Viking Dragon (27 page)

Seven days later as we marched north to Úlfarrston and then Cyninges-tūn, my men were still full of the victory.  Haaken, however, asked, "Why did you not ask for King Egbert's successors to agree not to attack?"

"King Coenwulf will not live another year.  I could see it in his eyes.  King Egbert will keep his word but it will only last a year or two. His hatred for me and for Wolf Killer will fester.  He will remember the humiliation.  King Coenwulf's successor will be told of the dangers of attacking us.  Egbert is Mercia's enemy and not us.  It was why I could afford to be generous."

"And have we made an enemy of the Danes again?"

I shook my head, "You saw the Dane's reaction to the Dragon Fire.  He did not understand it nor the flooding river.  He will be our greatest ally for he will return to his land and tell all of the magic of the land of the Wolf. We will be safe.  This winter we can hunt wolves and, perhaps, next year we can raid but some day the men of Wessex will remember us.  When that day comes we will be ready."

Afon Hafron- River Severn in Welsh

Alpín mac Echdach – the father of Kenneth MacAlpin, reputedly the first king of the Scots

Alt Clut- Dumbarton Castle on the Clyde

Balley Chashtal -Castleton (Isle of Man)

Bardanes Tourkos- Rebel Byzantine General

Bebbanburgh- Bamburgh Castle, Northumbria Also know as Din Guardi in the ancient tongue

Beck- a stream

Belesduna - Basildon

Blót – a blood sacrifice made by a jarl

Blue Sea- The Mediterranean

Bondi- Viking farmers who fight

Bourde- Bordeaux

Bjarnarøy –Great Bernera (Bear Island)

Byrnie- a mail or leather shirt reaching down to the knees

Caerlleon- Welsh for Chester

Caestir - Chester (old English)

Casnewydd –Newport, Wales

Cephas- Greek for Simon Peter (St. Peter)

Chape- the tip of a scabbard

Charlemagne- Holy Roman Emperor at the end of the 8
th
and beginning of the 9
th
centuries

Celchyth - Chelsea

Cherestanc- Garstang (Lancashire)

Corn Walum or Om Walum- Cornwall

Cymri- Welsh

Cymru- Wales

Cyninges-tūn – Coniston.  It means the estate of the king (Cumbria)

Dùn Èideann –Edinburgh (Gaelic)

Din Guardi- Bamburgh castle

Drekar- a Dragon ship (a Viking warship)

Duboglassio –Douglas, Isle of Man

Dun Holme- Durham

Dyrøy –Jura (Inner Hebrides)

Dyflin- Old Norse for Dublin

Ēa Lōn - River Lune

Ein-mánuðr - middle of March to the middle of April

Eoforwic- Saxon for York

Faro Bregancio- Corunna (Spain)

Ferneberga -Farnborough (Hampshire)

Fey- having second sight

Firkin- a barrel containing eight gallons (usually beer)

Fret-a sea mist

Frankia- France and part of Germany

Fyrd-the Saxon levy

Garth
- Dragon Heart

Gaill- Irish for foreigners

Galdramenn- wizard

Gesith- A Saxon nobleman.  After 850 AD they were known as thegns

Glaesum –amber

Gleawecastre- Gloucester

Gói- the end of February to the middle of March

Grendel- the monster slain by Beowulf

Grenewic- Greenwich

Gulle - Goole (Humberside)

Hamwic -Southampton

Haughs- small hills in Norse (As in Tarn Hows)

Heels- when a ship leans to one side under the pressure of the wind

Hel
- Queen of
Niflheim
, the Norse underworld.

Here Wic- Harwich

Hersir- a Viking landowner and minor noble. Ranks below a jarl

Hetaereiarch – Byzantine general

Hí- Iona (Gaelic)

Hjáp
- Shap- Cumbria (Norse for stone circle)

Hoggs or Hogging- when the pressure of the wind causes the stern or the bow to droop

Hrams-a – Ramsey, Isle of Man

Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog- King of Gwynedd 814-825

Icaunis- British river god

Itouna- River Eden Cumbria

Jarl- Norse earl or lord

Joro-goddess of the earth

kjerringa - Old Woman- the solid block in which the mast rested

Knarr- a merchant ship or a coastal vessel

Kyrtle-woven top

Lambehitha- Lambeth

Leathes Water- Thirlmere

Ljoðhús- Lewis

Legacaestir- Anglo Saxon for Chester

Lochlannach – Irish for Northerners (Vikings)

Lothuwistoft- Lowestoft

Louis the Pious- King of the Franks and son of Charlemagne

Lundenburgh- the fort in the heart of London (the former Roman fort)

Lundenwic - London

Maeresea- River Mersey

Mammceaster- Manchester

Manau/Mann – The Isle of Man(n) (Saxon)

Marcia Hispanic- Spanish Marches (the land around Barcelona)

Mast fish- two large racks on a ship designed to store the mast when not required

Melita- Malta

Midden- a place where they dumped human waste

Miklagård - Constantinople

Nikephoros- Emperor of Byzantium 802-811

Njoror- God of the sea

Nithing- A man without honour (Saxon)

Odin
- The "All Father" God of war, also associated with wisdom, poetry, and magic (The Ruler of the gods).

Olissipo- Lisbon

Orkneyjar-Orkney

Penrhudd – Penrith Cumbria

Portesmūða -Portsmouth

Pillars of Hercules- Straits of Gibraltar

Ran- Goddess of the sea

Roof rock- slate

Rinaz –The Rhine

Sabrina- Latin and Celtic for the River Severn.  Also the name of a female Celtic deity

Saami- the people who live in what is now Northern Norway/Sweden

St. Cybi- Holyhead

Scree- loose rocks in a glacial valley

Seax – short sword

Sheerstrake- the uppermost strake in the hull

Sheet- a rope fastened to the lower corner of a sail

Shroud- a rope from the masthead to the hull amidships

Skeggox – an axe with a shorter beard on one side of the blade

South Folk- Suffolk

Stad- Norse settlement

Stays- ropes running from the mast-head to the bow

Strake- the wood on the side of a drekar

Suthriganaworc - Southwark (London)

Syllingar Insula, Syllingar- Scilly Isles

Tarn- small lake (Norse)

Temese- River Thames (also called the Tamese)

The Norns- The three sisters who weave webs of intrigue for men

Tilaburg - Tilbury

Thing-Norse for a parliament or a debate (Tynwald)

Thor’s day- Thursday

Threttanessa- a drekar with 13 oars on each side.

Thrall- slave

Tinea- Tyne

Trenail- a round wooden peg used to secure strakes

Tynwald- the Parliament on the Isle of Man

Úlfarrberg- Helvellyn

Úlfarrland- Cumbria

Úlfarr- Wolf Warrior

Úlfarrston- Ulverston

Ullr-Norse God of Hunting

Ulfheonar-an elite Norse warrior who wore a wolf skin over his armour

Vectis- The Isle of Wight

Volva- a witch or healing woman in Norse culture

Waeclinga Straet- Watling Street (A5) Windlesore-Windsor

Waite- a Viking word for farm

Werham -Wareham (Dorset)

Wintan-ceastre -Winchester

Withy- the mechanism connecting the steering board to the ship

Woden’s day- Wednesday

Wulfhere-Old English for Wolf Army

Wyddfa-Snowdon

Wyrd- Fate

Yard- a timber from which the sail is suspended

Ynys Enlli
-
Bardsey Island

Ynys Môn-Anglesey

Anglo Saxon London

Northumbria circa 800 AD