At some time in the late 9th century, a Norwegian seafarer by the name of Ohthere [Oht-her-e] told the West Saxon king Alfred of his voyages along the coasts of Norway and Denmark. Ohthere's report made such an impression at the court of King Alfred that it was recorded and subsequently inserted into the Old English version of the late Roman world history by Orosius, accompanied by Wulfstan's account of a voyage across the Baltic Sea. Ohthere's account is the earliest known description of the North by a Scandinavian and gives a fascinating and highly trustworthy glimpse of the early Viking Age. Since the 16th century, Ohthere's voyages have been debated by an ever growing number of scholars, such as linguists, historians and archaeologists. In this book, a panel of experts presents the original source in its geographical, cultural, nautical and economic context.

Seminar paper from the year 2002 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: Good, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg (Anglistics), course: English through the ages, 7 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The description of Ohthere's voyages is an insertion into a translation of "A history of the world" by Paulus Orosius. Orosius was a fifth century Spanish cleric, who was engaged by the North African Bishop Augustinus of Hippo to write his Historia adversus paganos ("History against the pagans") in order to refute pagan claims that the coming of Christianity was responsible for recent disasters in Europe. Possibly, the Old English Orosius was one of the works of translation commissioned by King Ælfred of Wessex (reign: 871 - 899) as a part of his educational program proclaimed in the preface to Gregory the Great 's Pastoral Care ( cf. Raith 1958: 1) . Since Orosius' version only covered the geography south of the Alps, it was lacking the Northern part of Western Europe. Therefore, the narratives of the voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan, two seafarers, who sailed the Northern and Baltic Sea, were added to complete and extend Orosius` description. The text of Orosius is divided into six books, which are each further subdivided into sections. The present work will concentrate on the first section of the first book where Ohthere reports to King Alfred about his first journey from his homeland, Halgoland, which today is the province of Hålogaland in Northern Norway, around the Northern Cape to the White Sea (Ekblom 1941/42: 115). Since most readers will be unfamiliar with the Old English language, a normal translation of the text would not be sufficient to identify its grammatical structure. Therefore, the first part of the following analysis contains an interlinear morphemic translation of the Old English text. The second part of the analysis starts with an examination of several functions of OE cases foun

This book, the first in our Companions to Medieval Studies series, is a brief introduction to the history, culture, and religion of the Viking Age and provides an essential foundation for study of the period. The companion begins by defining the Viking Age and explores topics such as Viking society and religion. Viking biographies provide students with information on important figures in Viking lore such as Harald Bluetooth, Eirik the Red, Leif Eiriksson, and Gudrid Thorbjarnardaughter, a female Viking traveler. A compelling chapter entitled "How Do We Know About the Vikings?" and a case study on the wandering monks of St. Philibert introduce students to the process of historical inquiry. The book concludes with a discussion of the impact of the Vikings and their legacy. Pedagogical resources include a detailed chronology, study questions, a glossary, 4 maps, and 14 images. Text boxes provide information on outsider perceptions of the Vikings, a detailed account of a Viking raid, and a description of a chieftain's dwelling in Arctic Norway. This study also benefits from a multi-disciplinary approach including insights and evidence from such diverse disciplines as archaeology, philology, religion, linguistics, and genetics.