Norse
/nɔːs
/noun
1 [mass noun] The Norwegian language, especially in an ancient or medieval form, or the Scandinavian language group.Many of the events are legendary and bear similarities to other Germanic historical and mythological literature in Old English, Norse and German....
- Borrowings from Gaelic, Norse, and Norman French have created a diverse patchwork of regional dialects.
- The inscriptions are in runes and Old Norse, but the personal names (both Norse and Celtic) and the grammatically-confused language suggest a thoroughly mixed community.
2 (as plural noun the Norse) Norwegians or Scandinavians in ancient or medieval times: he spent a lifetime fighting against the Norse...
- The maritime supremacy of the Norse, however, was destroyed and surpassed by the cities that belonged to the Hanseatic League.
- He was killed in battle by Malcolm III Canmore, Duncan's son, in alliance with the Norse.
- In particular, the Danes, Norse and Saxons, regularly tattooed themselves with family symbols and crests, and the early Britons used tattoos in ceremonies.
adjective
Relating to ancient or medieval Norway or Scandinavia: Loki was the Norse god of evil Norse settlements in Ireland Keld is a Norse word meaning ‘a spring’...
- These are rather crude divisions, further complicated from the late C8 onwards by raids and settlement involving Norse peoples from what is now Scandinavia.
- Stories about Inuit with distinct European features - blue eyes, fair hair, beards - living in the central Arctic have their roots in ancient tales of Norse settlements and explorations.
- He named the property Asgaard, the name given to the home of the ancient Norse gods.
Derivatives
Norseman
/ noun (plural Norsemen) ...- Alfred's dynasty, which had survived Danes, Norsemen, and Danes again, had succumbed at last to foreign invasion.
- Large-scale migrations of Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Danes, and Norsemen, and substantial movements between Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, make estimates very hazardous.
- Iona had meanwhile, in consequence of the occupation of the Western Isles by the Norsemen, been practically cut off from Scotland, and had become ecclesiastically dependent on Ireland.
Origin
From Dutch noor(d)sch, from noord 'north'; compare with Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian Norsk.