Viking Names
Bjornulf
Bjǫrnúlfr is an Old Norse compound name from Bjǫrn- ‘bear’ and -úlfr ‘wolf’. The name appears early in Iceland, but aside from place-names not until late in Norway. Possibly found in a place-name in Normandy. The name is well attested in personal names and place-names in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire evidenced by Barnoldby le Beck, Lincolnshire. However, many of the forms in these counties may also represent the Old English male personal name Beornwulf.
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Viking Objects
Reproduction Shield
A reproduction shield based on examples from Gokstad and Trelleborg. The face is covered with linen, based on traces of linen found on the reverse of a shield boss at Cumwhitton, Cumbria. The rim was covered in wet, stretched rawhide which was allowed to shrink and dry in place. The iron, carinated boss is a type that is common on Viking Age sites in England and Scandinavia
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Viking Names
Boothorpe
Boothorpe, in the West Goscote Hundred of Leicestershire, probably comes from the Old Danish male personal name Bo (Old Norse Búi) and the Old Norse element þorp ‘outlying farm, settlement’. Alternatively, the first element of the place-name could be Old English boga or Old Norse bogi ‘bow’ which would be topographically appropriate because the settlement lies on a curving hilltop.
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Viking Names
Shoby
Shoby, in the East Goscote Hundred of Leicestershire, is a Scandinavian compound from the Old Norse male personal name Sigvald, a reflexive of Sigvaldr/Sigvaldi and the Old Norse element by ‘a farmstead, a village’. It may replace an earlier place-name meaning ‘Sigewald’s fortification’ from Old English byrig (dative singular of burh).
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Viking Names
Rotherby
Rotherby, in the East Goscote Hundred of Leicestershire, comes from the Old Norse male personal name Hreiðarr and the Old Norse element by ‘farm, settlement’. The personal name here might be the same as that in Rearsby, Leicestershire. Later forms of the name show influence from Middle English rother ‘an ox’. Rotherby is now a joint parish with Hoby.
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Viking Names
Barkby Thorpe
Barkby Thorpe, in the East Goscote Hundred of Leicestershire, is originally a simplex name from Old Norse þorp ‘a secondary settlement, a dependent outlying farmstead or hamlet’. This was a secondary settlement dependent on adjoining Barkby, thus the affix.
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Viking Names
Barsby
Barsby, in the East Goscote Hundred of Leicestershire, likely comes from the Old Norse male personal name Barn, originally a byname from Old Norse barn ‘a child’, and the Old Norse element by ‘a farmstead, a village’. Alternatively, the first element may be barn itself.