# Debate over the meaning of the word 'berserker" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 21, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-over-the-meaning-of-the-word-berserker/963202 "2022-04-21T22:32:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-over-the-meaning-of-the-word-berserker/963202/1 "2022-04-21T22:32:20Z")
As I’ve read more into Viking culture, I’ve noticed conflicting definitions: 1. berserker: ber(bear) and serker(skin or cloth) and thus believe to have gone into battle naked without weapons 2. That the latter interpretation (1) is a wrong interpretration and that instead these warriors went into battle with the spirit (‘fylgja’) of a bear but clothed with weapons. Which definition is considered correct? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2022, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-over-the-meaning-of-the-word-berserker/963202/2 "2022-04-21T22:51:51Z")
I always assumed that they wore literal bear skins, neither naked nor just the “spirit” of a bear. And whatever they were wearing (or not wearing, as the case may be), they definitely used weapons. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-over-the-meaning-of-the-word-berserker/963202/3 "2022-04-22T00:01:53Z")
> **[English as a Communication Skill](https://books.google.com/books?id=I2x2MxvXBD4C&pg=PA313&lpg=PA313&dq=%22hunting%2Bbear%22%2B%22hunting%2Bbare%22&source=bl&ots=rn41KJmRTk&sig=ACfU3U19ehTfKEYtN-LEXnymPYqLI_P24w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwitmPrVrqb3AhXPj4kEHYjrB-wQ6AF6BAgdEAM#v=onepage&q=%22hunting%20bear%22%20%22hunting%20bare%22&f=false)** Know the difference between “bear” and “bare” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-over-the-meaning-of-the-word-berserker/963202/4 "2022-04-22T00:16:18Z")
Here’s a blogpost on the subject, > **[Bare or Bear, or, the Story of Berserk](https://blog.oup.com/2008/08/berserk/)** > > Anatoly Liberman looks at the word "Berserk". ~Max ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-over-the-meaning-of-the-word-berserker/963202/5 "2022-04-22T13:21:57Z")
> [@Octagon](#): > > Which definition is considered correct? Actual period attestations mention their shields and spears, so 1 is incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2022, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-over-the-meaning-of-the-word-berserker/963202/6 "2022-04-22T19:52:25Z")
My love for you is like a truck. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7gFoHkkCaRE/maxresdefault.jpg "Clerks (4/12) Movie CLIP - Berserker (1994) HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gFoHkkCaRE) ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2022, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-over-the-meaning-of-the-word-berserker/963202/7 "2022-04-23T14:53:32Z")
Wikipedia quotes the “bare-shirt” etymology as being sourced to Snorri Sturluson. That would certainly explain why it is so popular, even if it were wrong. It also says it’s been abandoned. My Norwegian dictionary only lists the “bear-shirt” etymology, and as far as I can tell, though I speak Norwegian, not old Norse, is that that makes more grammatical sense as well. The grammar of Norse had a lot of differences from modern Scandinavian though. Still I see no reason to doubt the Wikipedia quotes here. If there was a large contingent of experts in Norse disagreeing about this I’m sure they’d add the dispute to the article. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2022, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-over-the-meaning-of-the-word-berserker/963202/8 "2022-04-24T00:33:11Z")
1. Classic arcade game that featured the lines: “Intruder alert. Intruder alert. The humanoid must not escape.” ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2022, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-over-the-meaning-of-the-word-berserker/963202/9 "2022-04-24T16:14:55Z")
Interstellar autonomous robots programmed to seek out and destroy all life, ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2022, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-over-the-meaning-of-the-word-berserker/963202/10 "2022-04-24T17:06:46Z")
If the blogger is correct about this then _berserk_ is a pun. > [@](#): > > The second part of the noun _berserk_ ( _-serk_ ) means “shirt,” but the first is ambiguous: it may mean “bear” (which accords well with roaring) or “bare” (in reference to throwing off armor in battle; however, being without armor is not the same as being naked), for in Old Norse the words for _bare_ and for some forms of _bear_ are as close as they are in Modern English. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2022, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/debate-over-the-meaning-of-the-word-berserker/963202/11 "2022-04-24T17:33:30Z")
Of course, we don’t even know what the word for bear is, so we can’t be sure. 🙂 > **[The True Name of the Bear](https://xkcd.com/2381/)** > > Thank you to Gretchen McCulloch for fielding this question, and sorry that as a result the world's foremost internet linguist has been devoured by the brown one. She will be missed.