Serkland

In Old Norse sources, such as sagas and runestones, Særkland or Serkland was the name of the Abbasid Caliphate and probably some neighbouring Muslim regions.

Despite the obvious similarity to Saracen, the place-name is likely derived from serkr (gown, modern Swedish "särk") and land (land, country), referring to the clothes of the people that lived in the area. Another possible explanation is the Turkic word for "forty furs", which was an important currency during the Viking Age and resulted in the modern Russian word for "forty" - sorok. It could also be related to Sarkel, a city located in the territory of the Khazars.^[1]

Notably one of the Ingvar Runestones, the Gripsholm Runestone, raised circa 1040 at Gripsholm, commemorates a Varangian loss during an ill-fated raid in Serkland. The other remaining runestones that talk of Serkland are Sö 131, Sö 279, Sö 281, the Tillinge Runestone (U 785) and probably the lost runestone U 439. For a detailed account of such raids, see Caspian expeditions of the Rus.

Several sagas mention Serkland: Ynglinga saga, Sörla saga sterka, Sörla þáttr, Saga Sigurðar Jórsalafara and Hjálmþés saga ok Ölvis. It is also mentioned by the 11th century skald Þórgils fiskimaðr,^[2] and the 12th century skald Þórarinn stuttfeldr.^[3]

See also

• Bláland
• Gardariki
• Vinland
• Miklagard

Literature

• Ture Johnsson Arne. Austr i Karusm och Särklandsnamnet. In Fornvännen 42, pp 290-305. Stockholm 1947.
• Sven B. F. Jansson. Runinskrifter i Sverige. Stockholm 1963.
• Carl L. Thunberg. Särkland och dess källmaterial. Gothenburg 2011.

External links

• Carl L. Thunberg (2011). Särkland och dess källmaterial (Serkland and its’ source material)

This article contains content from the Owl Edition of Nordisk familjebok, a Swedish encyclopedia published between 1904 and 1926, now in the public domain.

v t e Garðaríki Names in italics are settlements whose Norse names are not recorded Volkhov-Volga trade route Lyubsha Aldeigja Álaborg Duboviki Hólmgarðr Sarskoe Timerevo Balymer Dvina-Dnieper trade route Pallteskja Gnezdovo Chernigov Kænugarðr Other locations Bjarmaland Khortitsa White Shores Miklagarðr Særkland Varangians Kylfings Rus' Slavs Merya Bulgars Khazars

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