DK Eyewitness Books - Viking

OARPORT One of the holes in the side of
a longship through which the oars project.

ØRTOGAR Viking unit of weight made up
of three smaller units called øre, and equal to
about^1 Š 4 oz (8 g).

PIN BEATER Slender wooden rod used in
weaving to straighten threads and smooth
the cloth.

PROW Bow, or front section, of a ship or boat
(opposite of STERN).

PURLIN Horizontal beam supporting the
main rafters in a typical Viking house.

QUERN Small, round stone mill for grinding
grain into flour.

RAMPART Defensive mound of earth and
turf supported by a wooden framework.

RIGGING Arrangement of a ship’s mast,
sails, and ropes.

RUNES Early Scandinavian letters, many
of which were formed by modifying Greek
or Roman characters to make them suitable
for use in carving.

RUNE STONE Memorial stone carved with
writing, pictures, and decorative motifs.

SCALD Viking term for a composer and
reciter of epic poems about kings and heroes.

SCUTTLE The action of sinking a boat or
a ship deliberately.

SHINGLES Thin, overlapping wooden
tiles used for roofing on traditional Viking
houses.

SHROUD Set of ropes
supporting the mast on a ship.

SICKLE Handled implement
with a curved blade used for
harvesting grain or
trimming growth.

SLED A vehicle on runners.
Like Egyptian pyramid builders,
Vikings used sleds to carry heavy
loads. The sleds were richly
decorated, perhaps ceremonial.
Examples of sleds have been
found in burial hoards.

SMITH Metalworker, as in
a goldsmith or tinsmith.
A blacksmith is someone
who works with iron.

SPELT Early variety of wheat that

produces particularly fine flour.

SPINDLE Small rod with tapered ends

used for twisting and winding the thread

in spinning.

SPINDLE WHORL Round piece of clay or

bone attached to a spindle. The weight of the

whorl helps the spindle to spin.

STAVE Upright wooden plank, post, or log

used in building construction.

STAVE CHURCH Wooden church made of

wooden planks (staves) set upright in the

ground. Stave churches were built across

Scandinavia after the arrival of Christianity.

67(0͆3267 An upright post at the prow,

or front, of a ship.

STERN Rear section of a ship or a boat

(opposite of BOW or PROW).

67(51͆3267 An upright post at the stern,

or rear, of a ship.

STRAKE Horizontal timber plank used in

the construction of ships.

TANG Metal spike on a blade or a bit,

designed to slot into a wooden handle.

THING Local assembly. Every

district was subject to the rule of

its Thing, and all free

men could express

opinions there (see

also ALTHING).

THRALL Viking

slave (a man,

woman, or child who

is owned by another

person in the same way as an

item of property, usually to do

work of some kind); one of

the three classes in Viking

society (see also JARL, KARL).

TILLER Horizontal bar

attached to the top of a

steering oar or rudder.

TREFOIL Three-lobed

motif that was popular in

Viking jewelry design, particularly

on brooches.

VALKYRIE Female warrior in Norse

mythology.

WARP Lengthwise threads on woven

cloth (see also WEFT).

WATTLE Interwoven branchesused to

form the basic structure of walls, fences,

or roofs (see also DAUB).

WEFT Crosswise threads on woven

cloth; weft threads pass over and under

the warp threads (see also WARP).

71

Viking longship

Tiller

Hull

Oarport

The 10th-century Jelling Stone, with

its memorial runes

Shroud Mast Valkyrie

pendant