(Two Voyages 1984, p. 64). On the basis of theirinformation it appears that the Danes inhabited rathercrucial areas around the Kattegat with regard to the

traffic and trade in the Baltic.Denemearc is one of the several proper names thatoccur for the first time in writing in the OE Or. The nextoccurrence is a runic inscription from the early tenthcentury (Hald 1957, p. 645; de Vries 1962, pp. 73-401;Wessén 1969, p. 18).

2.5. The location of the Burgendan

OE Osti habbað be norþan him þone ilcan sæs earmWinedas 7 Burgendan, 7 be suþan him sindon Hæfeldan.Burgendan habbað þone sæs earm be westan him 7 Sweon benorþan,7 be eastan him sint Sermende, 7 be suþan himSurfe. (OE Or. 1980, p. 13.)

MnE The Osti have to their north the same arm of thesea and the Wends and the Bornholmers, and south of themare the Havolans. The Bornholmers have the arm of the seato the west of them and the Swedes to the north, and east

of them are the Sarmatians and south of them the Sorbs.

In Wulfstan's account Burgenda land follows thedescription of Danish territories and it is said to haveits own king (see p. 139).



40

The Latin proper name Burgundiones with its manyvariants occurs in written sources from Plinius andPtolemaios onwards and some scholars believe that the

island of Bornholm, ON Borgundar-holm, was the originalhome of these people and their name (Schönfeld 1965, pp.55-58; de Vries 1962, pp. 50-51).

The description of the position of the Burgendan (MSC Burgendas) leaves no doubt that they are theinhabitants of Bornholm. The statement that Bornholm wasindependent of the Danes and the Swedes must be leftwithout comment for lack of supporting or contradictingevidence. The Viking Age of Bornholm is not yet thoroughlystudied (Watt 1983).

2.6. The location of the Swedes and their neighbours

OE Sweon habbað be suþan him þone sæs earm Osti 7 beeastan him Sermende, 7 be norþan him ofer þa westenne isCwenland, 7 be westannorþan him sindon Scridefinne 7 bewestan Norþmenn. (OE Or. 1980, p. 13.)

MnE The Swedes have south of them the arm of thatsea Osti and east of them the Sarmatians and north of them

on the other side of the uninhabited land is Cwenland, andnorth-west of them are the Scridefinne and to the westthe Norwegians.

In Ohthere's account Sweoland is said to liealongside the southern part of Norway beyond the mountainsand extending as far as the north of Norway (see p. 112).In Wulfstan's account Blecingaeg, Meore, Eowland andGotland are located on Wulfstan's starboard when sailingeast from Hedeby and they are said to belong to the Sweon(see p. 139).

Porthan (1873, p. 59 n. 61) asked why the author didnot locate the Sweon in relation to the Danes, and wastold that their common border was unknown at the time





42

In Vita Anskarii written about A.D. 890 by Rimbert(Quellen 1978, pp. 40-42,56-69,86-92) there are

descriptions of Christian missions to Birka, apparently animportant trade centre in Lake Mälar, in around 830 and inthe 850's, but there is virtually no geographicalinformation.

Blecingaeg is of course Blekinge, today the south-eastern county of Sweden. This is the first time the nameoccurs in writing. It is assumed that the author mistookBlekinge (just like Skåne), for an island. The descriptionis remarkably undetailed and it leaves room forspeculation like this. However, I think that Wulfstan knewthat neither Blekinge nor Skåne were islands. The second

element eg may have another meaning than 'an island'; itmay mean 'land by sea' (Sahlgren 1935, p. 70). But it ismore probable that no attention was paid to the meaning ofthe place-name that Wulfstan gave. Blekinge is said tobelong to the Swedes and place-name evidence confirms this(Hellberg 1980, p. 204).

ON place-name element Mør- > ON *møri derived from ONmor 'wooden land', OE mor m., is the origin of Sw. Möre,OE Meore, now the south-eastern part of Småland (Moberg1951, pp. 113 ff.). The diphtong -eo- in Meore suggeststhat the author attempted to transcribe Wulfstan's

pronunciation.We have the same phonological transcription inEowland, OSw. öland, ON eyland 'an island', referring tothe island of Öland (ASD 1964, p. 587; de Vries 1962, p.106). OE w was pronounced as in MnE (Bright 1971, p. 17).

Gotland in Wulfstan's account is almost withoutexception interpreted as the island of Gotland in theBaltic. Pritsak (1981, pp. 702-03) has, however,challenged this view and his interpretation has receivedsome support (Two Voyages 1984, p. 66). He argues infavour of the Swedish coastal province of Öster Götland

but there are some weaknesses in his reasoning.



43

First of all, even though the geographicaldescription in the beginning of Wulfstan's account is inthe form of a list, it is clearly an incomplete list of

the Danish and Swedish territories since only the coastalterritories nearest to the ship's route are listed.Furthermore, there is no reference to Wulfstan or

anybody else having actually seen any of the territoriesmentioned, even though the crew probably sighted theDanish islands (Binns 1980, p. 41). It is not a questionof visibility here, though Pritsak writes mistakingly thatWulfstan mentions that he saw the island of Bornholm tothe north and then used it as a point of reference inlisting Swedish territories in line with the author'ssystem of description. Bornholm is not used as a pivot in

the same way as pivots are used in the geography ofGermania. Even if this was the case, it does not in anyway support the interpretation Öster Götland.

We should also note that steorbord is not equal with'north'. On steorbord means 'on starboard, on the rightside of the ship as one faces forward' and on bæcbordmeans 'on the left-hand side of a ship, on port'. Neitherin Ohthere's, nor in Wulfstan's account, are more accuratenautical terms being used for general and relativedirections. They are not definite bearings and have amoving, not a fixed point of reference. The terms "divide

into two halves the observer-centered circle" (Stokoe1957, pp. 301-04; see Map 3). There is no reason why thesame terms in Wulfstan's account should be interpreteddifferently, as Pritsak seems to think.

The description of Wulfstan's voyage from Hedeby toTruso in the Bay of Gdansk is poor in detail and it ishard to think that anyone could use it as sailingdirections. It is wrong to assume, as Pritsak does, thatWulfstan had no reason to mention such a distant island asGotland. What reason did he have in mentioning Öland? Itis more important to ask what reason did the author have

in mentioning any of these islands (see Map 1)?



44

Binns (1980, pp. 41-42) suggests that the seven daysof Wulfstan's voyage perhaps coincide with the seventerriories mentioned (he counts Blekinge and Möre as one),

since Wulfstan was measuring his "progress eastward alongthe south coast of the Baltic by reference to thesuccessive places he was south of". He thinks thatWulfstan had sailed to Birka and during this voyage hewould have learned to know the Swedish coastalterritories.

If Öster Götland is what Gotland means, then thereasons for that are other than those Pritsak haspresented. It is far more convincing that we have here thefirst mention of the island of Gotland in writing. It isnot clear what was the form of Swedish rule over Gotland

at this time; it may have been of occasional or irregularnature (Hellberg 1980, p. 205; Vikingatidens ABC 1981,pp. 88,261-62).

Malone (1930b, p. 157) considered three of the fivedirections to deviate 45° clockwise (excluding be suþanand be eastan), and Ekblom (1960, pp. 10-11) believed thatthe orientation in the whole section of the Swedes wasOSca. Some other commentators see also deviations here andhave proposed explanations to solve the presumedinaccuracies (see ch. 2.1). Local conditions may havecontributed to the apparent deviations. Ellegård (1960, p.

243) remarks that this is "what we should expect ongeneral grounds". Since the assumptions of deviations arepersistent, a few comments on the position of theneighbours of the Swedes are made.

One wonders how is it possible to detect a deviationin some directions and not in others, even though all thedirections occur in a context dealing with northern Europe(cf. Korhammer 1985a, p. 257)? I think that it is likelythat the directions should be understood as they are inthe section of the Swedes. Þone sæs earm Osti, i.e. theBaltic, lay south of the Swedes and thus the direction

be suþan can be judged correct. The Norwegians lived tothe



45

west of the Swedish territories, that is also correct.They also lived to the north-west and north, but to tellall this would have caused confusion, especially since the

Scridefinne were to be placed between the Norwegians andCwenland.The Sarmatians, OE Sermende, were originally an

Iranian people living on the central Asian steppes andmentioned in antique sources, but though they disappearedfrom history they still continued to appear in medievaltexts and were placed in north-eastern Europe, sometimesimprecisely designating the population of central Russia(Bately 1980b, pp. LXV,174-75; Pritsak 1981, p. 908; Twovoyages 1984, p. 67). The Sarmatians occur twice in thegeography of Germania and three times in the historical

part of the work (OE Or. 1980, pp. 131,145,152). It isdifficult to say anything else about the location of theSarmatians except that they were thought to live in thenorth-eastern part of the author's Germania andaccordingly the direction be eastan is quite correct.

The north-western neighbours of the Swedes were theScridefinne (MS C Sridefinnas). Be westannorþan isnormally translated 'to the north-west' but it may mean'to N 30° W' (Brown 1978, pp. 238-39). The proper name isencountered for the first time in Iordanes' Getica (1961,p. 59) Lat. Screrefennae, and at about the same time in

Procopius' History of the Wars (1968, pp. 419-20) Gr.. The latter lived by hunting on the island ofThule. They were barbarians who fed their babies on bonemarrow and they wore no shoes.

The Anonymous Geographer of Ravenna (ItinerariaRomana 1940, pp. 11,53,83,103), around A.D. 700, hadprobably taken his information about Lat. Rerifenni,Scerdifenni (various readings in MSS) from Iordanes, butthis is not certain (Whitaker 1983, pp. 294-95; Pekkanen1984b, p. 240). These people lived by hunting in a coldand mountainous country between the sea and Scythia. Guido

of Ravenna (Itineraria Romana 1940, pp. 126-28), theplagiarist of the Ravenna



46

Geographer, adds no new information on Lat. Scerdifenni.In the History of the Langobards written in the late 780'sPaulus Diaconus (1878, pp. 49-50) describes the

Scritobini. They live north of the Arctic Circle wherethere is snow even in the summer, they eat raw flesh andwear tunics made of deer skins, and they derive their namefrom their movement on skis, leaps and bounds. There arestill a few minor mentions of the Scridifinns in sourcesprior to the OE Or. (see Pekkanen 1984b, p. 240). In theeleventh century they are located between the Swedes andthe Norwegians and their centre was Halsingland north ofthe Swedes (Quellen 1978, p. 468). The author of the OEOr. was probably familiar with Iordanes, Procopius, theRavenna Geographer and Paulus Diaconus, either directly or

at second hand (Bately 1971, pp. 247,251; ibid. 1972, pp.47,49,54).The Scridifinns are identified with the Saamis,

'the Sliding-Finns, Finns on skis' or 'the hunters onskis', ON 'skriða á skiðum (Porthan 1873, p. 63 n. 76;Nansen 1911, pp. 158-64; Noreen 1920, p. 34; Wiklund 1948,p. 37; Collinder 1953, pp. 26-28; Wessén 1969, p. 34;Odner 1983, p. 22; Whitaker 1983, pp. 283 ff.; Pekkanen1984a, p. 126).

Another name Fenni, first described by Tacitus (1976,p. 74) and then mentioned by Ptolemy (1923, p. 70) around

A.D. 150/170, Gr. , one of the seven peoples ofSkandia north of the Wends, is also understood to refer tothe Saamis, but the opinion is not unanimous (Whitaker1983, pp. 283 ff.). The name may have originally meantboth Finns and Saamis (Wiklund 1948, p. 37).

The next occurrences of Fenni are in Getica (Iordanes1961, p. 59) and in Widsith (1962, pp. 23,25), OE Finnas,where also the Scridifinns are mentioned. These two textsand the OE Or. are the only works where both terms occur(cf. Pekkanen 1984a, p. 137).1

In Ohthere's account we find the names Finnas and

Terfinnas which are generally believed to be the termsthat Ohthere himself used. Scridefinne on the other handis

_______________________1. In Beowulf (1967, p. 28) it is told how the heroBeowulf swimmed across a water to Finnaland, which issometimes understood to mean Finland, but it seems thatthis interpretation is not fully satisfactory.





48

and the other is eastsuþ, ofer sumdæl, Maroara. Varioustranslations have been suggested:ofer sumdæl (MS C sumne dæl) acc.sg.

'over some part' (Thorpe 1853, p. 247),'beyond some part' (Ekblom 1941-42, p. 117; Pritsak 1981,p. 687),'some distance over' (Malone 1930b, p. 152),'extend over a wide territory' (Two Voyages 1984,p. 17; cf. Bately 1980b, p. 171);

ofer þa westenne f.acc.sg.'over the wastes' (Thorpe 1853, p. 247),'beyond the wilderness' (Ekblom 1941-42, p. 118; Pritsak1981, p. 689),

'beyond the uninhabited land' (Two Voyages 1984, p. 18).

In two of the remaining cases we have the same nounwesten f. or n. 'a wilderness, wasteland, desert' (OE Or.1980, pp. 9,18), as in the phrase under discussion here.Though they obviously mean 'on the other side of theuninhabited land' in their respective contexts, theanalogy is not automatically applicable. If thetranslation 'throughout' is correct, does it make sensethat Cwenland was actually an uninhabited wilderness? Theinformation about Cwenas in Ohthere's account could be

understood to support 'throughout'. My translation is 'onthe other side of', but with misgivings.In my view the directions in the section on the

Swedes are sufficiently correct and need not be amended.The directions should be interpreted freely, not referringto a specific point but to a sector on the compass. Ithas been pointed out that e.g. 'north' was used in thesame way in everyday life, and in a general descriptionlike this, as we use 'north' today; if one leavesCopenhagen for Stockholm or Helsinki, one goes northrather than north-east (cf. Ellegård 1954-55, p. 5;

Korhammer 1985a, pp. 263-64).The geography of Germania and Ohthere's account donot give us enough information to reconstruct, on a modernmap, the territories that the Swedes, the Norwegians, theScridifinns and the Cwenas occupied. We must also takeinto account the author's obviously faulty conception ofthe geography of northern Europe, his extremely schematicand undetailed method of description,possible difficultiesin communication process, and the many uncertainties thereare



49

concerning the circumstances where the OE Or. originated.

3. OHTHERE'S ACCOUNT

3.1. The introduction of Ohthere

OE Ohthere sæde his hlaforde, Ælfrede cyninge, þæt heealra Normðonna norþmest bude. He cwæð þæt he bude on þæmlande norþweardum wiþ þa Westsæ. He sæde þeah þæt [þæt]land sie swiþe lang norþ þonan, ac hit is eal weste, butonon feawum stowum styccemælum wiciað Finnas, on huntoðe on

wintra 7 on sumera on fiscaþe be þære sæ.

MnE Ohthere told his lord, King Alfred, that he livedfurtherst north of all Norwegians. He said that he livedin the north of the land by the Western sea. He said,however, that the land extends very far north from there,but it is all uninhabited except in a few places here andthere where Finnas make their camps hunting in winter andin summer fishing in the sea.

3.1.1. The relationship between Ohthere and Alfred

Ohthere is an anglicized form of ON Ottarr < ON otti+ -arr possibly < ON gaRR 'spear', and meaning 'thefrightful' (Rask 1815, p. 93; de Vries 1962, p. 422). Itis a common name in OGmc. languages. Whitaker (1981, p. 6)states that the name "makes it clear that Ohthere wasoriginally from the south of Norway", but he may refer tothe origin of the name and not to Ohthere as a person. Ofcourse we are not told explicitly that Ohthere was a

native of Halogaland (cf. Pritsak 1981, p. 690). Ohtherein the OE Or. cannot be connected with any other person ofthe same name mentioned in other sources from the sameperiod (Bately 1980b, p. LXXI).



50

The introductory sentence in the account has led to adiscussion about the relationship between Ohthere and KingAlfred. Nowhere in the text is there an explicit statement

about the exact position of Ohthere in his homeland orabroad and about his motives for coming to Wessex. Whythen is King Alfred presented as Ohthere's hlaford? Is itOhthere who addresses Alfred in this way or is it astatement made by the author?

For centuries the accepted opinion among scholars hasbeen that Ohthere was in the service of King Alfred for ashorter or longer period of time and that is why headdresses him as his lord. But as to Ohthere's motives forcoming to Wessex and entering Alfred's service, there arevarious hypothetical explanations.

Ohthere was thought to be attracted by the fame ofKing Alfred or vice versa: Ohthere had made himself sofamous with his travels that he attracted Alfred'sattention (Murray 1765 in Bosworth 1859, p. XLIX; Rask1815, p. 96; Bosworth 1859, p. XL). Pritsak (1981, p. 689)and Henning (1937 in Whitaker 1981, p. 6) have deducedthat Ohthere, as an experienced sailor, had taken part inAlfred's naval plans.

A popular explanation is that Ohthere left hishomeland as an exile because Norway had come under therule of Harald Fairhair after the battle of Hafrsfjord

(Rask 1815, pp. 95-96; Geidel 1904, p. 47; Bright 1971, p.186), and was probably trying to gain a new fortune inEngland (Porthan 1873, p. 64; Whiting 1945, p. 225). Butarguments have been raised against this theory by thosewho accept the dating of the battle around A.D. 900(Simonsen 1957, p. 13). According to Jones (1984, p. 89),however, "recent opinion would place the battle earlierthan 900, but not before 885". But whatever the dating ofthe battle is, Harald Fairhair did not have absoluteauthority over the whole of Norway for some time, althoughhe won the battle, which means that Ohthere was not driven

away from his land and that he was acting as anindependent free man (Andersen 1977, p. 86; Graham-Campbell 1980, p. 197; Jones 1984, p. 90; cf. Authen Blom1984, pp. 385-86).



51

Numerous scholars maintain that Ohthere was amerchant, who either traded his goods for English goodsand soon returned home or stayed in Wessex, though only

few of them have discussed the term hlaford (Thorpe 1853,p. 178; Simonsen 1957, p. 13-14; Bright 1971, p. 186).Simonsen referring to the studies on OE hlafordscipeargues that the use of hlaford in this context reflectsthe relationship between a traveller-merchant of a highrank and a lord of the land. In the Anglo-Saxon world thelord would protect the safety and economical and juridicalrights of a citizen or a traveller, and the lord would inreturn receive the person's loyalty and help in the caseof war, as well as a precious gift of some kind. Simonsenrefers to the Icelandic sagas, and so does Hübener (1925-

26, p. 45), for further evidence that this was not anextraordinary practice in the Germanic world; this kind ofa relationship, even if a casual one, was mutuallyprofitable.

Lund (1984, pp. 11,13) writes that "the king was, byvirtue of his office, protector of strangers", whootherwise were without any protection in a foreigncountry. Lund, however, sees Ohthere as an invited guestat Alfred'd court, who stayed there for a month or so, andnot just as another merchant who would have nothing to doat the royal court. Stamsø Munch (1975, p. 38) considers

also Ohthere as a guest at the court.Bately (1980b, pp. 179-80) is uncertain about theprecise significance of the word hlaford. She regardsOhthere as a visitor and thinks that it is possible that apolite visitor would address the king as 'my lord' whichwords were then recorded in the notes made of his account.A completely contradictory opinion has been expressedearlier (Whiting 1945, p. 56).

In spite of attractive theories, others have recentlystated their uncertainty about the interpretation ofhlaford. Whitaker (1981, pp. 1,6) thinks Ohthere was a

visitor and that his motives for his travels remain anopen question in the lack of evidence. Fell (1984, p. 56)writes that hlaford "implies something more formal and oflonger duration" than what Lund suggests, but she does notelaborate her argument.



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Many commentators do not take up the question of therelationship between Ohthere and King Alfred; they referto Ohthere as a visitor, or more often as a sailor, or a

farmer, an explorer, a merchant or a chief.We may suppose that Ohthere came to Wessex forreasons connected with trade, as a free man. It ispossible to conclude on the basis of the text that Ohtherewas to go back home sooner or later. He was probably apart-time merchant, which seems to have been a fairlycommon occupation in the Viking Age (Bakka 1971, p. 38;Blindheim 1982b, p. 12). Egil's saga (1979, pp. 41-46)describes another merchant from northern Norway possiblyfrom the following century, probably still later, who tookcargo to England.

Ohthere is not referred to as a wicing, which wordwas certainly known at Alfred's court. It is suggestedthat trade was conducted by another social class of whomthe term wicing, in the meaning 'a pirate', should not beused (Weibull 1977, pp. 65,67; Zettel 1984, p. 8). But itis not certain that the Vikings who attacked towns andmonasteries in western Europe in the ninth century did notturn into merchants when the opportunity rose, or whenthey needed to sell their loot (Müller-Boysen 1987, pp.254-57). Ohthere's coutious behaviour in the White Seawould suggest that he wished to avoid hostilities.

Despite all the warfare between Anglo-Saxons andScandinavians during the last decades of the ninth centurythe relations between them were not merely hostile andwere more complicated than we may know (Sawyer 1982, p.25). Even in Alfred's life we can find examples of this.For political reasons he stood sponsor to a Danish kingGuthrum at his baptism (Alfred the Great 1985, pp. 85,249n. 110). Another example is the acquaintance with Ohthereand perhaps with Wulfstan. We may assume that Alfred wasacquainted with Ohthere not because of humane reasons butbecause of rational political or practical economical

reasons.



53

Buchloch (1984, pp. 14 n. 6,20) interprets bothaccounts as propagandistic expressions of Alfred's idea ofa united English nation with a Christian religion, which

he was building partly through his educational programme.The phrase hlaforde, Ælfrede cyninge would reflectAlfred's feeling of superiority towards the Scandinaviansand their culture. This is an interesting suggestion andthere may be some truth in it. Examples of such anattitude could be find in the description of Ohthere'seconomy later in the account.

The reasons for using hlaford in this context arenot yet clear. What it clearly implies, however, is thatOhthere's position was inferior to that of the king of theland and it was defined by the customs of the land.

Tristram (1982, pp. 166-67) thinks King Alfred ismentioned in order to give historical reliability.However, it is more than reasonable to believe that KingAlfred and Ohthere met each other. There are two morereferences in the account where Ohthere is mentioned inrelation to King Alfred, and even though they areparenthetical, they need not be untrue because of that.

The phrase þa teð hie brohton sume þæm cyninge 'theybrought some of these tusks to the king' suggests thatOhthere and possibly his crew brought a precious gift tothe king (cf. ch. 3.2.4). Sohte pret.3p.sg. in the phrase

ða he þone cyninc sohte is usually translated 'came tosee, visited'; he refers to Ohthere (cf. ch. 3.3.1). OEsecan I 'to seek, go to, visit' can also mean 'to seek aperson for protection, take refuge with the person' (ASD1964, p. 854,893, cf. hlaford-socn p. 541). However, itseems that there is very little, if anything, in the textto support this interpretation.

The mention of King Alfred should not be understoodto mean that he was the author of the OE Or.; the evidenceis not there.



54

3.1.2. Ohthere's home

To be able to to tell from where Ohthere was, it is

necessary to deal with some proper names and other termsthat occur in the introductory section and elsewhere inthe account.

Ohthere is reported to live furthermost north of allNorðmonna m.gen.pl. 'Northmen'. The word occurs in variousforms in medieval sources describing any of theScandinavian peoples, but in this context it refers to theNorwegians, who lived mainly on the western coast of theScandinavian peninsula and formed a unity that differedfrom its neighbours (Andersen 1977, p. 55; Jones 1984, pp.75-76). This is the oldest occurrence of the name of the

Norwegians in a Germanic language (Jakobsen 1967, p. 334).We learn later that Ohthere lived in a scir calledHalgoland (cf. ch. 3.6). OE scir occurs only this once inthe OE Or. to describe a region. We cannot tell if itmeans a geographical region or an administrative district;both meanings are possible since in the late ninth centuryNorway was divided into organized districts with probablymany chieftains in each (Andersen 1977, p. 68; Johansen &Søbstad 1978, p. 51).

The northernmost district was OE Halgoland,ON Halogaland. It was one of the medieval provinces of

Norway but its exact boundary line is difficult to draw.It apparently covered the coastal area with permanentScandinavian, i.e. Norwegian, settlement form Trøndelag inthe south to approximately 70° N (Simonsen 1957, p. 7;Aarseth 1982, p. 10; Johansen 1982, p. 47). Old Halogalandis often understood to extend over the modern Nordland andTroms counties. This is the first time the name isrecorded but it is mentioned many times in later medievaldocuments.

We may suppose that Westsæ f.acc.sg. is Ohthere'sterm, but we do not know its possible ON equivalent. Here

Westsæ designates the sea lying west of Ohthere'sScandinavian viewpoint and means the Norwegians Sea andobviously also



55

the North Sea. We do not know if Ohthere's Westsæ includedthe Barents Sea; this may be improbable since widsæ 'opensea' is used for the sea north of northern Fenno-Scandia.

The translation 'the Atlantic' is perhaps not the bestpossible one: the modern name covers a much wider areathan can be expected to have been known to the northernpeoples of the first millenium A.D. 'Western Sea' does notcause misunderstanding if the reader is familiar with thecontext. Lat. occidentali oceano in the early ninthcentury seems to mean at least the North Sea (Quellen1980, p. 180).

The verbs buan and wician form the most interestinglinguistic clue in the establishing of Ohthere's homeregion. The author uses buan when he writes about the

Finnas. OE buan, bu(i)an I occurs in many forms inOhthere's account: bude pret. and subj. 3p.sg. (5x), gebudpast ptc. (1x), gebun past ptc. (2x) (strong conjugation).Bude, in its intransitive meaning, is generally translated'lived, dwelt'. As a transitive verb it has the meaning'to inhabit, occupy (and cultivate land), possess'; hencegebun/gebud is with few exceptions translated 'inhabited'or 'cultivated', once 'extensive settlements' (ASDS 1955,p. 110; Two Voyages 1984, p. 19). Ross (1940, p. 45)prefers the meaning 'cultivated' and refers to the contextwhere the related adjective byn is used in the sense

'cultivated'.OE (ge)wician II occurs three times in the account:once referring to the Finnas, once referring to theTerfinnas --both in similar context describing theireconomy, and once in the section of the voyage toSciringesheal (see ch. 3.6.). Wician derives from OE wic'a dwelling place, abode, quarters; a collection ofhouses, a village; a temporary abode, a camp, place (whereone stops)' < Lat. vicu-s (ASD 1964, pp. 1212-14;Holthausen 1963, p. 392).1 Many authorities havetranslated wician 'camp, are encamped, make/have camps'

and this is obviously the correct interpretation in thiscontext (Ross 1940, pp. 17,19;

_____________________1. One of the many etymologies for OE wicing, ON vikingr'a pirate' is based on Lat. vicu-s, OE wic. It is,however, more probable that the name derives from Wík, ONname for the Oslofjord district, and means the inhabitant

of that region.



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Swanton 1975, p. 33; Bately 1980b, p. 403; Jones 1984,p. 159; Two Voyages 1984, pp. 18-19). It is used todescribe a less permanent dwelling (cf. ASDS 1955, p. 170

eardian). This meaning is supported by the adverbs usedwith the verb: styccemælum 'here and there' and on niht'at night'.

At this point of the analysis we have to turn to yetanother word. The adjective which describes the land wherethe Finnas made their camps is OE weste < *wostiz < Lat.vastus 'waste, desert' (ODEE 1974, p. 994). The nounwesten 'a desert, wilderness' (ASD 1964, p. 1211) and theadjective occur many times in the OE Or. and in Ohthere'saccount they refer to the northernmost parts of the worldknown to Ohthere.

Storm (1894, p. 93) payed attention to the apparentopposition between gebun and weste land and Ross (1940,pp. 44-45) has also discussed it. Buan and byn refer tothe Norwegians and the Beormas and their lands, and wicianand weste to the Finnas and the Terfinnas and their lands.A distinction is made between the two ways of living andit is based on the expected change of the place of living.The text may seem paradoxical without this carefulreporting of differences by Ohthere and the author (cf.Fell 1984, p. 57).

It is possible that the sentence ac hit is eal

weste, buton on feawum stowum styccemælum wiciað Finnas,on huntoðe on wintra 7 on sumera on fiscaþe be þære sæincludes Ohthere's own words (Kerling 1982, pp. 288-89).The previous main clause has the introductory he sæde andthe subjunctive sie to express reported speech, but thepresent tense indicative forms in the following sentence,above, indicate that the author starts to slip into directspeech, to quote Ohthere himself.

We can conclude that the past participles of buanrefer to well settled and/or cultivated land, and westemeans sparsely inhabited or uninhabited and/or uncultivated

land, land that is unused and empty, unproductive byOhthere's standards. Ohthere lived permanently in thenorthernmost part of Norway in Halogaland, which was well



57

settled and cultivated on the coast, whereas the Finnaschanged their place of living according to the seasons inthe sparsely inhabited land north of Ohthere, where

agriculture was not practised. I would not, however, agreewith Odner (1983, p. 29) that weste is synomymous withhunting and fishing while buan means agriculture andstock-breeding. It is possible that to the north ofOhthere there were a few farm houses but of no greatsignificance (Sandnes 1980, p. 71).

How literally can we take the information aboutOhthere being the northernmost Norwegian and about theinhabitants of northern Norway? It is clear that Ohtherewas a wealthy man with certain priviledges and he did notcompare himself with the Finnas who were hunters and

fishers. Since he may not have been the only chieftain inHalogaland in the ninth century he may have identifiedhimself as the northernmost chief, in which case he maynot have lived on the northern-most edge of his districtbut rather near the centre of it (Nansen 1911, p. 131;Simonsen 1957, p. 8; Stamsø Munch 1975, p. 39).

On the basis of archaeological material from theninth century Sjøvold (1974, pp. 340,345,347-48) concludesthat Karlsøy in the northernmost Troms near the borderwith Finnmark marked the northern limit of continuous,permanent Norwegian settlement and the finds of

agricultural implements indicate that the area aroundMalangenfjord formed the northern limit of agriculture.The few scattered Scandinavian finds from Finnmarkindicate that it belonged to the Norwegian sphere ofinterest. Toponymic evidence from farm names supports thisview. (Storm 1894, p. 93; Brøgger 1931, pp. 28,33,47;Sandnes 1980, p. 69.) Reymert (1980, p. 133) writes thatduring the period A.D. 800-1200 Finnmark and northernTroms were 'pure Saami' areas, whereas the Malangen regionwas mixed Norwegian-Saami area, and Bodø parish was a'pure' Norwegian area (see Map 2). New knowledge about the

age of cereal growing and breeding of domesticated animalsin Finnmark indicates that the borderline between



58

the two economies and ethnic groups may not have been sosharp and the information in Ohthere's account may be ageneralization (Odner 1983, p. 114; Jørgensen 1985, p. 5).

There are other clues in the account which may help inlocating Ohthere's home: the sailing times from his hometo the Beormas and to Sciringesheal, the distance to theutmost whale-hunting post in the north, and possibly thelocation of the Cwenas. But to speculate on them would bewaste of time. There are, however, many proposals as towhere Ohthere might have lived, mainly by Norwegianscholars. The island of Senja in Lenvik parish or themainland coast opposite it have been suggested (Storm1894, p. 93; Geidel 1904, p. 46; Nansen 1911, p. 131;Brøgger 1931, p. 40). Simonsen (1957, p. 8) proposes

Greipstad on Kvaløya, but the farm site there has turnedout to date from the Germanic Iron Age (Stamsø Munch 1975,p. 40). Sjøvold (1974, p. 302) suggests Hillesøy, andStamsø Munch (1975, p. 40) thinks any of the small islandsnear the western coast of Kvaløya is possible, or theViking Age farm sites from Tussøy may have formed part ofthe area which Ohthere ruled over (Støren 1975,p. 34). The general agreement is that Ohthere livedsomewhere in the Senja-Malangen-Kvaløya area, or even onVannøy (Jones 1984, p. 158 n. 1; Johansson 1975, p. 160).

3.2. The voyage to the White Sea

OE He sæde þæt he æt sumum cirre wolde fandian hulonge þæt land norþryhte læge, oþþe hwæðer ænig mon benorðan þæm westenne bude. Þa for he norþryhte be þæmlande; let him ealne weg þæt weste land on ðæt steorbord7 þa widsæ on ðæt bæcbord þrie dagas. Þa wæs he swa feornorþ swa þa hwælhuntan firrest farað. þa for he þa gietnorþ-ryhte swa feor swa he meahte on þæm oþrum þrim dagum

gesiglan. Þa beag þæt land þær eastryhte, oþþe seo sæ inon ðæt lond, he nysse hwæðer, buton he wisse ðæt he ðær



59

bad westanwindes 7 hwon norþan 7 siglde ða east be landeswa swa he meahte on feower dagum gesiglan. Þa sceolde heær bidan rythnorþanwindes, for ðæm þæt land beag þær

suþryhte, oþþe seo sæ in on ðæt land, he nysse hwæþer. Þasiglde he þonan suðryhte be lande swa swa he mehte on fifdagum gesiglan. Þa læg þær an micel ea up in on þæt land.Þa cirdon hie up in on ða ea, for þæm hie ne dorstonforð bi þære ea siglan for unfriþe, for þæm ðæt land wæseall gebun on oþre healfe þære eas. Ne mette he ær nangebun land siþþan he from his agnum ham for, ac him wæsealne weg weste land on þæt steorbord, butan fiscerum 7fugelerum 7 huntum, 7 þæt wæron eall Finnas, 7 him wæs awidsæ on ðæt bæcbord. Þa Beormas hæfdon swiþe wel gebudhira land, ac hie ne dorston þæron cuman. Ac þara Terfinna

land wæs eal weste, buton 'ðær' huntan gewicodon, oþþefisceras, oþþe fugel'er'as.Fela spella him sædon þa Beormas ægþer ge of hiera

agnum lande ge of þæm landum þe ymb hie utan wæron, ac henyste hwæt þæs soþes wæs, for þæm he hit self ne geseah.Þa Finnas, him þuhte, 7 þa Beormas spræcon neahan geþeode. (OE Or. 1980, p. 14.)

MnE He said that he once wished to find out how farthat land extended northwards or whether anyone lived tothe north of the uninhabited area. Then he sailed

northwards along the land; he kept the uninhabited land onthe starboard the whole way and the open sea on the portfor three days. He was then as far north as the whale-hunters go to their furthest. He then continued in anortherly direction as far as he could sail in the secondthree days. There then the land turned eastwards or thesea turned into the land, he did not know which but heknew that he there waited for a west-north-west wind andthen sailed east along the land as far as he could sail infour days. Then he had to wait there for a due north wind,because there the land turned southwards, or the sea

turned into the land, he did not know which. Then fromthere he sailed southwards along the land as far as hecould sail in five days.



60

There then a great river went up into the land. They thenturned up into the river because they did not dare sail onpast the river because of having no permission since the

land on the other side of the river was all settled. Hehad not before come across any settled land since he lefthis own home, but had the whole way uninhabited land onhis starboard apart from fishers and fowlers and hunters,and they were all Finnas, and he always had the open seaon his port. The Beormas had settled their land verywidely but they did not dare to enter there. But the landof the Terfinnas was entirely unsettled except wherehunters or fishers or fowlers camped.

The Beormas told him many stories both about theirown country and about the lands which surrounded them, but

he did not know what of it was true because he had notseen it for himself. It seemed to him that the Finnas andthe Beormas spoke almost the same language.

The opening clause 'He said that he once wished tofind out how far the land extended northwards' does notgive enough reason to believe that Ohthere either thoughthimself to be or was the first to sail to the White Sea.There is actually no such evidence in the account. Neitherdoes it prove that Ohthere had no previous knowledge about

the lands and waters north of him or beyond the Saamiterritories (cf. Nansen 1911, pp. 132.33; Binns 1961, p.43; Djupedal 1969, pp. 114-15; Jankuhn 1972, p. 170).Johnsen (1923, p. 9) and Bergsland (in Johansen Kleppe1977, p. 47) think that there is some linguistic proof inKola Saami that Ohthere was not the first Norseman toexplore the Kola peninsula.

Pritsak (1981, p. 693 n. 40) writes that the openingstatement does not give a true picture of Ohthere'sundertakings. The impression that Ohthere's voyage to theWhite Sea came about accidentally cannot be correct and it

is possible that the editor's hand is at work here.





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There is an interesting, probably stylistic feature,in this part of the account. After the introductorypassage when the voyage to the Beormas starts, we have a

sequence of sentences beginning with adverbial þa 'then'.As soon as the description of the successive actions isover, adverbial þa disappears. It is possible thatadverbial þa functions as an action marker in a textdominated by action. There is other evidence "thatpassages describing vigorous physical action in OldEnglish tend to be marked by a frequent use of adverbialþa", but þa could be regarded as a grammatical ornarrative feature as well. (Enkvist 1972.)

The interference of an interviewer can be detected inthe clause 'the land turned or the sea turned into the

land, he did not know which', which is repeated once(Porthan 1873, p. 66 n. 90; Hübener 1925-26, p. 45 n. 1;Fell 1984, p. 57; Lund 1984, p. 13). Generally it isbelieved that Ohthere was crossing a large bay, but he wasnot certain about it since he was a stranger to thosewaters. However, because he was supposedly a truthful manand keen on details, he told about his observations inthis honest but somewhat naive way when he was asked.There are, however, better ways to explain the awkwardnessof the clause.

It is possible that when Ohthere changes directions

he simply does not know whether he has reached the utmostedge of the continent, or whether there was land evenfurther north (Bately 1980b, p. 183). The interviewer wasperhaps interested in finding out whether Ohthere hadpassed the extreme edge of the European continent (Lund1984, p. 13).

But the best explanation is that what we have here isa definition of 'fjord', ON fjörðr, a word used byOhthere, which had no equivalent in OE and hence had to beexplained to the supposed interviewer: 'the sea thatpenetrates the land' would be an obvious definition (Fell

1984, p. 57). Ohthere did not know whether the mainlandcurved or whether he was entering an enormous fjord.



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The many reconstructions of Ohthere's voyage to theBeormas are mainly based on the interpretation of thedirections in which Ohthere is reported to have sailed.

However, neither the place of departure, nor the place ofarrival are mentioned. This makes the reconstructing verydifficult.

The terms of direction in the passage are thefollowing:

hu longe þæt land norþryhte læge;be norðan þæm westenne;norþryhte be þæm lande;þa for he þa giet norþryhte;þa beag þæt land þær eastryhte;

westanwindes and hwon norþan and siglde ða east be lande;ryhtnorþanwindes, for ðæm þæt land beag þær suþryhte;þa siglde he þonan suðryhte be lande.

Apparently ON had nothing to correspond to OE norryhte and the corresponding expressions in modernScandinavian languages (Einarsson 1944, p. 282; Bately1980b, p. 181). Commentators do not believe that norþryhteresults of Ohthere's usage of ON landnorðr 'north-east'.He obviously used ON norðr or norðr med landi 'in anortherly direction along the land'. The OE expression

with the suffix -rihte, -ryhte means probably 'in a ...direction , towards ... (in a straight line)' and isnearly synomymous with the suffix -weard, and it does notmean 'due ...', as does the adverb riht(e) placed before acardinal point when it actually defines an exact cardinalpoint. All the expressions suffixed by -rihte would thenrefer to a range of north or south, a quadrant of a circleor between 90° and 45°. (Reuter 1934, p. 6 n. 1; Korhammer1985a, pp, 264-68; cf. Malone 1930b, p. 158) Thisinterpretation explains the apparent inaccuracies in theterms of direction.

Ohthere sailed parallel to the coast and 'north' wasquite sufficient to describe the course of the coastline.The western coast of Norway was considered to run fromN to S and Ohthere probably followed the conventionalusage of directions (Nansen 1911, p. 133 n. 1; Reuter1934, p. 7; Einarsson 1944, p. 283; Ellegård 1954-55, p.5; Simonsen 1957, p. 10; Ekblom 1960, p. 8; Binns 1961,pp. 50-51; Egilsson 1966, p. 357; Bately 1980b, p. 181).





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Note that gesiglan I 'to sail, reach by sailing' isdistinct from siglan I 'to sail, be in the process ofsailing' (Fowler 1978, p. 142).

Djupedal (1969, p. 113) agrees with Simonsen (1957,pp. 10-11) that Ohthere sailed both during daytime andduring the light summer nights with a speed of fifty tosixty nautical miles1 in twenty-four hours and reachedVardø after six days (see Map 2). In a thorough discussionabout Ohthere's northern voyage Binns (1961) argues thatOhthere sailed in most favourable wind conditions fromaround Senja to the White Sea. Because of Ohthere's, orhis crew's, rough previous knowledge of the area north ofhim, he was able to take advantage of weather conditionsat the right time, i.e. in April or early summer, and

sailed probably in the path of a coming depression tosecure the right wind shifts. McGrail (1987, p. 260)agrees with Binns. Binns thinks Ohthere sailed forty-three miles a day outside the islands and stopped atnights.

Of course we can only speculate whether Ohtheresailed among the islands or on the open sea up to NorthCape from where onwards there are a very few off-shoreislands (see Storm 1894, p. 94; Geidel 1904, p. 50; Nansen1911, p. 131 n. 5; Ekblom 1941-42, p. 136 n. 3; Bately1980b, p. 182). It is evident, however, that Ohthere had

some previous knowledge of the area at least to the pointwhere the whale-hunters went; his main interest lay in theterritories beyond the camping Saamis. Korhammer (1985b,p. 169 n. 27) remarks that because Ohthere mentions thenorthernmost post of the whale-hunters, the place musthave been outwardly recognizable and not a particulararea. There was perhaps a harbour and a hut where Ohtheremight have spent a few hours.

There are those who believe that the first turningpoint was North Cape (Porthan 1873, p. 65 n. 88; Storm1894, p. 94; Nansen 1911, p. 131 n. 4; Reuter 1934, p. 7;

Malone 1930b, p. 158; Authen Blom 1984, p. 385). But it israther at Nordkinn where the mainland makes a visible

_____________________1. A nautical mile = 1852 meters.





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explain the probable discrepancy there is between thedistance covered in six days and the longer distancecovered in four days (Binns 1980, p. 37).

The land referred to here is the northern coast ofthe Kola peninsula, which, however, does not run east butsouth-east. The true course of the coast is revealed inthe description of the wind, i.e. WNW. According to Reuter(1934, p. 9) east be lande corresponds to Ohtheres'original austr með landi and means that Ohthere sailedalong the coast with east as his main direction.

Where was the second turning point of the voyage?A number of small capes and bays have been suggested:Sviatoi Nos (Storm 1894, p. 94; Geidel 1904, p. 50; Reuter1934, p. 10; Simonsen 1957, p. 11; Binns 1961, p. 49), Mys

Sazonov (Malone 1930b, p. 158; Fowler 1978, p. 142), MysOrlov (Ekblom 1941-42, p. 137; Bately 1980b, pp. 184-85)and a couple of other places quoted in the above works. Ifthe same criterion is applied again, i.e. the observablecurve of the coastline, the place where Ohthere remainedwaiting was after Sviatoi Nos, possibly somewhere betweenthe vicinities of Mys Gorodetskiy and Mys Orlov. To reachthis far Ohthere apparently sailed both day and night fromNordkinn (see Map 2).

Ohthere had to wait for ryhtnorþanwindes (MS C ryhtenorðan windes) m.gen.sg. 'a due north wind' (Ross 1940,

p. 19; Edwards 1960, p. 12; Pritsak 1981, p. 693; Fell1984, p. 19), or 'a wind from due north' (Rigg 1968, p.186; Jones 1984, p. 159; Korhammer 1985a, p. 264). Itseems that wind directions were not given the same freedomas land directions; in Ohthere's account the winds aredescribed more accurately than other directions (Einarsson1944, p. 283; Hastrup 1985, p. 52).

There are winds and currents at the mouth of theWhite Sea that may have helped Ohthere's sailing into thebay (Binns 1961, p. 50 n. 13; Bately 1980b, pp. 184-85),but the entering may have been slightly difficult as well.

Though the Vikings were capable of sailing with the windabeam,



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a favourable wind helped Ohthere to meet the strongadverse current out of the bay in these narrow waters(Binns 1961, p. 50 n. 13; ibid. 1980, p. 38; Crumlin-

Pedersen 1984, pp. 32-33). It is possible that at thisstage Ohthere had no knowledge of the exact extension ofthe White Sea, but of course he may have acquired theknowledge during his stay.

Ohthere is reported to have sailed suþryhte be lande'in a southerly direction along the coast' for five days.He may have used the ON expression suðr með landi. It isexplicitly said that he had the land on his starboard andthe open sea on his port. If he then sailed along the Kolapeninsula, the direction 'south' is not correct, assumingthat he started sailing south from around Mys Gorodetskiy

or Mys Orlov, and sailed with a speed of from about fiftyto seventy, or even a hundred, nautical miles a day. Thecoast turns south-west, then west and slowly west-northwhere the Kandalaks Bay begins.

Either the information is not correct and Ohthere didnot sail along the Kola peninsula, or Ohthere himself didnot give the correct direction for whatever reason, or thenote-maker or the author did not bother to record theexact course of the latter part of the voyage (cf. Malone1930b, p. 159; Binns 1961, p. 52; Bately 1980b, p. 185).These explanations are not satisfactory. We cannot exclude

the possibility of a misunderstanding or a scribal error,but we should pay attention to the fact that thecircumstances and the happenings at the end of the journeyare poorly described, and Ohthere's landing is notmentioned at all. I do not believe that if the great riverencountered was situated on the southern coast of Kola,Ohthere could have avoided noticing sooner or later thatthe coast does not run in a north-south direction.

The best explanation is that the information aboutwind and coastline refers to the time of departure fromthe stopping-place and immediately afterwards. This is

actually implicit in some commentaries, but for the firsttime



69

explicitly expressed by Korhammer (1985a, p. 261). Thewind was described precisely in terms of the eight-pointsystem of orientation, but the course of the coastline was

described with less precise information. This practicecorresponds well to usages still current in Iceland.However, the method of coastal sailing, which was

probably the most commonly adopted in the Viking Age,requires no more than following the coast, not forgettingobservations of winds and currents, and thus changes incourse are not the most important factors to be observed(Nansen 1911, p. 133 n. 1; Binns 1980, p. 78; Crumlin-Pedersen 1984, p. 33).

Which river did Ohthere encounter? Many scholarsbelieve that Ohthere came to the Dvina on the eastern

coast of the White Sea, where the town of Arkangel liestoday. The Dvina is presumably the ON Vína, a river whereaccording to ON literature the Norwegians sailed topurchase furs and other commodities from the tenth centuryonwards (Porthan 1873, p. 67 n. 94; Reuter 1934, p. 9;Helm 1963, p. 169; Kirkinen 1963, p. 37; Haavio 1965, p.16; Huurre 1983, p. 421; Julku 1986, p. 57; cf. Egils saga1979, p. 93). Reuter (1934, p. 10) suggests that theauthor has taken liberties in reporting Ohthere's story atthis point: he reported Ohthere's suðr með landi in OE,but forgot to mention that the land was on Ohthere's port

during the southern stretch, and not on his starboard.The statement that Ohthere did not know whether theland curved southwards, or whether the White Sea was alarge fjord (cf. Nansen 1911, p. 134 n. 1), implies thathe hardly crossed the bay and reached the mouth of theriver Wyg near Belomorsk, as suggested by Simonsen (1957,p. 11) and Aarseth (1975, p. 8). Neither is it plausiblethat he did not sail any further than the Murman coast asKuznetsov (1905 in Koutaissoff 1949, pp. 22,33) believes.

All the meagre evidence in the text speaks for theassumption that the great river Ohthere came to was

situated on the Kola peninsula. Storm (1894, p. 96) wasthe first



70

to reject the idea that Ohthere reached the Dvina,and suggested that it was rather the head of the KandalaksBay where Ohthere landed, which view was supported by

others (Geidel 1904, p. 51; Johnsen 1923, p. 9).The theory that Ohthere "certainly" or "probably"reached the River Warzuga, or the River Umba, on thesouthern coast of Kola has gained more supporters (Malone1930b, p. 159; Ross 1940, p. 24; Mossé 1945, p. 370;Vilkuna 1964, p. 83; Djupedal 1969, p. 115; Bright 1971,p. 187 n. 16; Fowler 1978, p. 142; Binns 1980, p. 30; Fell1982-83, p. 94; Authen Blom 1984, 385; Korhammer 1985a, p.261; cf. Tallgren 1931, p. 101). Ross (1940, p. 24 n. 3)points out that because Ohthere did not dare 'to sail onpast' the river, it rules out the possibility that he

reached the head of the Kandalaks Bay.Some scholars accept the fact that the account doesnot give sufficient information to identify the river(Labuda 1961, map; Gallén 1966, p. 241; Stamsø Munch 1975,p. 39), and Whitaker (1981, p. 4) writes thatidentification is not particularly important, as Ohtherewas neither the first nor the last Norwegian to venture tothe White Sea.

We cannot escape the fact that Ohthere is reported tohave sailed 'along the coast' all the way with the opensea on his port. He waited for a due north wind at the

mouth of the White Sea, but this does not mean that hekept the wind on the stern for five days or even that thewind blew directly from north all that time. Currents inthe channel leading from the Barents Sea to the bay runsouth-east. It seems that the winds, currents and thesurface seas in the summer at the entrance to the baycould have taken Ohthere south-west (Bately 1980b, pp.184-85; Crumlin-Pedersen 1984, pp. 32-33). However, Ithink that a more detailed comparison of the White Seaclimate, wind patterns and dynamics of the waters withOhthere's account and Viking navigation could contribute

valuable information to the interpretation of the account.Anyway, the text suggests that Ohthere reached thesouthern coast of Kola.



71

Ohthere's voyage is sometimes regarded as aremarkable achievement, but it may not have been such anextraordinary accomplishment at a time when apparently the

eastern North Atlantic was busily trafficked and theViking ships were constructed to sail long distances andcarry heavy cargos.

We do not know whether the fifteen days of reportedsailing time includes any landings on the way. The figuresprobably report the total sailing time, the fastestpassages, and do not give a correct picture of the voyage(Crumlin-Pedersen 1984, p. 30).

Among the early translations the clause Þa cirdon hieup in on ða ea, for þæm hie ne dorston forþ bi þære easiglan sometimes caused misunderstandings, which were

repeated in later publications (Hakluyt 1598 in Courtauld1958, p. 30; Thorpe 1853, p. 249; Helm 1963,, p. 169). Itwas either understood that Ohthere did not sail at allinto the river, or that he turned back in the river. Itis, however, quite clear that he turned up into the river,he did not sail past on it, nor did he return by the routehe came.

Porthan's (1873, p. 67) incorrect translation"Hvarefter de vände om i denna flod: emedan de icke tordessegla vidare uppför floden" has persisted in later Finnishinterpretations (Kirkinen 1963, p. 37; Jaakkola 1956,

p. 44; Qvist 1968, p. 18), though Enkvist (1958, p. 116)remarks upon it. Julku's (1986, p. 57) interpretation thatOhthere did not dare to sail into the river is alsoincorrect.

3.2.1. The meaning of for unfriþe

The phrase for unfriþe m.dat.sg. is generally

translated 'for fear of hostilities' or 'on account ofhostilities' (Thorpe 1853, p. 249; Ross 1940, p. 19;Ekblom 1941-42, p. 119; Swanton 1975, p. 33; Jones 1984,p. 159). Other translations are 'for fear of attack'(Crossley-Holland 1982, p. 61), 'because of (the danger[of]) war'



72

(Rigg 1968, p. 186), and 'for fear of the inhabitants ofthe land' by Hakluyt in 1598 (in Courtauld 1958, p. 30).

The first to challenge this interpretation is

Christine E. Fell (1982-83). She defines the meaning ofunfriþ differently to that previously done. I think thatit is worthwhile to summarize her paper because it mayhave historical relevance in matters that are not verywell known.

Fell begins her paper by examining both OE frið andgrið, since most linguists have taken them as a pair anddescribed their differences. According to Fell amisleading distinction has persisted since 1840 that griðis a local term meaning peace within a limited frameworkand frið is a general term for peace. She discusses ON

friðr, a cognate of OE frið, and ON grið which entered OEin the end of the tenth century, and states the following... though there may be a distinction in etymology,meaning and usage between the two Old Norse words, itis not one that we can apply rigorously in ourreading and translation.

She compares the usage of grið and frið in OE literatureand concludes that by ME grið had taken over all theranges of meaning that have later been associated withfrið.

Fell continues her argumentation by presenting a

hypothesis:If however it can be demonstrated that frið was usedfor the more limited range of concepts such as"protection", "the terms of a treaty", "safeguards intravelling" etc. then unfrið may also be interpretedas the absence of such safeguards or protection, andnot only in the generalized sense.According to Fell there are equally many examples of

frið used for general 'peace', or 'hostility', as thereare of frið used for peace limited by time and space.Alfred's Laws, the Law of Æthelred and the pre-1000 period

ASC give examples which indicate that where frið iscontrolled by adjectives or demonstratives it must bespecific, not general, and a common link is with verbs oftravelling and the preposition mid, which suggest that theword in these contexts was thought of as defining theactual safeguards or protection under which the Anglo-Saxons travelled. The geographically limited meaning offrið is clearest in compounds.



73

Then Fell turns to discuss unfrið in the OE Or. Shemakes very witty comments on the text. If unfrið istranslated 'hostility' it does not make much sense. Why

should Ohthere have judged himself less vulnerable tohostile attack by turning into the river rather thansailing on beyond its estuary when he saw that the landwas inhabited on the far side of the river? A more logicalreaction would have been to turn back instantly.Nevertheless, Ohthere remained in the area long enough toget to know the people, i.e. the supposed enemy, and tomake observations about them.

Fell thinks that Ohthere's hope was to establish somekind of fishing or hunting or trading rights in the areaas any normal merchant venturer would do in the

circumstances, possibly an agreement in the ivory trade,which must have been important enough for the Beormas todefend against interfering foreigners. Fell believes thatan interviewer's presence is detectable throughoutOhthere's account and suggests that Ohthere was asked whyhe did not sail further and Ohthere probably answered: "Wecouldn't because we didn't have frið".

A number of occurrences of ON friðland tell us thatto have friðr or friðland in a certain place was rather amatter of personal relationships, individual arrangements,than a matter of war between two countries, though ON

ófriðr could be used of a state of war. Fell thinks it isreasonable to assume that Ohthere would have thought interms of personal frið. The usage of frið and unfrið inKing Æthelred's treaty with the Viking army, the law of991, gives evidence that this sense of frið, personalagreement, was familiar to the Anglo-Saxons as well.

Besides the OE Or. the phrase for unfriðe occurs onlyin the Law of the Northumbrian priests, dating from theearly eleventh century, and the meaning of unfrið definedby Fell appears to produce a more sensible interpretationof one section of the Law. The occurrence of for unfriðe

in a legal text and in a prose narrative is not withoutbearing according to Fell. Legal terminology may best suit



74

the situation Ohthere was trying to make explicit; hediplomatically stayed outside the territorial waters ofthe Beormas because he did not have a frið agreement with

them. The importance of this conduct is emphasized in theaccount by repeating Ohthere's reluctance to venture tothe settled lands of the Beormas.

Fell's definition for unfrið is quite plausible. Itactually makes Ohthere's account more sensible. Thestatement that Ohthere did not dare to land, and then afew lines later he is talking with the Beormas, becomesless of a paradox. However, one may ask how come the riverwhich Ohthere turned into was not a part of the Beormas'territories, though they had settled the land on the farside of it? Probably he wanted to wait in a sheltered

river for the Beormas to make contact. I do not findplausible Ross' (1940, p. 19 n. 26) suggestion thatOhthere landed at an up-river settlement of Terfinnas ontheir frontier with the Beormas and there met tradingBeormas.

The discrepancy between the statements that Ohtherewas reluctant to land and that yet he talked to theBeormas, has been given an original solution by Pritsak(1981, p. 694 n. 43). He considers the text as part of twodifferent accounts:

In the first Ohthere described his experiences on a

hunting expedition; in the second, he related hisexperience in conducting peaceful trade with theBiarmians.

The text does not support Pritsak's suggestion in any way;it describes a continuous sailing the main purpose ofwhich was to acquire ivory (cf. p. 86).

In some Icelandic sagas it is described how theNorwegians traded with the Beormas under the internationalrules for conducting trade in peaceful circumstances, ONkaupstefna. The trading peace was either agreed and held

for a certain period of time or it was occasionally brokenby plundering (Jaakkola 1956, pp. 246,249; Haavio 1965,pp. 143,148-49,184).



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3.2.2. The lands of the Beormas

The identification of the Beormas is still a matter

of controversy. This is the only time that the name occursin an OE text, but it has been established without doubtthat the Beormas are the bjarmar of ON sources. OE -eo-corresponds to the ON medial diphthong -ja-, a result ofbreaking, except in the Northumbrian dialect (Ross 1939-40, pp. 6-8). Thus the ON form given by Ohthere wasanglicized.

In MS L the first stroke of m has been erased twice,the last stroke of m in Beormas once. Possibly the scribehad trouble with this unfamiliar tribal name (Fell 1984,p. 58). Or maybe he wanted to alter it into familiar

beornas 'men, people' (Ross 1940, p. 19 n. 24; Stang 1977,p. 107). However, one assumes that many of the propernames were unfamiliar to the scribe, and I think thatthere is no plausible explanation why the scribe wanted towrite Beornas.

A substantial literature on bjarmar and Bjarmalandhas accumulated mainly during the last couple ofcenturies, but it is impossible to survey it here, and theidentification of the bjarmar is not my purpose. Only themain western schools in recent times will briefly bediscussed.1

Ohthere's account is the earliest record where theBiarmians are mentioned, and though the description isvery poor in detail, it is still one of the most importantsources on them. Another important source is the Saga ofSt. Olaf (1853, pp. 133-37), where there is a descriptionof a journey made by Karle, Gunnstein and Tore Hund toBiarmia in 1026. There are no details about the voyage butit is said to have lasted many days. In Biarmia theybartered their goods for furs and skins at a tradingstation, ON kaupstad, by the river Vína. When business wasover the men plundered the sanctuary of the Biarmians in a

forest by the river. A wooden idol, Jomali, stood withinthis temple enclosure decorated with jewelery and with asilver bowl full of coins in his lap.

__________________1. For presentation of other written records of Biarmiansand for further references, see the surveys andbibliographies in the works mentioned in the following

text.



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There are several mentions of expeditions made by theNorwegians to Bjarmaland, most of which were obviously madeto obtain furs and other commodities (i.e. ivory, skins,hawks). These undertakings took place from the tenth century

to the twelfth century, and the last expedition was made in1222 (Storm 1894, p. 97; Nansen 1911, p. 393; Vilkuna 1964,p. 13; Haavio 1965, passim).

The exact nature of these expeditions is sometimesobscure. The authors did not write immediately after theevents took place. They have tended to romanticize theevents and the characters, and they have left out detailsthat might have helped in the identification of theBiarmians and in the location of their lands. Theexpeditions were apparently profitable, and even though someof them ended in plundering, they may have formed a part of

the regular economic life of the Norwegians.Since all the sources locate the Biarmians in north-

western Soviet Union, scholars have tried to identify themwith the peoples that are known or supposed to have lived orare still living in that area.

It is fairly obvious that the Biarmians were not Saamis(Ross 1940, p. 53; Jaakkola 1956, p. 241; Stang 1977, p. 97;Odner 1983, p. 81). In Ohthere's account the Biarmians andthe Terfinnas1 are distinctly separated from each other bytheir way of living.

It has been suggested that the Biarmians were Komi or

Zyrians, i.e. Permians. Odner (1983, pp. 70,81; ibid. 1985,p. 30) writes that closely related Permian dialects wereprobably the main languages spoken in the area between theEast Bulgarians and the White Sea. He thinks that Ohthere'sremark about the similarity of the languages of theBiarmians and the Terfinnas is due to the fact that theTerfinnas at that time spoke a language adopted from theBiarmians with whom they were chiefly in contact. Odneradmits that his suggestion is a problematic one, but saysthat "it is not

__________________1. The Terfinnas are later in this paper identified with theSaamis, see ch. 3.2.3.



77

less problematic than supposing Saami ethnicity [of theTerfinnas] in the ninth century because this was so in thethirteenth century".

Odner's discussion about the Biarmians is very brief

and his argumentation is not convincing. He doubts whetherOhthere was capable of making any judgement about thelanguage spoken by the Biarmians: whether he knew Saami wellenough to be able to detect a connection between it and astrange language. Odner believes that Ohthere's mind was toorustic to detect the finer nuances of any language. This isunnecessary speculation. We have this statement in theaccount, and we can either leave it out in our analysis ortake it as it is. Moreover, there is also the possibilitythat an interpreter was used (Storm 1894, p. 96; Haavio1965, p. 14).

Bergsland (in Odner 1985, p. 23) points out thatOhthere compared the language of the Biarmians with that ofthe Finnas in general, rather than that of the Terfinnas inparticular. This is the correct conclusion on the basis ofthe OE text. Ohthere's comment on the language tells us thatthe Biarmians spoke a Fenno-Ugric language, and thisinformation is practically the only straightforward piece ofknowledge to help in the identification of the Biarmians(cf. Nansen 1911, p. 134; Ross 1940, p. 48; Jaakkola 1956,p. 241; Haavio 1965, p. 31; Pritsak 1981, p. 695 n. 47).

Jomali is a word that does not exist in any form in

Komi or Zyrian, and this is one of the reasons why scholarshave rejected the identification with the Permian peoples(Tallgren 1931, pp. 117-18; Jaakkola 1956, pp. 242-43; Stang1977, pp. 98,106).

Most commentators believe that the Biarmians wereCarelians who inhabited the southern shores of the White Seaand the Kandalaks Bay in the Middle Ages (Nansen 1911, p.134; Johnsen 1923, p. 9; Ross 1940, p. 5; Simonsen 1957, p.12; Vilkuna 1964, p. 86; Djupedal 1969, p. 117; Bergsland inJohansen Kleppe 1977, p. 47)1. Possibly already in

______________________1. The lappologist T.I. Itkonen believes that there wereCarelians in Kola much earlier than the eleventh century.See Itkonen, T. I. 1943, Karjalaiset ja Kuolan-lappi. InKalevalaseuran vuosikirja, Vol. 22, p. 41.





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the inhabitants of the Dvina to use the Kola and Kandalakscoasts when he explains the terms Perm' and Kolo-Perm' in athirteenth century Russian document, but the explanation isvery confusing.1

Haavio (1965, p. 20) suggests that the Biarmians by theDvina had the right to use the natural resources ofsouthern, south-eastern and eastern Kola, which weresparsely inhabited by the Saamis in Ohthere's time. Thisconventional suggestion does not, in my opinion, solve theproblem of the supposed two Biarmias; it actually leaves alarge geographical area out of the discussion, and as ithappens, Haavio and Stang do not discuss the Kola peninsulain detail.

There are several theories as to how the name for theBiarmians originated: they named themselves or they were

named by the Scandinavians, or the Germanic forms of thename and Fi. permi and Ru. Perm' have a connection, or theresemblance is coincidental. I agree with Stang (1977,p. 107) that the suggestions for the Germanic origin of thename are rather theoretical, if not fantastic.2

From the early nineteenth century onwards scholars haveoften favoured the explanation that bjarmar and permioriginate from Fi. perämaa 'backwoods, hinterland' (Johnsen1923, p. 9; Jaakkola 1956, p. 249; Stang 1977, p. 120). Somephilologists have criticized this etymology considering ithighly improbable or impossible (Ross 1937, p. 9; Ekblom

1941-42, pp. 139-40; Vasmer 1979, p. 342).Stang's acceptanceof this etymology leads him to confused conclusions.Haavio (1965, pp. 46-48) thinks that bjarmi, bjarmar

means 'fair-haired, light-skinned' and that the Norwegiansgave the name. He thinks that permi, Perm' and bjarmar onlyaccidentaly resemble each other. However, Gallén __________________________1. Stang's MA thesis is most interesting and one enjoys thecomments on earlier scholarship, but unfortunately his taskhas been too enormous. He deals with many disciplines andseveral subjects should have been discussed more thoroughly.

At times he seems to accept earlier interpretations withoutmuch criticism and some Finnish scholars, such as Haavio,Kirkinen and Vilkuna's later work, are not included in hisbibliography. The above makes it difficult to rely on hisidentification.2. See Jansson, V. 1936, Bjarmaland, in OUÅ, Vol. 1, p. 50;Ross 1937, pp. 11-12.



80

(1966, p. 242) wonders quite rightly how come fair-hairedand light-skinned Scandinavians named Biarmians aftercharacteristics they both shared?

The most reasonable etymology is presented by Vilkuna

(1964, pp. 87-89,98)1, with whom Kirkinen (1963, p. 409,Gallén (1966, p. 244), Zachrisson (in Vikingatidens ABC1981, p. 25), and Bergsland (in Odner 1985, p. 24) agree.Bjarm and perm have obviously the same origin;Fi. unaspirated p > Gmc. b. Vilkuna thinks that both wordsderive from permi which occurs in Eastern Finnish dialectsin the meaning 'a merchant from Russian Carelia, peddler'.According to him permi referred at all times to aprofessional merchant who belonged to a more or lessorganized society of merchants conducting trade over a verylarge area. Those areas where the traders had their supply

centres and permanent settlements were called Bjarmaland orBiarmia or Perm' by their neighbours. Since the term doesnot refer to a certain tribe or nationality, but is anoccupational term, areas widely apart from each other couldbe called by it at different times. Unfortunately there isno etymology for permi (Ross 1937, p. 10 n. 16; Vilkuna1964, p. 101).

Kirkinen (1963, pp. 38-40) argues that Beormas inOhthere's account refers to a people and not an area. He isquite right. He adds that the oldest sources appear tosupport Vilkuna's definition and that the lands of the

Biarmians referred to in the OE text were probably the riverbasins close to the White Sea, from the Onega river in theeast as far as the Kola peninsula in the west.This theory makes it easier to understand why there existsmention of two Biarmias in the twelfth century, Biarmiaulterior and Biarmia citerior (Saxonis 1839, pp. 452-54),but one cannot be sure that it explains the enigmatic termsconclusively.

It appears that at present none of the theories for theidentification of the Biarmians is entirely satisfactory.

__________________1. See also Tallgren, A. M. 1930, Bjarmienmaa. InKalevalaseuran vuosikirja, Vol. 10, pp. 78-79.



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The obvious reason for this is that it is an immense task tocollect and analyse all the material needed to reach areliable identification. However, it is justifiable toconclude that the Biarmians were mainly merchants of mixed

Finno-Ugric origin, possibly mostly Vepsian or/and Carelian,who operated near and along the watercourses and coastalregions of north-west Russia (cf. Kirkinen 1963, p. 40;Bergsland in Johansen Kleppe 1977, p. 47; Vikingatidens ABC1981, p. 25; Two Voyages 1984, p. 64).

Let us return to Ohthere's account. How is the land ofthe Biarmians described there? The land on the far side ofthe river was eall gebun and Ohthere had not met any gebunland until then, and the Biarmians had swiþe wel gebud theirland. It has earlier been established that a carefuldistinction was made between the way of life of the

Biarmians and the Terfinnas (cf. ch. 3.1.2).Only in one translation out of twenty-three is eall

gebun translated 'cultivated' (Ross 1940, p. 19), and in twocases out of nineteen nan gebun land is translated'cultivated' (Ross 1940, p. 19; Jones 1984, p. 159).However, swiþe wel gebud is translated 'cultivated' intwelve cases and 'settled, inhabited' in nine out of twenty-one. Why is the last expression given so often the meaning'cultivated'?

I do not think that the meaning 'cultivated' iscorrect. It is more reasonable that uninhabited land was

compared to settled land than to cultivated land. And whycultivated land should have prevented Ohthere from landing;it is more logical that settled land had that effect.Whether agriculture was practiced by the Biarmians on Kolaor not, is another matter, and though it is possible,Ohthere's account does not give conclusive evidence for it.The use of buan, however, implies that the land was suitablefor some sort of cultivation.



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There are no grounds for the arguments that Ohthere didnot land on Kola because agriculture was not practisedthere. The climate was warmer during the early medievalperiod in western Europe and in the North Atlantic than

today. The Viking Age matched the peak of this warm periodwhen the annual mean temperature was 2-4°C warmer than now(Lamb in Haasum 1974, p. 87; McGrail 1987, p. 259). Ross(1940, p. 45) points out that the agriculture may have beenpastoral or arable or both. He says that the cultivation ofrye was possible on the south coast of Kola under naturalconditions.1 Possibly small-scale rudimentary agriculture waspractised by the Biarmians. On the other hand it is not outof the question that the Biarmians traded furs and ivory forgrain.

The Biarmians told many stories both about their own

country, hiera agnum lande, and about the lands surroundingthem, þæm landum þe ymb hie utan wæron, but Ohthere did notknow what of it was true because he had not seen it, hit,for himself. These statements imply that Ohthere did not seemuch of the land were the Biarmians lived, nor thesurrounding lands: hit n.acc.sg. 'it' refers to landen.dat.sg. or to landum n.dat.pl. The personal pronoun hit3p.sg. in nominative and accusative can be used as arelative pronoun without regard to the number and gender ofthe noun to which it refers (Mitchell II 1985, p. 622). Theinterpretation is the same whether hit refers to lande or

landum and the meaning is ambiguous.If we translate lande 'a country, land occupied by apeople, a nation as a whole', as in four translations out ofnine, and remember that we do not know whether land in þaBeormas hæfdon swiþe wel gebud hira land means 'a country'or 'the area settled, the ground used for settling', wecannot avoid wondering where did Ohthere actually meet ___________________1. For further information about climate and the possiblepractice of agriculture on Kola, see Homén, T. 1921, EastCarelia and Kola Lapmark, in Fennia, Vol. 42, No. 3, pp. 19-

20,35,88 chart III; Tolonen, K. 1980, Paleoekologiskavittnesbörd om forntida liv och villkor i norraFennoskandien, in Nord-Skandinaviens historia itvärvetenskaplig belysning. Umeå Studies in Humanities 24,p. 34; Stang, H. 1981, Norges fo,/rste flyktninger -asiatisk perspektiv på Troms 1242, in Norsk HistoriskTidsskrift, Vol. 60, No. 3, p. 359.



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the Biarmians, if not in their own country, which Ohtherepresumably did not see. A possible explanation is that thoseBiarmians that Ohthere met were living in a colony. It isunlikely that Ohthere never left his ship.

3.2.3. The identification of the Terfinnas

The Terfinnas are named only once in Ohthere's accountand they are described with almost the same words as theFinnas. It is not said whether Ohthere actually met theTerfinnas during the voyage. Who were these people?

There are archaeological finds from Finnmark datingfrom the period we deal with, which are considered to

represent Saami ethnicity. Johansen Kleppe (1977) claimsthat the finds from Mortensnes in Varanger are remains of alocal group of people and they, and other material fromVaranger from the period A.D. 1-1700, represent a Saamipopulation.1 Reymert (1980, pp. 130-33) connects Saamiethnicity with the triangular burial settings of stonedating from around A.D. 800 to A.D. 1200, and concentratingin Varanger. The grave goods mainly include artifacts ofeastern, i.e. from the Permian region, and from the Fenno-Ugric region around Novgorod. Odner (1983, pp. 69-70,81,119;ibid. 1985, pp. 7,29-30) relates these burials and the large

settlement sites of East Finnmark to the Terfinnas, whowould have been a separate ethnic group of non-Saami originand probably extending over to the Kola peninsula. Theirdifferentation was supposedly due to their eastern tradecontacts. Odner's view has been criticized by Bergsland andOlsen (in Odner 1985, pp. 17-19,24), and I agree with themthat his thesis is very problematic. Even though theTerfinnas are not located precisely in the account, it isless probable that they lived on the Varanger-Murmansk coastthan that they lived further to the east. They are mentionedin connection with the Biarmians in the text.

_____________________1. Johansen Kleppe's methodological approach has beencriticized (cf. Comments in Johansen Kleppe 1977; Odner1983, p. 119).



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Nansen (1911, pp. 169-74) identifies Finnas andTerfinnas with the later Coast Lapps, but the anthropologistPaine (1957, pp. 20-21) warns of the use of the terms'Mountain Lapp' and 'Coast Lapp' about Saami economies of

Ohthere's time. Nevertheless, he writes followingly:We may assume, then, that Ohthere's references to Lappsincluded the coastal groups. Indeed, it is reasonableto suppose that it was these that this seafarer andtrader knew best, although he may not have beenthinking exclusively of them. Ohthere's few sentencesmake it clear that the Coast Lapp economy was thenwedded to the land as well as to the sea, that thepeople lived scattered and in small groups, enjoyed alimited pastoralism and probably practised a seasonaltranshumance. (Paine 1957, p. 21.)

It is not improper to assume that the name Terfinnasincludes a geographical element and denotes those Saamis wholived in an area that was ecologically distinct from theother Saami areas. The Pasvik district in eastern Finnmarkrepresents a boundary of plant and animal geography betweenEurope and Asia (Wikan 1981, p. 9). This boundary may havecaused cultural differences since the Stone Age and becauseof climatic changes it moved slowly eastwards and reachedSviatoi Nos in the Middle Ages (Simonsen 1981, pp. 5-6).Bergsland's (1970, pp. 388-89) bold conclusion that Sviatoi

Nos was the northernmost 'village' of Ohthere's Terfinnascannot be accepted.The Kola peninsula has been inhabited since the

Mesolithic and Neolithic Ages. The inhabitants of the EarlyIron Age were descended from earlier population but theprehistoric population of Kola cannot be connecteddefinitely with the Saamis, who are known to have livedthere since the thirteenth century (Gurina 1980; ibid.1984). Gurina thinks there did not exist any unifiedcircumpolar culture in prehistoric times. Archaeologicalmaterial indicates that Slavs and Saamis lived at the mouth

of the Varzuga river from the eleventh to the thirteenthcentury (Huurre 1983, p. 321; Ovsyannikov 1984, pp.98,103.06). Even though the prehistory of the Kola peninsulais not yet fully known, Ohthere's account implies thatpeople who lived there had something in common with theSaamis of northern Norway, at least in terms of economy.



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The name Terfinnas is associated with the Kolapeninsula, Ru. Terskij bereg 'south-east of Kola, thecoast from the Gorlo to the Varzuga', OR Tre > OR Tr,

Ter, Kola Lappish Tarje, Fi. Turja, Tyrjä (Storm 1894, p.95; Nansen 1911, p. 133; Ross 1940, pp. 24-28; Bergsland1970, p. 388).1 Though the ultimate origin of the word isnot known (Ross 1940, p. 26), its association with theeastern Kola makes it all the more probable that the nameTerfinnas refers to a group of Saamis. The above does not,however, mean that the Terfinnas of Ohthere lived only onthe south-eastern part of Kola.

The -e- in Terfinnas is either coincidental with theRussian form, or derived from the ON form used by Ohthere,ON *Teria- > OWN *Ter- (Ross 1940, p. 27; cf. Bergsland in

Johansen Kleppe 1977, p. 47). This is the only time thatTerfinnas occur in writing. A proper name with a corruptedfirst element in Orvar-Odds saga may refer to Terfinnas,ON *Tyrfifinnas or *Tyrvi-finnar (Ross 1940, p. 27 n. 15;Egilsson 1966, p. 575).

There is no evidence in the text that Ohthere'svoyage was a tribute-collecting expedition or that hefought against the Biarmians over the right to tax theTerfinnas, as suggested by Simonsen (1957, pp. 15,19) andBinns(1980, p. 36).

3.2.4. Whale-hunting and the trade of walrus ivory

OE Swiþost he for ðider, toecan þæs landessceawunge, for þæm horshwælum, for ðæm hie habbað swiþeæþele ban on hiora toþum--þa teð hie brohton sume þæmcyninge--7 hiora hyd bið swiðe god to sciprapum. Se hwælbið micle læssþonne oðre hwalas: ne bið he lengra ðonne syfan elna lang;ac on his agnum lande is se betsta hwælhuntað: þa beoð

eahta and feowertiges elna lange, 7 þa mæstan fiftigeselna lange; þara he sæde þæt he syxa sum ofsloge syxtig ontwam dagum. (OE Or. 1980, pp. 14-15.)

_________________1. See also Vasmer, M. 1922, Zum Namen der Terfinnas inKönig Alfreds Orosius-Übersetzung. In Englische Studien,

Vol. 56, 169-171.



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MnE He went there chiefly, in addition to exploringthe land, on account of the walruses, because they have veryfine bone in their tusks—-they brought some of these tusksto the king--and their hide is very good for ship-ropes.

This whale is much smaller than other whales; it is notlonger than seven ells long. But in his own country is thebest whale-hunting; those are forty-eight ells long, and thebiggest fifty ells long. Of these he said that he as one ofsix killed sixty in two days.

From bið swiðe god to sciprapum onwards the rest ofOhthere's account and the following account of Wulfstan aretaken from MS C, since they are missing from MS L.

In the beginning of Ohthere's account we are told thatOhthere wished himself to explore regions to the north of

him. In this passage his motive is repeated: toecan þæslandes sceawunge. Sceawunge f.dat.sg. derives fromsceawi(g)an II 'to see, behold, examine, look out' and canbe translated in many ways (ASD 1964, pp. 827-28; Bright1971, p. 463).

The main reason for Ohthere's voyage is also revealed:the walrus. It is this mention of the walrus, besides theparanthetical statement that their tusks were brought toAlfred, which tells us that Ohthere was not a mere sight-seer but also a trader. Ohthere's desire to see for himselfthe lands northwards implies that he is reporting his first

expedition to the White sea. The reference to the walruseson the other hand implies that he more or less knew where hewas sailing and what to expect.

Horshwæl (MS L horschwæl) (m.) means 'walrus',literally 'horse-whale', but the form of the word iscurious. This is the only time the word is recorded in OE.Fell (1984, pp. 58-91) thinks the Anglo-Saxons were ignorantof this Arctic sea-beast and the name for it "must beconsidered as a newly coined compound based on Ohthere'sname for" it. According to Fell OE horshwæl suggests ONetymon hrosshvalr, since both elements of the compound occur

in OE and it would have been easy for Ohthere and hisinterrogator to



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produce an OE compound analogous to the ON one. ON rostungrand rosmhvalr also refer to walrus.

Kiparsky (1952, pp. 36-41) sees no connection betweenON horsshvalr and OE horshwæl because he thinks the former

term did not mean walrus but some kind of whale. He arguesthat OE horsc- in MS L, to which spelling he gives priority,has nothing to do with OE hors or horce 'a horse'; the OEspelling -sc- could be a reflection of the term in KolaSaami moršA which Ohthere would have learned during hisvoyage. I agree with Bately (1980b,p. 188) that thisexplanation is not convincing. Kiparsky is not criticalenough in his treatment of Ohthere's account. The MS Lspelling may be a scribal error caused by the unfamiliarityof the word.

The walruses are told to have 'excellent bone in their

teeth'. Toþum m.dat.pl. is best to translate 'tusks' (Ross1940, p. 21; Bately 1980b, p. 395; Jones 1984, p. 159; TwoVoyages 1984, p. 20). In ON tann and tönn were used ofwalrus ivory. Thus the use of toþum may reflect Ohthere'susage and his precise knowledge in these matters,particularly since it is known that no OE or ME textsuggests that ivory is obtained from tusks, but is alwaysreferred to as 'bone' (Fell 1984, p. 61).

It is noteworthy that the king received tusks and notfinished objects (cf. Fell 1984, p. 61). Pritsak (1981,p. 695 n. 48) thinks that the king in question was the

Norwegian king. However, the context speaks clearly for KingAlfred. Fell (1984, p. 60) suggests that these tusks werepossibly the earliest walrus ivory to enter Anglo-SaxonEngland, but I would not be sure of it. The plural formbrohton 'brought' indicates that Ohthere did not come aloneto Alfred's court (cf. Porthan 1873, p. 70 n. 5).

The adjective æþele 'noble' is rarely used of inanimatethings. Fell (1984, p. 61) compares its usage in the text tothe use of ON aðal- in compounds in the meaning 'foremost,most important', and concludes that Ohthere's statementimplies that he had located the best quality ivory.



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It is more probable that the quantity of the ivory, not thequality, caused Ohthere's expedition to the White Sea.

Nowadays the eastern group of the Atlantic walrus is tobe found in the waters reaching from Greenland to the Kara

Sea, but obviously not anymore in the mouth of the White Sea(see Map 2). It migrates gradually northwards in summer. Thenumber of walruses has drastically declined since theseventeenth century due to extensive hunting, but during theViking Age the walrus was presumably abundant on the Arcticcoasts. (Munthe-Kaas Lund 1954, pp. 2-7.) Ohthere's accountand some Arabic sources describing the ivory trade fromnorthern Russia to the Muslim world and to the Orient atthis time evidence that walrus was hunted in northern Russiaand possibly in northern Norway as well. There are numerousobjects of walrus ivory in Asia and Europe. (Tegengren 1962,

passim; Stang 1977, pp. 95-96; Sawyer 1984, passim.) It isdebated whether there are objects made of walrus ivory inEngland among those carved from bone or ivory and which datebefore the tenth century (Fell 1984, p. 60).

Ivory from the north is obtained from three differentmammals: the extinct mammoth, the narwahl and the walrus. Itwas mainly exported or paid as a tribute. The upper canninesof the walrus were extremely precious andprestigious trade articles obviously before the ninthcentury. Elephant ivory had been valuable for centuries, buteither the supply of it had decreased or become

difficult, or the demand for valuables was increasing inEurope, where the economies had started to flourish. Thegreatest market, however, for all ivory was all the time inthe east. The tusks of an exotic and mystified animal werebelieved to possess magic powers. This belief insupernatural power of an object made of ivory may have hadsomething to do with the fact that such objects, or tusks,were presented as gifts to kings. (Tegengren 1962, passim;Sawyer 1982, pp. 70-71; ibid. 1984, pp. 43-44,51.)



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To my knowledge depictions of walrus have not beenfound in North European rock art, which is quiteinteresting. In Norway only four pictures of seals1 are knownand this is explained by the taboo nature of the seal (Hagen

in Makkonen 1985, p. 10). Some objects of walrus ivorydating from the Germanic Iron Age and Viking Age have beenfound in North Norway (Nansen 1911, p. 168; Brøgger 1931,pp. 36-37; Stamsø Munch 1975, p. 42).

It is said that walrus skin is good for ship-ropes. Theship-ropes are mentioned again in the next section of theaccount where we are told that the highest ranking Saami hadto pay a part of his tribute in ship-ropes sixty ells longeach. This product must have been of great value because itwas given so much space in the account. And so it was:walrus-rope is called the strongest line before the

invention of the steel cable, and because of thischaracteristic it was used for special tasks until our ownday (Sawyer 1984, p. 54). Binns (1980, pp. 34-35) suggeststhat the mention of walrus-ropes reflects Alfred's interestin naval matters and in the strength of anchor-cables.

Whatever the exact length of an ell was, sixty ells is,however, more than the length of a walrus, which is about3,5 m - 4 m. But if the walrus was skinned spiralwise it waspossible to get long ropes (Sawyer 1984, p. 54).

Let us turn next to hunting. Was the White Seaexpedition also a hunting trip or did Ohthere possibly trade

in hides and ivory with the local inhabitants? What seamammals Ohthere himself hunted?It seems that walruses and whales were grouped

together, perhaps by both Ohthere and the author. Se hwælm.nom.sg. in the sentence Se hwæl bið micle læssa þonne oðrehwales refers to walrus. The pronoun se has a deicticfunction here and means 'this particular kind of' (Bright1971, p. 188). Hwæl is on of the two words for whale in OE,normally used for Lat. cetus; the other is hron used forLat. ballena, but not consistently (Fell 1984, p. 58).

According to the text, the only difference between

walruses and whales was their length: the walrus was seven

___________________1. Walrus is related to seals.



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ells long, the whales forty-eight or fifty ells. Thisadditional information on the length inserted into theactual explaining about the walruses has been difficult tointerpret (cf. Two Voyages 1984, p. 68). The measure of

length, ell, existed in both ON and OE, but the meaningvaried. It is reasonable to assume that the differences wereunderstood and misunderstandings avoided; otherwise theinformation was of little value (cf. Fell 1984, p. 62). Itis possible that ell here represents the OE measure ofbetween twenty-two and twenty-four inches (around 56 cm - 61cm) (ASD 1964, pp. 247-48; Rigg 1968, p. 187; Bately 1980b,p. 188; Pritsak 1981, p. 695). The walrus would then be itsnormal size (around 3,9 m - 4,3 m), and the largest whalewould be about a hundred feet or thirty meters.

Were Norwegians able to hunt whales from twenty-five to

thirty meters long, which is the length of a blue whale?Sjøvold (1974, p. 350) doubts whether blue whales werehunted before the nineteenth century. He thinks the largestwhale Ohthere could catch was probably the Biscay Rightwhale which may reach a maximum length of about fifteen orsixteen meters, and which is a peacable animal that does notsink when killed.

There may be some confusion about the measures in thetext. The difference of two ells does not seem very muchwhen whales are measured, and possibly the author strivedfor exactness in order to produce a trustworthy effect (cf.

Pilch & Tristram 1979, p. 69). The only thing that is clearis that both large and small 'whales' were hunted. In thebeginning of the account it is said that it takes three daysto sail from Ohthere's home to the place where the whale-hunters went furthest. Hwælhuntað can certainly mean bothwalrus- and whale-hunting.

Objects made of whale bone dating from throughout theViking Age have been found in Norway, above all in NorthNorway. The finds are mostly tools and utensils of variouskind, but also objects like dice (Brøgger 1931, p. 36;



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Sjøvold 1974, pp. 253-54,262; Vikingatidens ABC 1981,p. 281; Two Voyages 1984, p. 68). Sjøvold believes that theexistence of standardized tools presupposes a regular supplyof raw materials. The whale bone objects found in Late Iron

Age graves testify to whaling as regular activity and theirdistribution pattern indicates that it was a kind of NorthNorwegian speciality and trade. There is evidence of whalebone being exported to Sweden and England; e.g. the famousFranks Casket from Northumbria about A.D. 700 is carved inwhale bone (Sawyer 1984, p. 47). No whale-hunting scenes areknown in Norwegian rock art, as they are in Russian Carelia,but some depictions of individual whales 4000 or 5000 yearsold are known chiefly from Trøndelag and Nordland (Makkonen1985, pp. 3,8-9,13).

It is believed that not only the Norwegians but also

the Saamis practised whale- and walrus-hunting (Nansen 1911,pp. 135,137; Brøgger 1931, pp. 36-37; Simonsen 1957, p. 9;Tegengren 1962, p. 33; Haavio 1965, pp. 188-89; Sjøvold1974, pp. 350-51; Odner 1983, p. 31; Sawyer 1984, p. 53).Ohthere's account speaks for the participation of theSaamis.

There is still one more difficulty in this passagecaused by the phrase þara he sæde þæt he syxa sum ofslogesyxtig on twam dagum. What does syxa sum mean and what isthe antecedent of the pronoun þara gen.pl.?

Syxa sum is an OE idiom including the genitive of siex

'six' and the independent pronoun sum 'some, certain, one'.In this context the idiom is ambiguous in meaning. It canmean either 'one of six' or 'one of seven', when the mainperson is excluded from the count (Wülfing 1894,pp. 310-11; Bately 1980b, p. 188; Mitchell I 1985,pp. 157-58). By Alfred's time the expression had come to beloosely used and sometimes acquired the latter meaning(Bright 1971, p. 151). At the moment practically allcommentators prefer the interpretation 'one of six' or 'withfive others'. Note that feowera sum in the OE Or. (1980, p.107) corresponds to the original quattuor equitibus in the

Latin Or.





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character about Ohthere's purposes and activities during hisvoyage, but I will refrain from commenting on them. It iseasy to conclude almost anything on the basis of the accountif it is not carefully studied.

3.3. The description of Ohthere's economy

OE He wæs swyðe spedig man on þæm æhtum þe heoraspeda on beoð, þæt is on wildrum. He hæfde þagyt, ða heone cyningc sohte, tamra deora unbebohtra syx hund. Þa deorhi hatað hranas; þara wæron syx stælhranas, ða beoð swyðedyre mid Finnum, for ðæm hy foð þa wildan hranas mid. He wæsmid þæm fyrstum mannum on þæm lande; næfde he þeah ma ðonne

twentig hryðera 7 twentig sceapa 7 twentig swyna, 7 þætlytle þæt he erede he erede mid horsan. Ac hyra ar is mæston þæm gafole þe ða Finnas him gyldað. Þæt gafol bið ondeora fellum 7 on fugela feðerum 7 hwales bane on þæmsciprapum þe beoð of hwæles hyde geworht 7 of seoles.Æghwilc gylt be hys gebyrdum: se byrdesta sceall gyldanfiftyne mearðes fell 7 fif hranes 7 an beran fel 7 tyn ambrafeðra 7 berenne kyrtel oððe yterenne 7 twegen sciprapas;ægþer sy syxtig elna lang: oþer sy of hwæles hyde geworht,oþer of sioles. (OE OR. 1980, p. 15.)

MnE He was a very rich man in the possessions of whichtheir wealth consists, that is in wild animals. He hadstill, when he visited the king, six hundred unsold tamedeer. These deer they call reindeer. Six of these weredecoy-reindeer; they are very valuable among the Finnasbecause with them they capture the wild reindeer. He wasamong the chief men in the country, though he had not morethan twenty cattle, and twenty sheep, and twenty pigs, andthe little that he ploughed he ploughed with horses. Buttheir wealth is mostly in the tribute which the Finnas paythem. That tribute consists of skins of animals, and

the feathers of birds, and whale bone, and ship-ropes whichare made from whale hide or sealskin. Each pays according



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to his rank. The highest in rank has to pay fifteen martenskins, and five reindeer skins, and one bearskin, and tenmeasures of feathers, and a kirtle of bearskin or otterskin,and two ship-ropes; each of these must be sixty ells long,

one must be made from whale hide and the other from seal.

3.3.1. Ohthere's reindeer property

Caribou or reindeer has been an important source offood and raw materials for human beings for tens ofthousands of years, and it has been hunted throughout thenorthern hemisphere with various methods. The OE Or. is theearliest historical document to suggest that the reindeer

was more or less domesticated, apart form possible Chinesereferences to tame reindeer dating from the fifth or ninthcentury A.D. (Laufer 1964, pp. 102-07,114; cf. Pennanen1986, pp. 169,176).

The taming of reindeer is a widely discussed subjectand opinions vary about when, where and how did thedomestication take place, and among whom taming of reindeeremerged in Fenno-Scandia. It is a general opinion that thekeeping of domesticated reindeer had developed into reindeerbreeding and the consequent nomadism among the Saamis, i.e.pastoral economy, in the sixteenth and seventeenth

centuries. It is believed that before the emergence ofpastoralism the animal was not only hunted but also tamed tosome extent for certain purposes, possibly even for labour.(Nansen 1911, pp. 178-79; Wiklund 1948, p. 77; Simonsen1957, p. 9; Vorren & Manker 1976, p. 26; Ingold 1980,p. 129; Anderson A. 1981, pp. 13-14; Broadbent in AndersonA. 1981, p. 23; Odner 1983, p. 33; Fjellström 1985, p. 72;Helgelands historie 1985, p. 275; Pennanen 1986,pp. 178-80; cf. Zachrisson 1976, p. 87). Ohthere's accountis often referred to in the debate and there exist severalinterpretations of the text.



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First of all, practically all commentators believe thatthe information in the account is correct, that Ohtherereally owned reindeer. It is a common view that Saamislooked after Ohthere's herd (Collinder 1953, p. 42;

Bergsland 1970, p. 369; Anderson M. 1981, p. 668; Ruong1982, p. 46; Fjellström 1985, p. 71), either by working inhis service as hired assistants (Wiklund 1948, p. 77;Nesheim 1966, pp. 19-25; Ingold 1980, p. 104), or in realityowning the animals but paying taxes to Ohthere, in whichcase the herd would have been divided into several herds(Vorren & Manker 1976, pp. 26-28).1

There are interesting suggestions concerning the use ofOhthere's reindeer, except for the decoys. They may havebeen half wild and to be slaughtered (Fjellström 1985,p. 72). Ohthere may have traded among others in reindeer

meat and at the moment of speaking he may have had sixhundred animals waiting to be delivered to an eventualpurchaser (Steckzén 1964, p. 255), or he may have acted as amiddleman, if he was not the actual owner, and was offeringto sell reindeer to King Alfred (Bergsland 1970, pp. 368-69). Even though nothing is said in the text about milkingthe reindeer, they may have been used for milking andbreeding (Whitaker 1981, p. 5). The anthropologist TimIngold (1980, p. 104) thinks it is likely that ninety-nineper cent of Ohthere's herd consisted of draft animals usedfor transport of merchandise. Another anthropologist wrote

much earlier, in 1914, that Ohthere's account scarcelyproves anything about domestication and his herd "was merelythe venture of a sportsman, who had aesthetic pleasure inthe animals, like park-owner in fallow deer" (Laufer 1964,pp. 95-96)--a most original interpretation, but hardly true.

What is actually said about the reindeer in the text?Ohthere is said to be a very rich man because he

possessed wild animals. It is explained that the wealth of

_________________________1. According to Pennanen (1986, pp. 178-79) the reference tothe reindeer in the OE Or. would represent "arkaischeRentierzucht", which was practised in a small scale and theanimals were almost fully tame, but the keeping of reindeerwas not of major importance to the economy.



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the people referred to consists of these animals, þe heoraspeda on beoð. Wildrum n.dat.pl. of wildeor means'wild animals', and deor means 'any sort of wild animal onfour legs, a wild beast', but in OE the latter can only

contextually be understood 'deer', as in this case (ASD1964, p. 201; OED III 1961, p. D122). Heora gen.pl. 'their'probably refers to the Norwegians in the north of Norway.

The method of measuring wealth in wild animals isusually not commented on. It is implicit that not onlyOhthere, but also other inhabitants of northern Norway ownedreindeer. The uses of the third person plural in thispassage, hi hatað (could be a passive tense), hyra ar, himgyldað, and the phrase mid þæm fyrstum mannum, indicate thatthe owning of animals and the economy described was notparticular to Ohthere.

The tame animals are called 'reindeer' and they arecontrasted with the wild reindeer that can be caught withdecoys. Hunting with decoys is the most widespread of alltechniques involving the use of tame deer and ischaracteristic of peoples throughout the northern Eurasiancontinent (Ingold 1980, p. 103). It is especially noteworthythat the decoys are said to be very valuable among theSaamis. This piece of information tells us that the Saamishad tamed reindeer in the latter half of the ninth century(cf. Vorren & Manker 1976, p. 24). Decoys must be welltrained and if one or two decoys is sufficient for one

hunter, the owning of six makes the owner very rich indeed(Wiklund 1948, p. 65; Ingold 1980, p. 103). Ingold (1980, p.123) believes that employing draft animals for transportpredated hunting with decoy reindeer.

Whitaker (1981, p. 5) writes about Ohthere's reindeeras follows:

Ohthere had a private herd, six of which must have beenox-reindeer (Lappish haergit), since only animals tamedin this way could be retreived from a wild herd.

He believes that the account dates from a transition period

when reindeer breeding had already begun in Halogaland.According to Fjellström (1985, p. 71) the decoys wereindividually tamed female reindeer used for breeding.



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Hrn m.sg., hranas pl., occurs nowhere else in OEliterature and is obviously a loan from ON hreinn'reindeer'. It represents one of the many anglicizedexpressions in the text. The speaker, or the author, has

recognized that ON -ei-corresponds to OE --, cf. ON steinn,OE stan 'stone' (Mossé 1945, p. 370; Bright 1971, p. 188;Fell 1984, p. 62).

Stælhranas is without exception given the meaning'decoy reindeer' in English translations, as well as intranslations into other languages, even though the etymologyof stæl- is not known (cf. Bately 1980b, p. 190; Fell 1984,p. 62). Bately writes that Ohthere himself might have beenexpected to use ON lokka 'to entice, decoy' to render theidea. Of the possible etymons of stæl- (OE stelan 'tosteal'; OE steall 'stall, place'; Nw. stæla 'to be in

milk'), she prefers steall < Gmc. *stal 'standing stall,position', either referring to the way in which the reindeerwere kept, or the way in which they were used, i.e.tethered. Surprisingly, those examining the domesticationof reindeer have not paid attention to the uncertain originof stæl-.

Beboht is the past participle of bebicgan I 'to sell',and unbebohtra is gen.pl. of that form prefixed by negativeun- and used as an adjective. Unbeboht is in some of theearly translations misunderstood to mean 'unbought' ofbicgan 'to buy' (Rask 1815, p. 37; Porthan 1873, p. 72;

Nansen 1911, p. 135; ASD 1964, p. 201 deor), whichinterpretation persists in later commentaries, particularlyin the Scandinavian ones (Wiklund 1948, p. 65; Collinder1953, p. 29; Jaakkola 1956, p. 44; Simonsen 1957, p. 6;Nesheim 1966, p. 22; Qvist 1968, p. 18; Swanton 1975,p. 34), and there are also conclusions made on the basis ofthe incorrect interpretation (cf. Mossé 1945, p. 370;Wiklund 1948, p. 77; Pritsak 1981, p. 695; Fjellström 1985,pp. 71-72).

The correct meaning is, however, 'unsold' (Thorpe 1853,p. 577; ASD 1964, p. 1092; Steckzén 1964, p. 255; Bright

1971, p. 481; Bately 1980b, p. 399; Mitchell I 1985 ,p. 1001). To render the concept 'to sell' gesellan I is







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as draft animals and for riding. (Nesheim 1967, pp. 108-16,135; Sjøvold 1974, pp. 301,348-49; Vikingatidens ABC1981, pp. 114-15,119-120; Fjellström 1985, pp. 123-26;cf. Odner 1985, p. 5; Helgelands historie 1985, p. 173.)

3.3.2. The taxation of the Finnas

It is said in the account that heora speda consist inwild animals but hyra ar is in the tribute paid by theFinnas, i.e. the Saamis. Heora and hyra 'their' arealternative spellings of the third person plural of thepersonal pronoun, and they obviously refer to theNorwegians. Although both phrases above can be translated

'their wealth', one is tempted to interpret sped f. asreferring to material wealth, and spedig would mean 'rich inmaterial wealth', whereas the use of ar f., which primarilymeans 'honour, glory, rank, dignity, respect' besidesmeaning 'property, possessions' (ASD 1964, pp. 13,47,900),would imply that the tribute brought not only riches to itscollector but also secured his high social status.

The text indicates that there was social gradationamong the Saamis as well (cf. Whitaker 1981, p. 5). Eachtax-payer had to pay be hys gebyrdum. Gebyrdum is dat.pl. ofgebyrd f. 'birth, origin, parentage; nature, condition;

rank, position due to birth', and se byrdesta m.nom.sg. isthe superlative of the adjective byrde 'born, well-born,noble, rich' (ASDS 1955, p. 301; ASD 1964, pp. 138,378).Se byrdesta is sometimes incorrectly understood to be in theplural (Thorpe 1853, p. 251; Whiting 1945, p. 218; Collinder1953, p. 29; Helm 1963, p. 170).

The differential taxation was based on one's place inthe social scale probably due to a person's birth. Bergsland(in Johansen Kleppe 1977, p. 47) suggests that the Saamishad kings or chiefs at this time, to which ON fínnakonungrmay refer (cf. Vikingatidens ABC 1981, p. 227).



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What did the payment exacted from the Saamis consistof? The products produced by them were of the highest valuein the European market: furs, skins, birds' feathers ordown, ship-ropes, and 'whale-bone'. Some of the OE

expressions need to be commented.As earlier concluded (cf. ch. 3.2.4), we are not sure

whether hwales bane refers to whale bone or walrus tusks, orpossibly even whalebone, i.e. a substance formed in themouth of a baleen (Bately 1980b, p. 191). Does hwæles hydethen refer to whale hide or walrus hide? The contextsuggests that both expressions refer to the walruses, but Ithink they may refer to both walruses and whales. We are nottold the amount of 'whale bone' that the highest born Saamihad to pay.

Mearðes m.gen.sg. apparently refers to pine marten, but

Bately (1980b, p. 191) does not rule out sable. Fif hraneshas been interpreted either 'five reindeer skins' or 'fivereindeer' (the latter in Whiting 1945, p. 218;Collinder 1953, p. 29; Nesheim 1966, p. 22; Qvist 1968,p. 19). Both are grammatically possible since fell may havebeen left out to avoid repetition. I agree with the majorityof commentators that analogically the phrase means 'fivereindeer skins'.

Amber is a measure of volume but its capacity isunknown. It was used both as a liquid and a dry measure andit is an adaptation of Lat. amphora, equivalent to about six

gallons or about twenty-seven litres (Porthan 1873, p. 75 n.16; Mossé 1945, p. 371; Campbell 1964, p. 214; Bately 1980b,p. 191). Tyn ambra m. f. or n. gen.pl. is sometimestranslated 'forty bushels', i.e. 40x8 gallons, (Collinder1953, p. 29; Pritsak 1981, pp. 696; Crossley-Holland 1982,p. 62), but to be on the safe side, it is best to translate'ten measures'.

Cyrtel, kyrtel m. is a word common in the Germaniclanguages but its exact meaning in Ohthere's account is notclear (de Vries 1962, p. 341; ASD 1964, p. 190). Obviously









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In the south it may be sixty miles broad, or a littlebroader; and in the middle thirty or broader; and in thenorth, he said, where it is narrowest it might be threemiles broad to the mountains, and the mountain range beyond

is in some places as wide as can be crossed in two weeks,and in some places as wide as can be crossed in six days.

A relatively long passage is dedicated to the geographyof the land of the Norwegians. The description is verygeneral and schematic and does not allow many conclusions tobe drawn. The language is simple but it includes a fewinteresting linguistic expressions and the mention of theFinnas is important.

Man in the phrase Eal þæt his man aþer oððe ettan oððeerian mæg is usually interpreted as the indefinite pronoun

'one' introducing the equivalent of a passive construction'can be grazed or ploughed'. It is also understood to referto a servant or even to a slave (Bright 1971, p. 189), or toOhthere as King Alfred's man (Thorpe 1853, p. 251; Andersen1977, p. 50), or to the Norwegians (Simonsen 1957, p. 6).However, it is evident that in Eal þæt his we have apartitive genitive, but it is uncertain whether it isgoverned by eal or the relative þæt (Wülfing 1894, p. 408;Fowler 1978, p. 142; Mitchell II 1985, pp. 148,171). 'All ofit that' is the favoured translation (Ross 1940, p. 21;Jones 1984, p. 162; Two Voyages 1984, p. 20).

The information concerning cultivation agrees with theresults of archaeological research in Norway. Cultivationwas practised on the settled coastal regions in the VikingAge. The most suitable land for cultivation lay on the coastand on the islands (Brøgger 1931, pp. 33-34; Sjøvold 1974,pp. 347-48; Sandnes 1980, pp. 75-76; Johansen 1982, p. 64;Helgelands historie 1985, pp. 230-46). Fishing is notmentioned in connection with the Scandinavians in Ohthere'saccount, which has led to a debate among Norwegianarchaeologists about the importance of fish in the diet andeconomy of the Norwegians in the Early Viking Age.



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Þæt bynum lande n.dat.sg. and þæt byne land n.nom.sg.refer to the grazed and ploughed land. In MnE translationsboth phrases are given the meaning 'cultivated land', but intranslations into Scandinavian languages and into Finnish

they have the meaning 'inhabited' or 'settled land'.According to the text wild mountains lie wið eastan

wið uppon, emnlange þæm bynum lande. This expression doesnot present any real difficulties but I find wið upponinteresting. The majority of translators and commentatorshave ignored this adverbial but there are, however, someinterpretations:

‘above' (Ross 1940, p. 21; Bately 1980b, p. 401;Crossley-Holland1982, p. 62; Jones 1984, p. 162; Two Voyages 1984, p.21),

'toward the interior' (Bright 1971, p. 483),'towards the uplands' (Malone 1930b, p. 159), andin French 'au Nord' (Mossé 1945, p. 371),

and 'ovenfor' in some Scandinavian translations.Wið uppon occurs only in Ohthere's account and does not

represent the usage of the translator of the body of thetext (Bately 1970, pp. 449-50 n. 115). It is possible thatit represents Ohthere's ON usage. Besides the cardinalsthere was another set of terms for directions that was usedto describe space in ON: upp:ofan 'upwards':'downwards' andinn:út 'into':'out of'. These terms reflect movement that

was so important in the conceptualization of space. Upp andofan were used of land-travel, when distances were measurednot only by length but also by movement in time. (Hastrup1985, pp. 52-54.) In ON literature upp often has the meaning'up from the sea to the mountains, up the valley' and it isused to refer to the land above the shore line (Einarsson1944, p. 268).

You do not need to know exactly where Ohthere's pointof reference is when he describes Norway, though itobviously is that of a seafarer. Wið uppon means directiontowards the mountains, away from the coast, it does not

refer to any particular point. Bright and Malone have comenearer to the original meaning.



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The OE text has so far shown many ON influences and itis very likely that a geographical description would reflectexpressions typical of ON geographical nomenclature. Besideswið uppon, there is another example of ON practice in the

following sentence where Ohthere talks about the width ofthe settled land. It is broadest easteweard, where it may beabout sixty miles. The further north the land extends, thenarrower it becomes; in the middle it may be about thirtymiles broad and in the north it may be three miles broad.Why the adverb easteweard is used when the context requiressuðeweard?

The problem is solved by assuming that easteweard inboth cases reflects an ON practice of referring to thesouthern part of Norway, the Oslofjord area, as situatingeast, austr í Vík. The journey made from anywhere in the

country to Oslofjord was made 'east'. (Porthan 1873, p. 76n. 20; Reuter 1934, pp. 10-11; Beckman 1938, p. 254;Einarsson 1944, pp. 268-70; Djupedal 1969, p. 120 n. 2;Bately 1980b, p. 191; Sandved 1980, p. 3.) This practice hasnothing to do with the supposed OSca. orientation system.The explanation is plausible, but we must note that later inthe account the southern part of Norway is referred to bysuðeweardum.

One reason why the geographical description of Norwayis not very informative to a modern reader is the unknownlength of OE mil 'mile' used here. Does the mile refer to

the OE measure of about 1,5 km or possibly to ON rasta/røst,a primitive Germanic itinerary measure (Simonsen 1957,p. 8; Bately 1980b, p. 192)? Bately thinks a stage of 3-4English miles, i.e. 5-6 km, is possible. Bosworth (inPritsak 1981, p. 696 n. 55) suggests that one mile ofOhthere contained about five Anglo-Saxon miles.

In my opinion the measures used in Ohthere's accountmust have been understood and agreed on by Ohthere and hisinterviewer. Since mile was not common in ON, it is possiblethat the OE mile is used here. Another matter is thenwhether the numbers are correct, or whether they are free

from



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scribal errors. The round figures and the occurrence of'sixty' again are somewhat suspicious.

The use of OE mor for 'mountain' is one of the unusualfeatures in Ohthere's account. There are, however, examples

of mor in this meaning in OE Bede and in the LindisfarneGospels (Ross 1940, p. 21 n. 28; Bately 1970, p. 439).The context in the account indicates clearly that mor doesnot refer to moor, waste or damp land, but to the mountainrange that runs in SW-NE direction in the inland of theScandinavian peninsula. The meaning 'moor' still exists insome translations (Malone 1930b, p. 159; Crossley-Holland1982, p. 62). Since the meaning 'continuous high ground' ofOE mor (ASD 1964, p. 697) is not conveyed by the MnEmountain in singular, it is generally translated into theplural.

Syðþan in the phrase se mor syðþan on sumum stowum isthe adverb 'afterwards'. It has been mistakingly confusedwith suð 'south' or suþan 'to the south, from the south'(Julku 1986, p. 53). No such spelling exists of suð orsuþan. In earlier translations into Finnish the adverb hasbeen left out (Jaakkola 1956, p. 308; Qvist 1968, p. 19),obviously because Porthan (1873, p. 77) had done so.

The width of the settled land is measured in miles butthe width of the mountain range is measured in the timetaken by a traveller to cross it. The information isobviously directly from Ohthere. In Viking Age Scandinavia

distances between two points were measured by means of thetime required to traverse them. Distances were meaningfulonly in relation to travelling, and the time and space werenot deparate dimensions which were measured against eachother (Hastrup 1985, p. 57).1

In this passage the Saamis turn up again: on þæm morumeardiað Finnas 'in these mountains dwell Saamis'. In theprevious sentence these mountains are characterized as wild.The verb wician is earlier in the account used in connectionwith the Saamis (cf. ch. 3.1.3), but now we

_____________________1. See also Gurevich, A. Ya. 1970, Space and Time in theWeltmodell of the Old Scandinavian Peoples. In MediaevalScandinavia 1969:2, 42-53.





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formed part of the population north of this line from theLate Iron Age onwards, but these remains may also be anatural result of reciprocal interchange or a result of

the fur traders' trading posts (Zachrisson 1976, pp. 91-92; Selinge 1982, p. 118).Stone Age type dwelling sites in northern Norrland

from the whole of the Christian era are obviously remainsof the Saamis and those in the river basin ofÅngermanälven are probably remains of an old hunting-gathering culture, but this mobile culture may have haddifferent ethnic bases in middle and northern Norrland(Zachrisson 1976, pp. 77-79; Selinge 1982, pp. 116-17,122). Broadbent (in Anderson A. 1981, p. 23) remarksthat "some (Lappish?) hunters" could have lived in the

southern interior forests during the Iron Age, andChristiansson (in Anderson A. 1981, p. 24) says that thesparse hunter-gatherer population of southern Norrlandpossibly included some "individuals of Lappish origin"during the Late Iron Age.

Odner's (1983, pp. 75-77) view that there is no proofof Saamis living in Swedish Härjedalen and Jämtland andNorwegian Trøndelag and northern Hedmark before thefourteenth century is opposed by Zachrisson (in Odner1985, pp. 19-21), who claims that the graves of theVivallen grave field and settlement site in north-west

Härjedalen are Saami. It is also debated whether the so-called Stalo-sites from the Viking Age and later centuriesand the so-called Lake Graves (skogsgravar) from the firstmillenium A.D. in the central inland of Sweden, are Saamior Scandinavian (cf. Selinge 1982, p. 118; Zachrisson inOdner 1985, p. 20; Kjellström 1983, pp. 223-25,230-32).

Place-name studies indicate that there was a break incontinuity when agricultural settlement began in Jämtlandand Härjedalen. If the hunter-gatherer culture was Saami,why are there no Saami elements in the place-names datedto the Viking and Middle Ages (Holm 1982, pp. 131-37)? The

research in this matter, however, is not yet concluded.



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The Norwegian contributors to Helgelands historie I(1985) are reserved in expressing anything definite aboutthe Saamis in the inland of the province. The Saamis

either lived there continuously from the earliest timesonwards or they moved there from the north at a date forwhich there are various suggestions. Sandnes (1980, p. 77)states that during the Viking Age the Saamis spreadsouthwards to the northernmost mountain region ofTrøndelag-Namndalen and Jämtland in Sweden, and they mayhave already at this time started farming and fishing inthe sea.

The Norwegian coast was settled by a farmingpopulation which undoubtedly also utilized the inlandareas. Skjølsvold (1981, pp. 26-29) discusses the

settlement of the mountain and valley region in Østerdalenin southern Norway. He thinks the area was occupied fromthe Early Iron Age onwards. The people were first of allhunters and fishers and stock-breeding and small scalefarming were of secondary importance. In an earlier paperSkjølsvold (1980 in Odner 1983, p. 77) says that thehunting culture in the mountains was not necessarily "pre-Germanic".

This tiny survey shows that opinions are divided butit is very likely that in Ohthere's time there were Saamisliving in the mountain or high plateau area of the

Scandinavian inland, but less likely that their habitatincluded the southernmost mountains of Norway.1 Ohthere'sstatement about the Saamis is a generalization, butpossibly a reliable one.

___________________________1. The various archaeological topics and the ethnic originof the population of Scandinavian inland has beendiscussed by many more scholars than is reasonable tointroduce here. A good example of the discussion is adebate between Eggen and Bergsland 1971, in NorskHistorisk Tidsskrift, Vol. 50, No. 2, 177-185. See alsoBaudou , E. 1978; Selinge, K. G. 1979, AgrarianSettlements and Hunting Grounds. Theses and Papers inNorth-European Archaeology 8. Stockholm:

University of Stockholm.





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Oþ þæt land norðeweard in the same sentence issometimes not translated (Ross 1940, p. 23; Jaakkola 1956,p. 308; Qvist 1968, p. 19). The expression may not give

any explicit geographical information but it implies,however, that on the other side of the mountains Swedenextended until the northern part of Norway where the landof the Cwenas began. This would support the translation'over the wilderness, throughout the wilderness' of oferþa westenne in the geography of Germania (cf. p. 48).

The verb hergian, hergean II means 'to harry,plunder, ravage, make a raid, lay waste'. Its literalmeaning is 'to overrun by an army, destroy by an army',cf. OE here 'an army' (ASD 1964, p. 534; Campbell 1964, p.177). The ON cognates are herja and herr; it is not

impossible that Ohthere himself used this particularexpression to describe the hostilities.Hergiað is a present tense 3p. plural form. Besides

referring to the actual present, the present indicativemay express a permanent condition or a general truth whichcan be reinforced by the use of an adverb (Mitchell I1985, p. 237). In the geographical description of Norwayand in the description of the Cwenas the verbs are inpresent indicative (except sæde, cwæð and the followingsubjunctives wære) (cf. Nickel 1966, p. 131). Thetransition to the usage of present indicative may indicate

that the author is quoting Ohthere's words.The present indicative can also refer to a regular orhabitual action and can be modified by an adverb: hergiaðis modified by hwilum dat.pl., an adverbially used case-form, which means 'sometimes, at times', or in somecontexts 'once, at one time' (Campbell 1964, p. 176;Bright 1971, p. 440; Mitchell I 1985, pp. 237-38,579ff.).

On the basis of this text there is no way of knowinghow regularly the Cwenas attacked the Norwegians and viceversa, or for how long the harrying had been going on. Ineither agree with the interpretation that hwilum would

mean 'continuously' and that the attacks were regular



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(Jaakkola 1956, p. 318), nor find any basis for thesuggestion that the raiding was an established practice bythe end of the ninth century developed throughout

centuries (Julku 1986, p. 56). The use of hwilum impliesthat the raiding was more or less unpredictable andoccasional, but it is not known whether it took placebefore Ohthere's life-time.

The ambiguity of the preposition ofer in connectionwith the description of local circumstances has beendiscussed earlier (cf. p. 48). Here we have two adverbialphrases including ofer: ofer ðone mor m.acc.sg. and oferland n.acc.sg. According to Wülfing (1901, p. 450) bothexpressions mean 'from side to side (of), from one side ofan area to the other side of it'. It is reasonable to

assume that the Cwenas carried their boats from one sideof an area of land to the other side of it and that theycrossed the mountains. Ofer land means 'overland, acrossthe land' in contrast with the sea.

Ofer is in both cases used with a verb that has anidea of motion or action (cf. Klaeber in Mitchell I 1985,p. 476). The conceptions of motion and rest were obviouslyviewed differently in OE and were expressed in the choiceof preposition, case, verb tense, and other syntacticdevices, and they are sometimes difficult for us toobserve and understand. The use of accusative with ofer

probably emphasizes the motion towards in the two phrasesabove (Mitchell I 1985, pp. 496-98). In the clause 7 beraðþa Cwenas hyra scypu ofer land on ða meras the concept ofmotion towards is strengthened by the use of accusativewith on. Þanon in the following sentence in this contexthas a local meaning 'from there, thence', and not atemporal one (Mitchell I 1985, p. 473). It is sometimesmisunderstood (Porthan 1873, p. 80; Jaakkola 1956, p. 312;Qvist 1968, p. 19), or left out (Julku 1986, p. 53). Thesame local meaning of þonan is seen earlier in Ohthere'saccount: þa siglde he þonan suðryhte (cf. ch. 3.2).





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Ross' tentative suggestion that the Cwenas carriedtheir boats from Torneträsk in the Cwen territory overlandto lakes Alta and Leina and from there continued along the

river Bardu to the Norwegian settlements, cannot becommented in lack of any kind of proof (see Map 2). Itmay, however, be based on a too literal interpretation ofthe text.

The OE text is usually understood to mean that theCwenas moved along rivers and lakes and carried theirboats overland wherever it was necessary. It is suggestedthat the river Tornio with its upper tributaries andsource lakes may have served as a route (Wiklund 1948, p.84 n. 23; Simonsen 1957, p. 10; Vahtola 1980, p. 461; cf.Koivunen 1985, 73). The Cwenas may have followed the

Könkämä river past Kilpisjärvi to Skibotn (Johansson 1975,p. 60), or taken a more southerly route. But since thereare many feasible routes, it is futile to search for anyparticular one (cf. Simonsen 1957, p. 10; Whitaker 1981,p. 5 n. 24).

The plural form ða meras m.acc.pl. allows theassumption that the boats were carried from one lake toanother, but it permits other conclusions as well; eitherduring different raids different lakes and routes wereused, or the Cwenas spread over the mountains and attackedsimultaneously by way of different lakes and routes.

I find the information about the carrying of theboats to the lakes somewhat problematic. Why is there nomention of rivers? Wherever the Cwenas lived they surelyused rivers to reach as near the lakes and the Norwegiansas possible. Maybe the small and light boats or the Cwenasthemselves served as some sort of curiosity to the authorand Ohthere's audience, and the information content of thedescription has suffered. Ross' (1954, pp. 339-50)hypothesis that the author generalizes from a particularcase, i.e. Ohthere's experience of Cwen-raids over aparticular route is taken to apply to any North Norwegians

settlement by the author, is not plausible.



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Attention has been drawn to the fact that the Saamisare not mentioned in connection with the Cwenas: after all,the latter crossed the mountains that are said to beinhabited by the Saamis (Odner in Anderson A. 1981, p. 28).

However, the account does not provide descriptions of therelationships between peoples; that was not the author'saim.

The identity of the Cwenas is not known though thesubject has been vigorously discussed for a few hundredyears. It is impossible to comment on the accumulatedliterature on Cwenas and Ohthere's account in this paper;only a few major points are taken up.1

Unfortunately almost all of the information about theCwenas in the OE Or. cannot be backed up with the help ofother contemporary evidence. There is no other reference to

hostilities between the Cwenas and the Norwegians.2 Thepossible implication that the Cwenas were organized in someway at this time lacks also support. The location of theland of the Cwenas is the most important piece ofinformation but we are not told how wide and area laybetween the Norwegians and the Cwenas. We do not knowwhether Ohthere was aware of the extension of Cwena land tothe east or not.

However, there is some information on Cwenas in ONliterature. Undoubtedly OE Cwenas is an anglicized form ofON kvenir, who are described in several Icelandic sagas and

other historical documents (see Julku 1986, pp. 57-83).Probably the most important description, or at least themost cited one, is in Egil's saga. It is told there how aNorwegian chieftain Thorolf Kveldulfsson was asked by thekvenir to fight with them against the Carelians. The kvenirhad a king called Faravith who was to get one third of theplunder according to their law (Egils saga 1979, pp. 35-37).

________________________1. Research history is most recently introduced by Julku(1986); see also other works referred to in the text.

2. It is possible that in Adam of Bremen's eleventh centurywork the account of small people making attacks on theSwedes may refer to the Cwenas (Quellen 1978, p. 468;Jaakkola 1956, p. 312; Two Voyages 1984, p. 64; Julku 1986,pp. 87-88; Pekkanen 1987, p. 1).The ON saga material is not discussed in this paper.



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ON Kvenland is mentioned in the geographicaldescription of Finnmork, i.e. the land of the Saamis, inEgils saga:

Finnmark is a vast country with great fjords cuttingdeep into it right down the western seabord, as wellas to the north and all the way west. To the southlies Norway, but Finnmark stretches southwardsthrough the mountains as much as Halogaland does bythe coast. East of Namndalen lies Jämtland, thenHelsingland, Kvenland, Finland, and finally Karelia.But Finnmark, lying beyond, is more mountainous thanany of these other lands and there are plenty of highland settlements there, some in the valleys andothers along the lakes. In Finnmark there are some

amazingly big lakes with vast forests between them. Ahigh mountain range called Kjolen stretches rightthrough the country. (Egils Saga 1984, p. 44.)

The author of Egil's saga intends to describe thesituation in the late ninth or early tenth century butcircumstances in the eleventh or twelfth century haveobviously influenced the contents (Häme 1980, p. 82; Odner1983, p. 26). The description does not contradict theinformation in the OE Or. about the Saamis, theScandinavians and the Cwenas, but the obvious time-gap

must be kept in mind.ON kvenir are commonly equated with Fi. kainulaisetwhose name occurs in Finnish and North Swedish place-names, in Finnish folklore and in eastern historicaldocuments dating from the fifteenth century onwards; theearliest recorded reference is from A.D. 1323 Ru. Kajanomore 'Kainu Sea' (Ross 1954, p. 338; Vilkuna 1969, pp. 7-69; Vahtola 1980, pp. 469-86; Julku 1986, pp. 94-97;Pekkanen 1987, pp. 1-2). The equatation is notphilologically unproblematic (Ross 1954, p. 338 n. 3;Korhonen 1988, p. 62).

The kainulaiset, or Cwena land, are generally locatedaround the Gulf of Bothnia or in present-day Finland,especially among Scandinavian and Finnish scholars of thiscentury. In recent opinions they have been placed at thehead of the Gulf (Aarseth 1982, pp. 10,15), in centralOstrobothnia in Finland (Ekblom 1941-42, p. 143; TwoVoyages 1984, map), in southern Ostrobothnia (Virrankoski1978, pp. 121-23), in Finland Proper (Vilkuna 1969, pp.74-81), in Swedish Västerbotten coming from south-westFinland (Fjellström 1985, p. 85), in Satakunta in south-western



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Finland (Jaakkola 1956, p. 318; cf. Valonen 1980,pp. 26,102), and on the coastal district around the northernhalf of the Gulf of Bothnia (Julku 1986, p. 131).

They are supposed to have been Finns who made

expeditions to the north of Fenno-Scandia in the Middle Agesin order to trade or/and hunt and possibly collect tributefrom the Saamis. During these expeditions they supposedlycame into hostile contacts with the NorthNorwegians, of what Ohthere's account would evidence. It isassumed that Scandinavians and Finns, also Carelians,competed with each other for the right to tax the Saamis orgenerally to exploit the Arctic region. (Johnsen 1923,pp. 13,15; Jaakkola 1956, p. 318; Simonsen 1957, p. 10;Johansson 1975, p. 60; Bergsland in Johansen Kleppe 1977, p.47; Vahtola 1980, p. 468; Aarseth 1982, p. 15; Odner 1983,

p. 24; Sawyer 1984, p. 53.) Though they were rivals, some ofthem occasionally co-operated (cf. Egil's saga).1

The debate of the original location of the kvenir/kainulaiset is connected to some extent with the debate ofthe etymology of the name. There are two main views aboutthe meaning; kvenir/kainulaiset means 'low-landers' (deVries 1962, p. 336; cf. Julku 1986, pp. 32-33), or the namederives from a word meaning 'a club'.

The first and older view has been revised by Vahtola(1980, pp. 466-88). According to him ON Kve(i)nland is aname originally given to the low-lying coastal area of the

Gulf of Bothnia, < ON *hvein 'low-lying, marshy ground',from which derives kveinir, kvener designating the Finnishpeople living on this land. The name originally wouldprobably have meant the population of southern Ostrobothniaduring the Early Iron Age (around 0 - A.D. 800), with whomthe Norwegians came into contact in the north. Vahtolathinks that Kvenland, kvener were borrowed into Finnish

_____________________1.In her paper 'The Kainuu culture', 1984, in T. Edgren(ed.), Fenno-ugri et slavi 1983, 161-168, Iskos 4, S. Mäki

defines the kainulaiset as farmer-pastoralists of southernOstrobothnia, North Scandinavia and northern Finland duringthe Late Iron Age, who conducted extensive trade and taxedthe Saamis in northern Sweden. Despite the original and veryinteresting suggestions, I do not find her paper reliable,since her presentation of the historical material iscareless.



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in the form Kainu(u), Kainuunmaa, kainulaiset by thesouthern Ostrobothnians. He does not, however, exclude otherways of borrowing and admits the existence of phonologicaldifficulties in his etymology. Kvener would primarily not be

an ethnic term but denote inhabitants of a certain kind oflow marshy land and by Ohthere's time the settlers from Hämein the river valleys around the head of the Gulf of Bothnia.

The other view is that kainulainen/Kainuu belongs to agroup of names of some Baltic Finnish communities. Fi.vatjalainen, vuojolainen, lappalainen, virolainen, (possiblykarjalainen), and kainulainen would derive from the term forthe symbol of their society or hunting (and trading)organization, which symbol would have been a club, a (thick)stick with a knob in one end, or a sort of staff, a wedge-like stick (Vilkuna 1969, pp. 98-111; Pekkanen 1987,

pp. 2-3). The assumed root *kaina could derive fromScandinavian gail/gair/gein 'a pole, stake, a spear-shapedobject' (Pekkanen 1987, pp. 3-4; cf. Vilkuna 1969, p. 118).This etymology includes the supposition that the name of thepeople is primary and the territorial name is secondary.

The supporters of the first etymology argue thatCwenland in the OE Or. is a geographical term designating acertain area, inhabited by people whose name derives fromthe name of that area (cf. Jaakkola 1956, pp. 306-08;Vahtola 1980, p. 461; Julku 1986, p. 55). One of thearguments for this is that Cwenland is the only proper name

composed of land in the latter part of the geography ofGermania. However, in OE the name of the inhabitants is veryoften used for the country or district itself (Sweet 1974,p. 16). Furthermore, there are three other names of peopleswith the coumpound element -land in the geography ofGermania.

I do not find sufficient evidence in the OE Or. for theassumption that Cwenland is a geographical term; possibleevidence in other sources is another matter, but as theoldest document where the name occurs, the OE Or. has somesignificance. Cwena land in Ohthere's account should be



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translated 'the land of the Cwenas', not 'Cwenland'(cf. Two Voyages 1984, p. 21).

Both etymologies need further studying. The 'club'-theory is the more logical one though it also raises

unanswered questions.1Northern Sweden is obviously of importance in solving

the etymology and the location of the kvenir/kainulaiset.The Cwenas in the OE Or. are located roughly in SwedishNorbotten and possibly Västerbotten and eastern Lapplandand in Finnish Länsipohja, i.e. on the other side of themountains and lakes from a North Norwegian point of view.2

It gives the impression that the Cwenas lived fairly closeto the Norwegians since the latter also made raids on theCwenas (cf. Korhammer 1985a, p. 256 n. 35). Koivunen (1985,pp. 71,73-74 n. 112) suggests that the Cwenas had virtually

permanent settlements, or bases with stores and equipmentfor long stays and for expeditions in North Finland.

Latest archaeological research in northern Finlandencourages the belief that there were non-Saami inhabitantsliving on the coastal district and along the great rivervalleys near the coast during the Iron Age. The material isstill very meagre and the conclusions tentative, all due totoo little research done in the field.3 No Viking Agesettlements nor burial grounds have yet been excavated _____________________1.Holm argues that there is no proof of the etymology Fi. kainu- >

Nordic kven-, since according to OE and ON material the originalScandinavian pronunciation must have been a form without a digraph-ei-, [kven] with [-e-] rather than [-e-]. Both etymologies,however, suggest that the borrowing happened vice versa.Nevertheless, Holm rejects Vahtola's etymology on otherphonological grounds. Cf. Holm, G. 1982, Kväner, Kvänland ochkainulaiset. In Språkhistoria och språkkontakt i Finland och Nord-Skandinavien. Studier tillägnade Tryggve Sköld den 2 november1982, 131-144. Kungl. Skytteanska samfundets handlingar No. 26.2. Place names in northern Sweden are connected withkvenir/kainulaiset (Vilkuna 1969, pp. 32,34-36; Vahtola 1980,pp.467,474). Place-names with a possible Saami element gái'dno,gái'no 'the pulling rope of a seine net' may be linked withkvenir/kainulaiset, cf. Korhonen 1987, 65-77.3. Cf. Huurre 1983, p. 435; Koivunen 1985, pp. 68-75; Julku 1986,pp. 136-50. See also Mäkivuoti, M. 1985, Kempeleen Linnakankaanlöydöistä ja ajoituksesta, in Faravid 9, 25-30; ibid. 1987,Tornion Rakanmäen rautakautinen asuinpaikka, in Tornionlaaksonvuosikirja 1987, 41-53; ibid. 1988, Oulun Kaakkurin Välikankaanröykkiötutkimus, in Pohjois-



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in northern Finland, but the earliest permanent settlementin the Tornio river valley may have already beenestablished in the Viking Age, at least in the eleventh or

twelfth century, most probably by people from Satakunta,Häme and Carelia (Wallenström 1987, p. 176; cf. Vahtola1980). Pollen evidence of the practice of cattle-breedingand a permanent form of agriculture in northern Ostro-bothnia date from the fifth century to the ninth centuryA.D. (Reynaud and Hjelmroos 1981, pp. 72-74). Stray findsof artifacts, individual or in groups, from the Late IronAge show connections with Halogaland, as well as with thesouth and with the east (Huurre 1983, pp. 350-403,432).

The research situation in Sweden is much the same.The inland of northern Sweden was obviously inhabited by

the Saamis, but what about the Bothnian coast? A decadeago Baudou (1978, p. 23) wrote as follows:Along the coast of northern Norrland are found stonesettings datable to the middle of the first milleniumand later. In these graves some Finnish elements arenoted (Christiansson 1969). Palaeo-botanicalinvestigations show that agriculture was establishedin the Umeå area in southern Västerbotten around 500A.D. (Engelmark 1976:99).... From that time on man'sinfluence on the landscape was continuous.Considering the notable Finnish influence and that

the homogenous Swedish settlements did not reach thisarea, one must put forth the question, is it notpossible that this first cultivation of crops innorthern Norrland is of Finnish origin? No connectionwith the Lapps can be noted....Apparently there is no answer to the question at the

moment. Some archaeological material from northernNorrland shows lively contacts between Finns in southernFinland and the Saamis, but not between the Nordic peopleand the Saamis (Zachrisson 1987, pp. 200-01). Anethnographer and a historian have respectively concluded

that there were possibly Finns living on the coast down tothe Umeå river in the ninth century and that they were thekvenir/kainulaiset (Julku 1986, pp. 123-29,131; Fjellström1988, p. 31). But in anticipation of new knowledge nothingdefinite can be concluded. However, Ohthere's Cwenas arenot

_________________________-Pohjanmaan museon tiedotuslehti; papers by Huurre, Koivunen,Mäkivuoti, Paavola and Zachrisson 1987, in K. Julku (ed.),Nordkalotten i en skiftande värld - kulturer utan gränser och stateröver gränser. Studia Historica Septentrionalia, 14:1. Rovaniemi:Pohjois-Suomen historiallinen yhdistys. Excavations in Kaakkuri,

Välikangas in Oulu in 1988 have revealed more Early Iron Age material.



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mysterious; it is obvious that they were not identifiedwith the Saamis or with the Scandinavians, so it ispossible that they were Finns.

3.6. The voyages to Sciringesheal and to æt Hæþum

OE Ohthere sæde þæt sio scir hatte Halgoland þe heon bude. He cwæð þæt nan man ne bude be norðan him. Þonneis an port on su eweardum þæm lande þone man hætSciringesheal. Þyder he cwæð þæt man ne mihte geseglian onanum monðe, gyf man on niht wicode 7 ælce dæge hæfdeambyrne wind; 7 ealle ða hwile he sceal seglian be lande;

7 on þæt steorbord him bið ærest Iraland, 7 þonne ðaigland þe synd betux Iralande 7 þissum lande; þonne is þisland oð he cymð to Scirincgesheale, 7 ealne weg on þætbæcbord Norðweg. Wið suðan þone Sciringesheal fylð swyðemycel sæ up in on ðæt land, seo is bradre þonne ænig manofer seon mæge, 7 is Gotland on oðre healfe ongean 7siðða[n] Sillende. Seo sæ lið mænig hund mila up in on þætland. 7 of Sciringesheale he cwæð þæt he seglode on fifdagan to þæm porte þe mon hæt æt Hæþum, se stent betuhWinedum 7 Seaxum 7 Angle 7 hyrð in on Dene. Þa heþiderweard seglode fram Sciringesheale, þa wæs him on

þæt bæcbord Denamearc 7 on þæt steorbord widsæ þrydagas; 7 þa, twegen dagas ær he to Hæþum come, him wæs onþæt steorbord Gotland 7 Sillende 7 iglanda fela--on þæmlandum eardodon Engle, ær hi hider on land coman--7 hymwæs ða twegen dagas on ðæt bæcbord þa igland þe inDenemearce hyrað. (OE Or. 1980, p. 16.)

MnE Ohthere said that the district where he lived iscalled Halgoland. He said that no one lived to the northof him. Then there is a port in the south of the landwhich is called Sciringesheal. He said that a man could

not sail there in a month, if he camped at night and eachday had



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a contrary wind; and all the time he would sail along thecoast. And on his starboard is first of all Iraland andthen those islands which are between Iraland and this

land, then is this land until he comes to Sciringesheal,and all the way Norway on the port side. South ofSciringesheal a very great sea penetrates the land; it isbroader than any man can see across, and Jutland isopposite on the other side and after that Sillende. Thissea extends many hundred miles into the land. And fromSciringesheal he said that he sailed in five days to thetrading port called Hedeby which stands between Wends,Saxons and Angles and belongs to the Danes. When he sailedthere from Sciringesheal he had Denmark to his port andthe open sea to starboard for three days. And then two

days before he came to Hedeby he had on his starboardJutland and Sillende and many islands. The Angles lived inthese lands before they came to this land. And on the portside he had then for two days those islands which belongto Denmark.

Some of the proper names in this section of theaccount have been dealt with earlier and some arediscussed here (Halgoland in ch. 3.1.3; Gotland, Sillende,Angle, Dene, Denemearc in chs. 2.4.1 and 2.4.2).

We cannot be certain that it is Ohthere's voyage

south to Sciringesheal that is related because thesentence describing the length and the conditions of thevoyage includes the impersonal man 'one'. Therefore it ispossible that it is a general description. The ratherstrange negative formulation 'one cannot sail there in amonth' is perhaps an answer to a question 'How long doesit take, could one do it in one month?' (Fell 1984, p. 57;Korhammer 1985b, p. 152). Similar use of the negative isfound in Adam of Bremen's History to indicate minimumtravelling time (Quellen 1978, p. 460).

Whether the description refers to Ohthere's voyage or

not, he must have sailed along the coast with ealne weg onæt bæcbord Norðweg. This is the first occurrence of



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the name of Norway in a Germanic language. It means'the northern way, the way going to the north', ON*Norðvegr (de Vries 1962, p. 411; Andersen 1977, pp. 50-

51), and it is appropriately used in this sense here.The adverbial expression ealne weg m.acc.sg. occursthree times in Ohthere's account and twice in Wulfstan'saccount. It may be worth pointing out that this accusativeconstruction does not only have a spatial meaning 'thewhole way, all the way', but also a temporal one'continuously, always', when it answers to the question'when?' (Wülfing 1894, p. 267; Mossé 1945, p. 369; Bright1971, p. 486; cf. Two Voyages 1984, p. 18).

Sciringesheal is mentioned five times in the text. InBosworth's (1859, p. 21) and Sweet's (1883, p. 19)

editions it is transcribed with a space between the twoelements. Thorpe (1853, p. 252) reproduces the name with ahyphen in between. In Bately's edition the name is writtenas one word.

Þone man hæt Sciringesheal is an amendedtranscription accepted by all commentators and editors.The MS C has þonne 'then' which evidently is an error; thecontext requires þone m.acc.sg. 'that' (cf. Rask 1815, p.42 n. 39; Bosworth 1859, p. 9; Porthan 1873, p. 81 n. 35;OE Or. 1980, p. 16).

The locating of Sciringesheal was seriously begun in

the nineteenth century by Norwegian historians andantiquaries. Since 1838 Sciringesheal has been connectedwith a site in Vestfold county in Norway. This view hasbeen accepted by most scholars, and modified by theNorwegian archaeologist Charlotte Blindheim (Blindheim1981, pp. 12-16). There are other identifications proposedin recent years, but none as thoroughly argued (Sandefjordin Vestfold or Svinefjord in Østfold).

The starting point of the identification is, ofcourse, the information in Ohthere's account. On the basisof the sailing time and the reference to a penetrating

sea, it is



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obvious that Sciringesheal should be situated around theSkagerrak. The fact that it is characterized as an port issignificant. OE port < Lat. portus means 'a port, haven; a

town' (ASD 1964, p. 776), and this implies thatSciringesheal was settled, a relatively densely built-uparea where trading was conducted, possibly a town of somesort.

On the basis of philological, topographical andarchaeological evidence besides the historical in the OEOr., the Norwegians have located Sciringesheal on the siteof Kaupang, which is a group of farms in Tjølling parishnear Larvik (see Map 3). The objects found in the gravesand on the settlement site consist largely of importedgoods, mostly from western Europe but also eastern

imports, i.e. Swedish, Slav, Finnish, Baltic and stillfurther distant. The bulk of the material from the housesis regarded as work-shop refuse due to metalworking andsoapstone production. Kaupang is dated from the the lateeighth century to the tenth century. (Blindheim 1974, pp.77-78; ibid. 1981, pp. 178-89.) Kaupang and its goodharbour lie on a typical coastal district well protectedfrom the sea (Blindheim 1974, pp. 74-75). Place-namesindicate that in Kaupang there was close connection amongeconomic, ecclesiastical and secular administrativefunctions (Blindheim 1981, p. 15).

Kaupang was certainly a market-place and amanufacturing centre, not as large as its contemporariesHedeby and Birka, but still representing the verybeginnings of urbanization in Norway. It served obviouslythe densely-populated hinterland as a local centre ofcommerce and the foreign and native merchants, part-timeor otherwise, that conducted long-distance trade as aresting place and as a market where local goods were to beobtained (Blindheim 1982a, p. 64; Sawyer 1982, p. 73). Itis not known whether the site was a seasonal market orpermanently settled (Tollnes in Blindheim 1974, p. 88;

Andersen 1977, p. 224; Binns 1980, p. 39; Graham-Campbell1980, p. 99; Jones 1984, p. 168; cf. Sawyer 1984, p. 51).



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The meaning of ON Skíringssalr is not known. Thevarious suggestions have been summed up by Blindheim(1981, pp. 13-15) and Fries (1980, pp. 94-97). The name

occurs in three sagas which date later than the OE Or.,and in two of these the name is clearly connected withVestfold, but refers to a district larger than Ohthere'sport (Fries 1980, pp. 93-95; Blindheim 1981, pp. 12-13).The apparent anglicized form of the name causes someproblems. It is dicussed whether ON -salr was replaced byOE heall 'a hall' or OE healh 'a nook, a corner of land'(Bately 1980b, p. 193; Fries 1980, pp. 94-95; Fell 1984,pp. 62-63). Binns (1980, p. 39) maintains that the OE formmay have been a commonly used international name and thatthe Anglo-Saxons were familiar with the place.

The information about Sciringesheal in the accountcorresponds well to the results of Kaupang investigationsand in lack of other convincing criteria in favour ofother sites "we must assume that the identification ofSciringesheal with Kaupang is correct" (Ambrosiani 1986,p. 54).

The Viking seamanship and navigation are hotlydebated subjects and outside the scope of this paper, butcomparisons between the reconstructions of the voyages toKaupang and to æt Hæþum are appropriate.

It is generally believed that Ohthere measured his

voyages in ON dægr, dœgr 'a day's sailing', a measuresometimes meaning a 12 h (a daylight only), or a 24 hsailing, and sometimes a 16 h sailing; its length appearsto vary between 30 and 150 nautical miles (nm) in theViking and Middle Ages (Ekwall 1943, p. 281; Marcus 1953,p. 119; Simonsen 1957, p. 11; Binns 1961, p. 49 n. 11;Haasum 1974, p. 95; Crumlin-Pedersen 1984, p. 30; McGrail1987, p. 282). Dægr would appear to have represented adistance, rather than a period of time (Marcus 1953, p.119), or both, since space and time were not strictlyseparated concepts in the period. A day's sail is a unit

common in several maritime cultures with the implicationof "a 'standard' speed to be







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an unexperienced crew wasting time while island hoppingwith a good wind in search of the next landmark. Eventhough it may have been customary to navigate shallow and

difficult waters camping by night and sailing by day(Roesdahl 1982, p. 37), it is not necessary to assume thatthe ship actually sailed among the archipelago all the waydown to Kaupang, which would be the most dangerous method,but outside the islands and the coast, close enough,however, to be able to recognize landmarks.

Binns (1980, pp. 86,91) remarks that during theHalogaland-Kaupang voyage the actual distance made goodwas less than on the open sea but that there is littledifference in the speed whether coasting or sailing on theopen with a trading vessel. Korhammer (1985b, p. 163)

writes that "speed well in excess of 3 kn was easilywithin the scope of a Viking-ship under good conditions".The numbers and opinions above include discrepancies

and they show how difficult it is to reconstruct thevoyages described in the account on the basis ofinadequate information provided by the original text andinsufficient knowledge of the period's seamanship andnavigation.

Let us then turn to the Kaupang-æt Hæþum voyage.There is no uncertainty in the identification of the otherport called æt Hæþum dat.pl. The name is an anglicized

form of ON Runic hai þa bu, Dan. Hedeby, meaning 'on theheaths'; both the OE and ON form have the plural (Rask1815, p. 121 n. n; Binns 1980, p. 40; Fell 1984, p. 62).In OE sometimes the preposition æt is used pleonasticallyin place-names: it forms part of a fixed combination witha proper noun and the whole is understood as a place-name.Æt should not be translated in such phrases, which werealso known in ON. (Lindkvist 1978, p. 12 n. 7.)

Hedeby is the best known Viking Age and medievaltrading centre in Denmark. It is situated at the head ofthe Schlei, near modern Schleswig (see Map 4). It was one

of the first urban centres to emerge in northern Europeand owed its success to its commanding geographicalposition. The early stages of Hedeby date from the eighthcentury and by the ninth century it was a trading andmanufacturing centre





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The problems in the reconstruction of the Kaupang-Hedeby voyage are the following:a) How far north did the Danes control the western coast

of present-day Sweden? (For the answer see ch. 2.4.)b) Which route did Ohthere choose during the third day:Öresund, Store Belt or Lille Belt?c) Did Ohthere sail day and night or did he land atnights?

Ohthere obviously sailed south along the westerncoast of Sweden whomever it belonged to. Then for two dayshe had North Jutland and South Jutland, i.e. Gotland andSillende, and many islands on his starboard and Danishislands on his port. This interpretation of the textdiscards the theory of the Öresund-route, suggested by

some commentators (Bosworth 1859, map; Aarseth 1975, p. 8;Binns 1980, p. 41). Besides there are strong currents inthe Öresund (Sawyer 1982, p. 75).

The natural route went either through Store or LilleBelt (see Map 1). The Lille Belt route is twenty-fivenautical miles longer but the currents in Store Belt aremore irregular (Crumlin-Pedersen 1984, pp. 35-36). We donot know what kind of winds Ohthere had and whether he putin to shore at nights on some of the several possiblesettlement or trading sites along the route (Crumlin-Pedersen 1984, pp. 34-38). It is possible that the

political situation in the Danish territories may haveinfluenced his choice of the route or his sailing timeOhthere obviously reached the vicinity of the island

of Samsø during the third day. If he chose the Lille Beltpassage, the islands to starboard were Samsø, Brandsø,Bågø, Årø, Barsø, and Als (Porthan 1873, p. 87 n. 55,88 n.60; Ekblom 1939-40, p. 188; Arbman 1962, pp. 88-89; Labuda1961, map; Crumlin-Pedersen 1984, p. 38).

If, however, Ohthere sailed through Store Belt he hadon the starboard, in addition to the islands mentionedabove, Fyn. Depending on whether he sailed east or west of

Langeland, he either sailed along the Sjælland or the Fyncoat. In the southern end of Store Belt he could sail



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alternatively west or east of Æro (Crumlin-Pedersen 1984, p.38). The Store Belt route is favoured by many commentators,obviously because it is a more direct route (cf. Geidel1904, p. 69; Malone 1930b, p. 161; Mossé 1945, p. 373;

Bright 1971, p. 191; Blindheim 1982b, p. 15; Bately 1980b,p. 196; Korhammer 1985b, p. 160).

The problems b) and c) will always be matters ofconjecture. In regard to what is said above about thesailing capacities of the Viking ships, it is quite possiblethat Ohthere beached at nights.

The OE Or. does not tell us why Ohthere sailed toKaupang and Hedeby. We may, however, assume that he wassailing most likely with a cargo of furs, skins, ivory,ropes, and down. The southernmost routes were obviouslywell-known by the end of the ninth century. It seems that

most Anglo-Irish goods reached Kaupang via Hedeby (or otherNorth Sea ports) in the ninth century (Blindheim 1981, p.179). And Norwegians products, such as soapstone vessels andwhetstones (perhaps iron) were imported to Denmark (Jankuhn1982 p. 148; Roesdahl 1982, p. 199; Blindheim 1982b, pp. 11-12). Apart from the Viking attacks and consequentsettlements on the British Isles in the ninth century thereis little knowledge of other Anglo-Danish contacts from thatperiod and especially from Denmark. Presumably there wasgeneral trading and some traffic caused by family ties(Roesdahl 1982, p. 220).

Jankuhn (1982; cf. Blindheim 1982b, pp. 16-17) hasanalysed Viking Age sea-trade. According to him Ohthere, ifwe assume that he was a farmer-merchant, represents atypical Viking Age trader who at least himself partlyacquired his merchandise (i.e. whaling, walrus-hunting),sailed along the coast stopping each night in a safe andsheltered place, one of which was a rather small localmarket called Sciringesheal, where he collected more goodsor traded some of his goods for other goods, and thencontinued to a central market, Hedeby. Jankuhn proposesrejecting the concept of primitive barter of goods in the

Viking period.



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He believes that trade, which was differentiated to someextent, was conducted under binding regulations. There isevidence of trade contracts made in the ninth and tenthcenturies and Jankuhn assumes that the trade between the

Anglo-Saxons and the Norwegians was conducted according totrade agreements, which also controlled the lucrative NorthNorwegian trade with the Biarmians.

3.6.1. The meaning of ambyrne wind

Þyder he cwæð þæt man ne mihte geseglian on anummonðe, gyf man on niht wicode 7 ælce dæge hæfde ambyrnewind. This sentence has always been difficult to understand.The generally accepted interpretation is not in accordance

with what is known of the speed and navigation of the Vikingships.

The generally accepted interpretation includes thetranscription man ne mihte and the meaning 'favourable' forambyr: 'a man could not sail there in a month, if he campedat night and each day had favourable wind'.

It is not certain whether the text includes ne or not.Originally the letter m was written and then altered tonegative ne in MS C. We do not know whether the scribe'sexemplar contained ne, or whether this was his conjecturalamendation, or whether the scribe had started writing the

letter m of mihte and when correcting he supplied ne withoutan erasure, or whether it was somebody else than the scribewho made the alteration later on (Bright 1971, p. 190; OEOr. 1980, p 16; Korhammer 1985b, p. 152). However, thetranscription with ne is commonly accepted, except by a fewcommentators (Swanton 1975, p. 35; Crossley-Holland 1982, p.62; Sandvik 1980, p. 4 n. 2). Even if the ne is omitted thesentence is not in agreement with the knowledge of VikingAge seamanship if ambyr(e) means 'favourable'.

With very few exceptions ambyrne wind m.acc.sg. hasbeen translated 'favourable wind' or with a similar



135

expression. This meaning suggests that the journey fromHalogaland to Oslofjord was a long, rough and difficultundertaking since it took more than one month if the nightswere spent on shore and even though the winds were

favourable every day. The intention could have been to givethe audience an emotionally exciting picture with theemphasis on the vast distance traversed (Ekwall 1943, pp.276-77).

There is a paradox in this interpretation: the positiveexpression 'favourable' does not fit the context and sincewe cannot change the text the only solution is to interpretambyr(e) differently (Korhammer 1985b, pp. 152-53). Someexplanations for the paradox (Ekwall 1943, p. 281; Binns1980, pp. 39-40) are not convincing since they alter thetext too much. If ambyr(e) had a contrary, negative meaning

the sentence with ne would make more sense. This wassuggested already in the nineteenth century but it has notbeen widely accepted.

The contrary meaning to 'favourable' is supported bysome scholars; OE am-byre < *and-byre, cf. ON andviðri 'ahead-wind', MnIce. andbyrr (Craigie 1923; Ekwall 1943,p. 276; Holthausen 1963, p. 3; Mossé 1945, p. 440; Djupedal1969, p. 121 n. 2), and recently taken up by Korhammer(1985b). Comparison with the MnIce. andbyrr is problematic(Ekwall 1943, pp. 281-82; Korhammer 1985b, p. 164).Korhammer suggests the etymology Gmc. prefix *an(a)-

'towards, against' compounded with Gmc. adjective *bura-z >*bora-z 'high, elevated' of IE *bher 'to bear, carry',linked with verbal derivations like OHG burien 'to raise,lift; to raise oneself, rise', OE gebyrian 'to happen,belong to, befit', ON byrja 'to befit, to be due; to begin',and with nominal ones like OE byr 'a mound', ON byrr and OEbyre 'a wind, gust'. Korhammer gives -byr(e) the meaning'something rising, something that is raised' and ambyrewould then mean 'something rising against something,something contrary'. The alternative etymologies for ambyre'favourable' are presented by Ekwall (1943, pp. 281-84).1

______________________1. See also Bammesberg, A. 1983, 'The Old English AdjectiveAmbyre'. In English studies, Vol. 64, 98-100.





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sailing directions to them; by Iraland he meant that thepoint of departure of the sea-route to Ireland was firstto starboard, which term in itself is not an exact

definition of place (see Map 3). This view is supported byothers (Simonsen 1957, p. 13; Bright 1971, p. 191; Bately1980b, pp. LXXXVIII,194; Pritsak 1981, p.698).

The mention earlier in the account that Ohthere hadan open sea to port when sailing to the White Sea wouldspeak for 'Ireland' (Malone 1930b, p. 143; Stokoe 1957, p.300). Or Iraland's position is due to the classical andmedieval geographical conception that Ireland was situatednorth of Britain (Geidel 1904, p. 65; Dahlman in Emerson1916, pp. 458-59; Djupedal 1969, p. 121 n. 3; Derolez1971, p. 207 n. 4; Lund 1984, p. 12). Even though Ireland

is referred to by Scotland elsewhere in the OE Or. (1980,p. 19), the name Ireland for 'Ireland' was probably knownby the end of the ninth century (Emerson 1916, p. 459;Bately 1980b, p. 194).

It is also possible that Ohthere came to Alfred'scourt before the settlement of Iceland, or maybe he hadnever heard of it (Malone 1930a, p. 81; ibid. 1930b,p. 143; Stokoe 1957, p. 300). Perhaps he did not evenintend to account for places he had no personal experienceof, or which were not connected with the old relationsbetween Scandinavia and the British Isles. Besides, we

have no idea what the author's influence on this pointwas. Lastly, if Iceland was meant, *Island would be a morenatural form than *Isaland (Emerson 1916, p. 459; Stokoe1957, p. 300).

The main argument for 'Iceland' is that Iraland inthe MS C is a mistake due to a scribal error caused byconfusion between the similarity of letters s or r inAnglo-Saxon miniscule, or to a misunderstanding betweenthe author/scribe and Ohthere (Rask 1815, p. 49 n. 42;Bosworth 1859, pp. 9,12; Craigie 1917, p. 201; Mossé 1945,p. 372; Ellegård 1954-55, p. 6; Binns 1980, p. 40; Fell

1984, p. 63).



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The fact that Irish monks lived in Iceland before thearrival of the Norwegians may have caused furtherconfusion (Craigie 1917, p. 201; Ellegård 1954-55, p. 6 n.

5). Ohthere is supposed to have been an intelligent andexperienced sailor who must have been aware of theexistence of Iceland because its colonization had startedin the early 870's (Craigie 1917, pp. 200-01; Binns 1980,p. 40; cf. Graham-Campbell 1980, p. 78). Finally,Stokoes's searoute theory would actually strengthen theargument for *Isaland (Binns 1980, p. 40; Lund 1984, p.12; McGrail 1987, p. 284; cf. Haasum 1974, p. 95). HereOhthere's method of measuring progress would resemble thatused by Wulfstan.

The possibility of a scribal error cannot be ruledout. Regarding the dating of the OE Or. it is more thanprobable that Ohthere was aware of the existence ofIceland: he visited places where rumours and informationspread rapidly. The theory that this particular sentenceindicates the sequence of the points of departure of thesea-routes first to Ireland, then to the Shetlands, theOrkneys, the Hebrides, or the Faroe Islands, is plausiblesince the concepts of time and space of Viking AgeScandinavians differed from those of ours, but the theorydoes not exclude the reference to the sea-route to

Iceland.However, according to Kirkman (1930a, p. 10; ibid.1930b, p. 146) there is confusion between the letters rand s in the Latin proper names only in four cases in theOE Or. She writes that at times the author "did not attachany importance to the spelling of the names; he was moreconcerned that they should not sound too strange toEnglish ears". Although Ohthere's account has theappearance of being taken down from direct speech, all theproper names in it are more or less anglicized and despitesome ortographic variations, the names are comprehensible

and almost all have equivalents in other languages, whichsuggests that proper names were treated carefully.Apparently the name Ireland was not unknown in Alfred'stime.



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But the arguments are so strong for both interpretationsthat it is impossible to reject either of them.

Thule is situated north-west of Ireland in the OE Or.

(1980, p. 19). The term is known since the antiquity butwe do not know what was the author's source and what doesThule refer to here (cf. Derolez 1971, p. 268; Bately1972, p. 51, ibid. 1980b, p. 207).

4.THE ACCOUNT OF WULFSTAN

OE Wulfstan sæde þæt he gefore of Hæþum, þæt he wære

on Truso on syfan dagum 7 nihtum, þæt þæt scip wæs ealneweg yrnende under segle. Weonoðland him wæs on steorbordon bæcbod him wæs Langaland 7 Læland 7 Falster 7 Sconeg, 7þas land eall hyrað to Denemearcan. 7 þonne Burgenda landwæs us on bæcbord, 7 þa habbað him sylf cyning. Þonneæfter Burgenda lande wæron us þas land þa synd hateneærest Blecingaeg 7 Meore 7 Eowland 7 Gotland on bæcbord,as land hyrað to Sweon. 7 Weonodland wæs us ealne weg onsteorbord oð Wislemuðan. Seo Wisle is swyðe mycel ea 7 hiotolið Witland 7 Weonodland, 7 þæt Witland belimpeð toEstum, 7 seo Wisle lið ut of Weonodlande 7 lið in Estmere,

se Estmere is huru fiftene mila brad; þonne cymeð Ilfingeastan in Estmere of ðæm mere ðe Truso standeð in staðe,7cumað ut samod in Estmere, Ilfing eastan of Estlande 7Wisle suðan of Winodlande; 7 þonne benimð Wisle Ilfinghire naman 7 ligeð of þæm mere west 7 norð on sæ: for ðyhit man hæt Wislemuða. (OE Or. 1980, p. 16.)

MnE Wulfstan said that he travelled from Hedeby,that he was in Truso after seven days and nights, that theship was running under sail the whole way. On hisstarboard was Wendland and on his port was Langeland,

Lolland, Falster, and Skåne, and all these lands belong toDenmark. And then



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on our port was the land of the Bornholmers, and they havetheir own king. Then after Bornholm there were on our portthe lands which are called, first of all, Blekinge, Möre,

Öland and Gotland, and these lands belong to the Swedes.And Wendland was on our starboard the whole way to themouth of the Vistula. The Vistula is a very large riverand it separates Witland and Wendland. And Witland belongsto the Este and the Vistula flows out of Wendland andflows into Estmere, and then Estmere is at least fifteenmiles wide. Then the Elbing comes from the east into theEstmere from the lake on the shore of which Truso stands.And they flow together into the Estmere: the Elbing fromthe east and the Vistula from the south, out of Wendland.And then the Vistula/Elbing deprives the Elbing/Vistula of

its name and flows from that lake [Estmere] north-westinto the sea; therefore it is called the Vistula estuary.

4.1. The nationality of Wulfstan

Wulfstan was left in Ohthere's shadow by the author ofthe OE Or. and he has stayed there in the scholarshipthroughout centuries. The account reported by him isshorter than that of Ohthere's, it describes a smallergeographical area and it includes little practical

information, except some in its ethnographical part, andnothing is said about Wulfstan himself and his background.The fact that he is not introduced at all has led somecommentators to assume that he was a sailor and amerchant, a sea-captain like Ohthere (Murray 1765 inBosworth 1859, p. XLIX; Geidel 1904, p. 72; Helm 1963, p.170; Pritsak 1981, p. 689; Roesdahl 1982, p. 205; Jones1984, p. 503). There is, of course, no evidence of himbeing a mariner or a merchant, or that he was in Alfred'sservice or a friend of Ohthere's. It cannot be denied,however, that the text makes implicit that Wulfstan had

something in common with Ohthere.



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It is supposed that Wulfstan was either a Dane(Nansen 1911, p. 79; Buchloch 1984, p. 23), an Anglo-Saxon(Malone 1930b, p. 161; Haasum 1974, p. 42; Binns 1980, p.

41), or possibly a Norwegian (Geidel 1904, p. 72; Jones1984, p. 503). Craigie (1925) claims that Wulfstan was anAnglo-Saxon and a Mercian because of his name and becausethe text appears to follow closely Wulfstan's assumed wayof speech, i.e. the use of us and the occurrence of non-West-Saxon uncontracted forms of the third person singularof the present tense (cymeð, ligeð; see ch. 1.4). However,Craigie himself admits that the differences may be thework of the author. The name is of Germanic originrecorded in OE and in ODan. Ulstanus, Ulfstein and OHGWolfstein, though rarely in the two latter (Hübener 1925-

26, p. 44; Bately 1980b, p. LXXI). Since very little isknown of the ninth-century name-giving in Frisia,Wulfstan's Frisian or similar origin cannot be ruled out(Bately 1980b, p. LXXI). Pritsak (1981, p. 690) believesWulfstan was a 'political Dane', probably of Frisianorigin, which is an interesting suggestion.

Hübener (1925-26) regards Wulfstan as a Dane becauseof his name, and because he did not describe Hedeby or thejourney there as an Englishman would have done, andbecause as a Dane he was familiar with the landmarks alonghis route. I agree with Bately (1980b, p. LXXI n. 5) that

these arguments are not convincing.Summarizing the above, it is likely that Wulfstan didnot originate from England or from Norway, but rather fromnorthern continental Europe (Frisia, Denmark, Saxony).

4.2. The voyage to Truso

Although Wulfstan's account starts very abruptlythere is a clear link between it and Ohthere's account.

That is the trading town of Hedeby where Ohthere's accountfinishes and from where Wulfstan begins his voyage.Perhaps this





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Binns does not use the term nautical mile, so it ispossible that he has confused it with the statute mile(1,6093 km). The reconstructions of Wulfstan's voyage arequite similar except Binns' estimation of the speed.

Wulfstan's speed is slow and that is why it has beensuggested that he had a foul wind (McGrail 1987, p. 263), orthat the wind varied greatly and there were perhaps somecalms (Binns 1980, p. 91; Crumlin-Pedersen 1984, p. 39;Korhammer 1985b, p. 161). It is evident that he did not havefavourable winds, as suggested by Geidel (1904, p. 73) andEkwall (1943, p. 279). Kirkby (1977 in Korhammer 1985b, p.169 n. 33) thinks that beyond Bornholm Wulfstan may have hadto tack up to Gotland and then down to Truso because thewind backed east.

It is possible that Wulfstan's ship was different from

Ohthere's. Binns (1980, p. 41) suggests a heavier and slowercraft perhaps resembling what another Alfredian text calls'the Frisian shape'. Crumlin-Pedersen (1984, p. 39) on theother hand thinks that Wulfstan travelled in a Slav cargo-boat, a Wendish vessel which was constructed with adifferent technique than the Viking ships.

Wulfstan obviously sailed near the coast and left allthe Baltic islands to his port. (These Danish and Swedishlands are dealt with in detail in chs. 2.4 and 2.6.) Theconditions for sailing along the southern Baltic wereentirely different from the northern Atlantic coasts because

of the estuaries of many rivers and the shallow beaches(Crumlin-Pedersen 1984, pp. 39-42). Crumlin-Pedersen thinksthat depth was measured with a lead to keep a safe distancefrom the shore, especially at nights.

Wulfstan calculates the position of the ship, likeOhthere possibly does, by referring to some faraway placesthat were familiar to him probably from other voyages, andthe positions of which he had recorded in his mind on a'mental chart'. This is a classic dead reckoning navigation.(Binns 1980, pp. 42-43,78; McGrail 1987, p. 284.)



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After the description of the route to Truso Wulfstangives a rather detailed and a somewhat confusing explanationof the term Wislemuða, the estuary of the Vistula river. Tofit this explanation with the modern topography of the area

has caused difficulties and quite a lot has been writtenabout the problems.1 This region is out of the scope of thispaper but a few comments need to be made in regard to theMnE translation.

OE Ilfing is related to Germ. Elbing, in Wulfstan'stime a small river flowing into the Frisches Haff. It isdisputable on syntactic grounds which river deprived thename of the other. The established interpretation is thatthe Vistula deprives the Elbing of its name, but it ispossible that the lesser river Elbing makes off with theVistula's name and consequently the eastuary is called the

Wislemu a (Stanley 1977; cf. Bately 1980b, p. 198).The Este should not be confused with the Finno-Ugric

Estonians, nor with the Osti of the OE Or. The Este wereobviously the Aisti, later known as Old Prussians, who spokea Baltic language of Indo-European origin (Bright 1971, p.192; Bately 1980b, p. 197; Two Voyages 1984,p. 69).2

Finally, there is no reason to assume that the fourterms of direction in Wulfstan's account deviate due to adifferent kind of orientation system.

__________________1. See Rask 1815, pp. 127-28; Geidel 1904, pp. 75-78;Hübener 1925-56, pp. 48-51; Malone 1930b, p. 162; Ellegård1954-55, p. 247; Ekblom 1960, p.11; Labuda 1961, pp. 110-13;Bately 1980b, pp. 197-98; Two Voyages 1984, pp. 65,68-69.See also Ekblom, R. 1944, Der Name Elbing, in ANF, Vol. 58,Nos. 1-4, 209-20; ibid. 1958, King Alfred and Bearings in

the Borderland between the West Slavs and the Balts, inScando-Slavica. Vol. 4, 117-126; Gäters, A. 1954, Osti undOstsee, in Beiträge zur Namenforschungen, Vol. 5, 244-248.

2. See also Malone, K. 1933, On King Alfred's GeographicalTreatise, in Speculum, Vol. 8, 67-78; Ross, A. S. C. 1978,The Este, in Notes and Queries, Vol. 223, 100-104.



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CONCLUSION

We know very little about the circumstances where the

OE Or. originated. It is obvious, however, that it wastranslated from a Latin original in the end of the ninthcentury at the court of King Alfred in Anglo-Saxon Wessex.The author(s) made numerous additions and alterations tothe Latin Or. and he was clearly familiar with antique andother medieval literature. The most famous additions arethe geography of Germania and Ohthere's and Wulfstan'stravel accounts, which are presumably originally composedin OE using more or less contemporary sources ofinformation.

The interpretation of the geography of Germania is

rather difficult since the information in it is verygeneral, poor in detail and schematically presented. Theterritories of the South and North Danes are described insuch a way that they cannot be conclusively identified.The terms themselves appear informative but turn out to beconfusing. The description of the Swedes and theirneighbours does not produce many difficulties. The meaningof ofer þa westenne is Cwenland is ambiguous until thehistorical circumstances in North Sweden in the ninthcentury are known.

It is often assumed that most directions in the

description of northernmost Europe in the OE Or. deviateclockwise and a few anti-clockwise. However, the OE Or.does not give evidence for the existence of the OldScandinavian orientation system. If the terms ofdirections seem inexact to us, they may not have beenintentionally distorted. The use of OE and ON directionalvocabulary, the usage of a four-point system oforientation and the method of description of Ohthere'svoyage to the White Sea explain the apparent inaccuraciesin most terms in the sections dealt with in this paper.The terms of direction in the entire OE Or. have been

discussed by Derolez and Bately, but the discussion stillneeds to continue. The theories of a deviating orientationin the interpolations have, however, contributed to theemergence of a new and more critical way to study the OEOr. in the 1960's and the 1970's.



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Much more information cannot be extracted from thedescription of the voyage to the White Sea than has beendone in this paper, though, of course, the interpretation

can be expanded and the text explained in greater detail.The identification of the Beormas and new knowledge of theLate Iron Age Nort-West Soviet Union would probablycontribute to the interpretation of the text. I findFell's new definition of OE unfriþ most valuable: it makesthe context more intelligible. Some of the numbers givenin Ohthere's account are unreliable, especially thoseincluding 'six'.

The comparison of the description of the voyages toSciringesheal and to Hedeby with the present knowledge ofthe Viking seamanship and navigation is not easy because

the text does not provide enough details. I have acceptedthe meaning 'contrary' of OE ambyr(e) but I think the wordrequires more attention from philologists.

The description of Ohthere's economy, the owning ofreindeer and the taxation of the Saamis, includes detailedinformation that unfortunately lacks the support of othercontemporary evidence, but nevertheless the description isprobably the most interesting part of Ohthere's account.

It is obvious that Ohthere and Wulfstan were notimportant as persons; it was the geographical informationand the position of trade centres and regions of supply of

luxury goods that were of significance to the author, andpossibly to King Alfred.The many instances of ON influence in Ohthere's

account and the fact that much of the information in itand in Wulfstan's account (the ethnographic description isnot dealt with in this paper), corresponds to ourarchaeological and historical knowledge of the sameperiod, indicate that the accounts are authentichistorical sources including reliable information. Themany subjunctive forms with eleven occurrences of the verbof saying secgan and cweðan + þæt (cf. Mitchell II 1985,

pp. 10-12,36,48-52), and the apparent slipping to directspeech, imply that the author is quoting Ohthere orWulfstan in some places. The presence of



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an interviewer can also be detected in the text. However,because of our insufficient knowledge of the OE languageand the motives for inserting the interpolations, the text

is not as informative to us as it would have been to theAnglo-Saxons.It should be added that we cannot be positive that

the interpolations are not fiction, i.e. pieces ofinformation from various sources were put together toproduce two imaginary travel accounts. There are, however,no tenable arguments for this. The separation of fact fromfiction in medieval literature can be very difficult.

The interpolations include several proper names thatare recorded for the first time but the etymology of manyof them is unknown. In Ohthere's account there are forty-

five occurrences of proper names which refer to twenty-twodifferent peoples, places or persons. In Wulfstan'saccount forty-three names refer to twenty-two peoples orterritories. All of these can be identified with peoplesor places known from other contemporary sources, orsomewhat earlier or later documents, (except Westsæ andpossibly Este, Estmere, Estland), or the names havecorresponding equivalents in other Germanic languages.Even though the names have been anglicized, they areremarkably easy to recognize and identify. As Kirkman(1930a, p. 10 n. 1) has stated the author's aim was to

produce names that sounded correct in OE. This carefulreproduction of foreign proper names adds to thehistorical importance of the interpolations.

The mentions of the northernmost peoples, Finnas,Terfinnas, Cwenas, and Beormas are, however, the mostexciting information. The identification of the Finnas andthe Terfinnas with the Saamis is not problematic, butthere is not enough evidence in the OE Or. for theidentification and location of the Cwenas and the Beormas,though they both were possibly Finno-Ugric people.

Though the language is very simple, the study of

some syntactic features and grammatical usages couldinfluence the interpretation of the text (e.g. the use oftenses,



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the use of pronouns). The terms of direction, theexpressions ambyr(e), stælhranas, unbebohtra, and unfriþshould still be discussed and compared with other Germanic

languages.Despite the enormous amount of research literature,or perhaps because of it, many conclusions are assumptionsor speculation. Some are based on old misinterpretationsof the OE text and persist in later scholarship. Thevariety of subjects in the interpolations can make theinterpretation of the text difficult for a representativeof one discipline, and it seems that in the future the OEOr. should be studied by a team of scholars representingdifferent disciplines.



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ABBREVIATIONSacc. accusativeANF Arkiv för nordisk filologiASC The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

ASD Bosworth, J. & Toller, T. N. 1964, The Anglo-SaxonDictionary.ASDS Toller, T. N. 1955, The Anglo-Saxon Dictionary.

Supplement.ASE Anglo-Saxon Englanddat. dativeEETS Early English Text SocietyeWS early West Saxonf. feminineFi. Finnishgen. genitiveGerm. GermanGmc. Germanic

Gr. GreekIE Indo-EuropeanJEGP The Journal of English and Germanic PhilologyKLNM Kulturhistoriskt lexikon för nordisk medeltidLat. LatinlWS late West Saxonm. masculineME Middle EnglishMLR Modern Language ReviewMnE Modern EnglishMnGerm. Modern GermanMnIce. Modern IcelandicMS, MSS manuscript(s)

n. neuterNAR Norwegian Archaeological ReviewNM Neuphilologische MitteilungenNoB Namn och Bygdnom. nominativeNw. NorwegianODan. Old DanishODEE The Oxford Dictionary of English EtymologyOE Old EnglishOED The Oxford English DictionaryOHG Old High GermanON Old NorseOR Old RussianOS Old SaxonOSw. Old SwedishOUÅ Ortnamssällskapets i Uppsala ÅrsskriftOWN Old West Norsep. personpl. pluralpres. presentpret. preteriteptc. participleRu. Russiansg. singularSN Studia Neophilologicasubj. subjunctiveSw. SwedishWS West Saxon





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APPENDIX 1A FINNISH TRANSLATION OF OHTHERE'S ACCOUNT AND THE BEGINNING OFWULFSTAN'S ACCOUNT

Ottar sanoi herralleen kuningas Alfredille, että hän asuipohjoisimpana kaikista norjalaisista. Hän sanoi, että hän asui maanpohjoisosassa Länsimeren rannalla. Hän sanoi, kuitenkin, että maaulottuu hyvin kauas pohjoiseen sieltä, mutta se osa on kokonaanasumatonta, paitsi että muutamissa paikoissa siellä täällä finnitleiriytyvät metsästäen talvella ja kalastaen kesällä meressä.

Hän sanoi, että hän erään kerran halusi ottaa selvää, kuinkakauas pohjoiseen se maa ulottui ja asuiko kukaan asumattoman alueenpohjoispuolella. Sitten hän matkusti pohjoisen suuntaan rannikkoapitkin, hän piti koko ajan asumattoman maan oikealla puolellaan jaavomeren vasemmalla puolellaan. Sitten hän oli niin etäälläpohjoisessa, kuin minne valaanpyytäjät pisimmälle matkaavat. Sittenhän purjehti edelleen pohjoisen suuntaan niin kauas kuin hän kykenipurjehtimaan seuraavan kolmen päivän aikana. Sitten maa kaartuisiellä idän suuntaan, tai meri maahan päin, hän ei tiennyt kumminpäin, mutta hän tiesi, että hän odotti siellä hieman pohjoistalänsituulta ja purjehti sitten itään rannikkoa pitkin niin kauaskuin hän kykeni purjehtimaan neljässä päivässä. Sitten hänen täytyiodottaa siellä suoraa pohjoistuulta, sillä se maa kaartui sielläetelään päin, tai meri maahan päin, hän ei tiennyt kummin päin.Sitten hän purjehti sieltä etelän suuntaan rannikkoa pitkin niinkauas kuin hän kykeni purjehtimaan viidessä päivässä. Sitten sielläoli suuri joki, joka meni maahan päin. Sitten he kääntyivät siihenjokeen, sillä he eivät uskaltaneet purjehtia sen joen ohi ilmanerityistä sopimusta, sillä alue joen toisella puolella oli täysinasuttu. Hän ei tavannut lainkaan asuttua maata sen jälkeen, kun hänlähti kotoaan, vaan hänen oikealla puolellaan oli koko matkanasumaton maa, lukuun ottamatta kalastajia, linnustajia jametsästäjiä, jotka kaikki olivat finnejä, ja vasemmalla puolellahänellä oli avomeri. Bjarmit olivat sangen hyvin asuttaneet maansa,mutta he eivät uskaltaneet mennä sinne. Mutta terfinnien maa olitäysin asumatonta, lukuun ottamatta paikkoja, joissa metsästäjät,kalastajat tai linnustajat leiriytyivät.

Bjarmit kertoivat hänelle monia tarinoita sekä omastamaastaan, että niistä alueista, jotka olivat heidän ympärillään.Mutta hän ei tiennyt, mikä tästä oli totta, sillä hän ei itse ollut

sitä nähnyt. Hänen mielestään finnit ja bjarmit puhuivat melkeinsamaa kieltä. Maan tutkimisen lisäksi hän meni sinne pääasiassamursujen vuoksi, sillä niillä on hyvin hienoa luuta hampaissaan -he toivat joitakin näitä hampaita kuninkaalle - ja niiden nahka onerittäin hyvää laivaköysiä varten. Tämänkaltainen valas on paljonpienempi kuin muut valaat: se ei ole pitempi kuin seitsemänkyynärää. Mutta hänen omassa maassaan valaanpyynti on parasta: neovat neljäkymmentäkahdeksan kyynärää pitkiä ja



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suurimmat ovat viisikymmentä kyynärää pitkiä. Hän sanoi, että hän -yhtenä kuudesta - tappoi näitä kuusikymmentä kahtena päivänä.

Hän oli hyvin rikas mies, sillä hän omisti sellaistaomaisuutta, joka on heidän varallisuutensa, nimittäin villieläimiä.Hänellä oli yhä hänen vieraillessaan kuninkaan luona kuusisataamyymätöntä kesyä eläintä. Näitä eläimiä he nimittävät poroiksi.Niistä oli kuusi houkutusporoa. Ne ovat hyvin arvokkaita finneille,sillä he pyytävät niiden avulla villiporoja. Hän oli ensimmäistenmiesten joukossa siinä maassa, mutta kuitenkaan hänellä ei ollutenempää kuin kaksikymmentä nautaa, kaksikymmentä lammasta jakaksikymmentä sikaa, ja se vähä, mitä hän kynti, hän kyntihevosilla. Mutta heidän varallisuutensa koostuu etupäässä siitäverosta, jota finnit heille maksavat. Tämä vero koostuu eläintennahoista ja lintujen höyhenistä, valaanluista ja laivaköysistä,jotka on tehty valaan tai hylkeen nahasta. Jokainen maksaa asemansamukaan. Arvokkaimman tulee maksaa viisitoista näädännahkaa ja viisiporonnahkaa ja yksi karhuntalja ja kymmenen mittaa höyheniä,karhun- tai saukonnahkaturkki ja kaksi laivaköyttä, kummankin tuleeolla kuusikymmentä kyynärää pitkä, toisen tulee olla tehty valaannahasta, toisen hylkeen nahasta.

Hän sanoi, että pohjanmiesten maa on hyvin pitkä ja hyvinkapea. Kaikki se, minkä siitä voi käyttää laidunmaaksi tai kyntää,on meren äärellä, ja sekin on paikoin hyvin vuorista. Ja itään jaylämaahan päin asutun maan suuntaisesti kohoaa villi vuoristo.Näillä vuorilla asuvat finnit. Ja asuttu maa on levein etelässä jase kapenee aina pohjoisemmaksi mentäessä. Etelässä se voi ollakuusikymmentä mailia leveä tai hieman leveämpi ja keskiosassakolmekymmentä tai leveämpi, mutta pohjoisessa hän sanoi, missä seon kapein, että se saattaa olla kolme mailia leveä vuorille saakka.Sen jälkeen tämä vuoristo on paikoin niin leveä, että senylittämiseen kuluu kaksi viikkoa, ja paikoin niin leveä, että senylittämiseen kuluu kuusi päivää. Rinnan maan eteläosan kanssavuorten toisella puolella on Ruotsi maan pohjoisosaan asti, jarinnan maan pohjoisosan kanssa on kveenien maa. Kveenit hyökkäävätjoskus norjalaisten kimppuun vuorten yli, joskus norjalaisethyökkäävät heidän kimppuunsa. Kaikkialla vuorilla on hyvin suuriamakeavetisiä järviä ja kveenit kantavat veneensä maitse järville jahyökkäävät sieltä norjalaisten kimppuun. Heillä on hyvin pieniä jahyvin keveitä veneitä.

Ottar sanoi, että se alue, missä hän asuu, on nimeltään

Haalogaland. Hän sanoi, ettei kukaan asunut hänen pohjois-puolellaan. Maan eteläosassa on kauppasatama nimeltäänSciringesheal. Hän sanoi, ettei kukaan kyennyt purjehtimaan sinneyhdessä kuukaudessa, jos leiriytyi yöksi maihin ja joka päiväpuhalsi vastatuuli, ja koko ajan piti purjehtia rannikkoa pitkin.Ja hänen oikella puolellaan on aivan ensimmäiseksi Iraland, jasitten ovat ne saaret, jotka ovat Iralandin ja tämän maan välissä.Sitten on tämä maa kunnes tullaan Sciringeshealiin, ja Norja onvasemmalla puolella



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koko ajan. Sciringeshealin eteläpuolella hyvin suuri meri työntyymaahan päin. Se on niin leveä, että sen yli ei voi nähdä. JaJyllanti on vastakkaisella puolella ja sen jälkeen Sillende. Tämämeri ulottuu monta sataa mailia maahan päin. Hän sanoi, ettäSciringeshealista purjehti viidessä päivässä kauppasatamaan, jotakutsutaan Hedebyksi: se sijaitsee vendien, saksien ja anglienvälissä ja kuuluu tanskalaisille. Ja kun hän purjehti sinneSciringeshealista, hänellä oli vasemmalla puolella Tanska jaoikealla puolella avomeri kolme päivää. Ja sitten kaksi päivääennen kuin hän tuli Hedebyhyn, hänellä oli oikealla puolellaJyllanti, Sillende ja monia saaria - anglit asuivat näilläalueilla, ennen kuin he tulivat tähän maahan - ja hänellä olivasemmalla puolella kaksi päivää ne saaret, jotka kuuluvatTanskalle.

Wulfstan sanoi, että hän lähti Hedebystä ja että hän oliTrusossa seitsemän päivän ja yön kuluttua, sillä laiva kulkipurjein koko matkan. Vendien maa oli hänen oikealla puolellaan javasemmalla puolella hänellä olivat Langeland, Lolland, Falster jaSkoone, ja kaikki nämä alueet kuuluvat Tanskalle. Sitten meidänvasemmalla puolellamme oli Bornholm ja sen asukkailla on omakuningas. Sitten Bornholmin jälkeen meidän vasemmalla puolellammeolivat ne alueet, joiden nimet ovat, ensin, Blekinge, Möre, Öölantija Gotlanti, ja nämä alueet kuuluvat svealaisille. Ja vendien maaoli koko matkan meidän oikealla puolellamme Veikselin suistoonasti. Veiksel on hyvin suuri joki, ja se jakaa Witlandin ja vendienmaan. Witland kuuluu esteille, ja Veiksel virtaa vendien maastaEst-järveen ja Est-järvi on ainakin viisitoista mailia leveä.Sitten Elbing-joki tulee idästä Est-järveen siitä järvestä, jonkarannalla sijaitsee Truso. Ja idästä estien maasta tuleva Elbing jaetelästä vendien maasta tuleva Veiksel virtaavat yhdessä Est-järveen. Ja silloin Veiksel/ Elbing vie Elbingiltä/Veikseliltä sennimen ja virtaa tästä järvestä luoteeseen päin mereen. Tämän takiasitä kutsutaan Veikselin suistoksi.

I.Valtonen



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APPENDIX 2A MODERN ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE GEOGRAPHY OF GERMANIA

Now we have briefly spoken about the boundaries ofAsia, now we relate of the boundaries of Europe as much aswe best know of them.

From the river Don west as far as the river Rhine, which runsin the mountains called the Alps and then runs in a northerlydirection into the arm of the ocean that surrounds the land calledBritain, and again south to the river Danube, the source of whichis near the bank of the river Rhine, and then runs east, north ofGreece out into the Mediterranean, and north as far as the oceancalled the Cwensæ; within these boundaries live many peoples but itis all called Germania.

Then to the north of the source of the river Danube and to theeast of the Rhine are the East Franks, and to the south of them arethe Swæfas on the other side of the river Danube, and to the southand east of them are the Bavarians, the part called Regensburg, anddirectly to the east of them are the Bohemi and north-east are theThuringians, and to the north of them are the Old Saxons and to thenorth-west of them are the Frisians. East of the Old Saxons is themouth of the rive Elbe and Frisia and thence north-west is the landcalled Angeln and Sillende and some part of the Danes, and to thenorth of them are the Abodriti, and north-east the Veletians calledthe Havolans, and east of them is the land of those Wends calledSiusli, and south-east, extending over a wide area, the Moravians.The Moravians have to their west the Thuringians and some Bohemiand half the Bavarians, and south of them on the other side of theriver Danube is the land Carinthia south as far as the mountainscalled the Alps. To the same mountains lie the boundaries of theBavarians and the Swæfas. Then to the east of the land Carinthiabeyond the uninhabited land is the land of the Bulgarians and eastof it is the land of the Greeks. East of the land of the Moraviansis the Vistula land and east of that are those Datia who formerlywere Goths. To the north-east of the Moravians are the Dalamentsanand east of the Dalamentsan are the Sorbs and west of them theSiusli. To the north of the Croats is Mægþa land and north of Mægþaland the Sarmatians as far as the Riphean Mountains. To the west ofthe South-Danes is the arm of the ocean that surrounds the land ofBritain and to the north of them is the arm of the sea calledOstsæ, east and north of them are the North-Danes both on the

mainlands and on the islands, and east of them are the Abodriti andsouth of them is the mouth of the river Elbe and some part of theOld Saxons. The North-Danes have to their north the same arm of thesea which is called the Ostsæ, and west of them are the people theOsti and to the south the Abodriti. The Osti have to their norththe same arm of the sea and the Wends and the Bornholmers, andsouth of them are the Havolans. The Bornholmers have the arm of thesea to the west of them and the Swedes to the north, and east ofthem are the Sarmatians and south of them the Sorbs. The Swedeshave south of them the arm of that sea Osti and east of them theSarmatians and north of them on the other side of the uninhabitedland is Cwenland, and north-west of them are the Scridefinne and to

the west the Norwegians. I.Valtonen



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Documents

Valtonen-Description of Northernmost Europe in the Old English Orosius