Description
Group A runes were most common in Viking Age Denmark
Asmund
Old Norse Ásmundr (m.)
Ásmundr is a very common name in Scandinavia throughout the Viking Age and later. It is recorded in medieval documents from both Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, in field-names in Lincolnshire, and in major names in North and West Yorkshire such as Osmotherley and Osmondthorpe.
It is an Old Norse compound name. Its first element Ás- ‘a god’, frequent in Viking Age names, presumably refers to Old Norse deities such as Odin and Thor, though the latter name appears in its own right in many names, both male and female, while Odin is a very rare element in personal names. The second element-mundr is either Old West Norse ‘protector’ or Old Norse-Icelandic ‘gift’.
Old Norse Name
- Ásmundr
Anglicised Name
- Asmund
Gender
- Male
Features in Saga
Eyrbyggja saga, eds Einar Ól. Sveinsson and Matthías Þórðarson. Íslenzk fornrit IV. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1935, ch. 62.
Grettis saga Ásmundarsonar. Bandamanna saga. Odds þáttr Ófeigssonar, ed. Guðni Jónsson. Íslenzk fornrit VII. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1936, [throughout].
Laxdœla saga, ed. Einar Ól. Sveinsson. Íslenzk fornrit V. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1934, ch. 40.
Vestfirðinga sǫgur, eds Björn K. Þórólfsson and Guðni Jónsson. Íslenzk fornrit VI. Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 1943, chs 1, 7, 119.
Ascribed Culture
Collection
- Viking Names
Keywords
- Lincolnshire, male_name, North_Yorkshire, Odin, personal-name, Thor, West_Yorkshire, Yorkshire
Further information
References
Lena Peterson, Nordiskt runnamnslexikon: Femte, reviderade utgåvan. Uppsala: Institutet för språk och folkminnen (2007), p. 32.
Gillian Fellows Jensen, Scandinavian Settlement Names in the East Midlands. Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag (1978), pp. 34-35, 342, 350.
E.H. Lind, Norsk-isländska dopnamn ock fingerade namn från medeltiden. Uppsala: A.B. Lundequistska Bokhandel (1915), col. 82-84.
E.H. Lind, Norsk-isländska dopnamn ock fingerade namn från medeltiden. Supplementband. Oslo: Jacob Dybwads Bokhandel (1931), col. 98-108.