berserkr

== Old Norse == === Etymology === From bjǫrn (“bear”) and serkr (“shirt, coat”) thus literally "a warrior clothed in bearskin." Probably not from berr (“bare, naked”); see berserk. === Noun === berserkr m (genitive berserks, plural berserkir) a raging warrior of superhuman strength, who fights in a frenzy a Scandinavian warrior ==== Declension ==== ==== Descendants ==== → Icelandic: berserkur (learned) → Faroese: berserkur (learned) → Norwegian Nynorsk: berserk (learned) → Swedish: berserk, bärsärk (learned) → Danish: bersærk, berserk (learned) Norwegian Bokmål: berserk → English: berserk → Scots: berserk → Finnish: berserkki === Further reading === Zoëga, Geir T. (1910), “berserkr”, in A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press; also available at the Internet Archive