NORSE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Norse mean? 

• NORSE (noun)
  The noun NORSE has 3 senses:

1. an inhabitant of Scandinavia

2. a native or inhabitant of Norway

3. the northern family of Germanic languages that are spoken in Scandinavia and Iceland

  Familiarity information: NORSE used as a noun is uncommon.

• NORSE (adjective)
  The adjective NORSE has 2 senses:

1. of or relating to Scandinavia or its peoples or cultures

2. of or relating to Norway or its people or culture or language

  Familiarity information: NORSE used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NORSE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An inhabitant of Scandinavia

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Norse; Northman; Scandinavian

Hypernyms ("Norse" is a kind of...):

European (a native or inhabitant of Europe)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Norse"):

Viking (any of the Scandinavian people who raided the coasts of Europe from the 8th to the 11th centuries)

berserk; berserker (one of the ancient Norse warriors legendary for working themselves into a frenzy before a battle and fighting with reckless savagery and insane fury)

Holonyms ("Norse" is a member of...):

Scandinavia (a group of culturally related countries in northern Europe; Finland and Iceland are sometimes considered Scandinavian)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A native or inhabitant of Norway

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Norse; Norseman; Norwegian

Hypernyms ("Norse" is a kind of...):

European (a native or inhabitant of Europe)

Holonyms ("Norse" is a member of...):

Kingdom of Norway; Noreg; Norge; Norway (a constitutional monarchy in northern Europe on the western side of the Scandinavian Peninsula; achieved independence from Sweden in 1905)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The northern family of Germanic languages that are spoken in Scandinavia and Iceland

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

Nordic; Norse; North Germanic; North Germanic language; Scandinavian; Scandinavian language

Hypernyms ("Norse" is a kind of...):

Germanic; Germanic language (a branch of the Indo-European family of languages; members that are spoken currently fall into two major groups: Scandinavian and West Germanic)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Norse"):

Danish (a Scandinavian language that is the official language of Denmark)

Icelandic (a Scandinavian language that is the official language of Iceland)

Norwegian (a Scandinavian language that is spoken in Norway)

Swedish (a Scandinavian language that is the official language of Sweden and one of two official languages of Finland)

Faeroese; Faroese (a Scandinavian language (closely related to Icelandic) that is spoken on the Faroe Islands)

• NORSE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to Scandinavia or its peoples or cultures

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

Norse; Scandinavian

Context example:

Norse nomads

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of or relating to Norway or its people or culture or language

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Synonyms:

Norse; Norwegian

Context example:

Norwegian herring

Pertainym:

Norway (a constitutional monarchy in northern Europe on the western side of the Scandinavian Peninsula; achieved independence from Sweden in 1905)

 Context examples 

“Norse Greenlanders needed to trade with Europe for iron and timber, and had mainly walrus products to export in exchange,” said Barrett, lead author of the study.

(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)

An overreliance on this trade may have contributed to Norse Greenland’s collapse when the medieval market declined.

(Lost Norse of Greenland fuelled the medieval ivory trade, ancient walrus DNA suggests, University of Cambridge)

Scientists used ancient DNA analyses and carbon-14 dating to demonstrate the past existence of a unique population of Icelandic walrus that went extinct shortly after Norse settlement some 1,100 years ago.

(Extinction of Icelandic walrus coincides with Norse settlement, National Science Foundation)

It was the same meal and the same cooking as their Norse or German ancestors might have sat down to fourteen centuries before, and, indeed, as I looked through the steam of the dishes at the lines of fierce and rugged faces, and the mighty shoulders which rounded themselves over the board, I could have imagined myself at one of those old-world carousals of which I had read, where the savage company gnawed the joints to the bone, and then, with murderous horseplay, hurled the remains at their prisoners.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“That pieces of a Norse boat were found so far north hints of the risks these hunters might have ended up taking in their quest for ivory.”

(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)

Whatever caused the cessation of Europe’s trade in walrus ivory, it must have been significant for the end of the Norse Greenlanders.

(Lost Norse of Greenland fuelled the medieval ivory trade, ancient walrus DNA suggests, University of Cambridge)

Barrett points out that the Inuit of the region favoured female walruses when hunting, so the prevalence of females in Greenland’s later exports could imply a growing Norse reliance on Inuit supply.

(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)

By the end of the 15th century, however, the Norse of Greenland had vanished – leaving only abandoned ruins and an enduring mystery.

(Lost Norse of Greenland fuelled the medieval ivory trade, ancient walrus DNA suggests, University of Cambridge)

If the original hunting grounds of the Greenland Norse, around Disko Bay, were overexploited, they may have journeyed as far north as Smith Sound to find sufficient herds of walrus, said Barrett.

(Over-hunting walruses contributed to the collapse of Norse Greenland, University of Cambridge)

The Icelandic Sagas tell of Erik the Red: exiled for murder in the late 10th century he fled to southwest Greenland, establishing its first Norse settlement.

(Lost Norse of Greenland fuelled the medieval ivory trade, ancient walrus DNA suggests, University of Cambridge)