NorsePlay.

In Landnamabok ( The Book of Settlements ) ch 379, Olivir Child-Sparer is so named as he chose not to " have children tossed by spear-point as was the custom of vikings at the time ." This sort-of non- deed/descriptive naming raises some questions, so let's NorsePlay this out: [Viking Spear handforged by That Works.] Aside from a prospective father not picking up his presented newborn from the floor in order to claim them thus casting outdoors the unworthy infant for slow exposure to the elements and/or wild animal predation,  what if  a quicker option besides  this was to spear them? [illustration from Northlanders : The Girl in the Ice .] This naming could also be solely  in a foreign context from when Olivir went a-viking seasonally, so perhaps on raids he spared spearing the newly-made orphans. In this case the resulting abandonment meant Olivir's name was critical of his possibly misplaced mercy. And in the sagas many men are taken down by vengeful d...

While NorsePlay has commented on an exceptionally remarkable descriptive/deed name  found in Sagas of Icelanders , only until we recently finished reading the Landnámabók   ( The Book of Settlements ) did we realize that such name appellations  were far less the rare exception.  Perhaps in a land of multiple Thorgeirs and Bjorns there needed to be some additional distinctions to set people apart. [map of settlers' names represented by ships.]  Yet there are also many descriptive names based almost solely on physical characteristics that may seem mean-spirited, though in a society where poetic skills are valued maybe such name-making was an unavoidable convention. NorsePlay presents a sample list of names from the Landnámabók   to increase the awareness of this practice: Hergils Knob-Buttocks Eystein Foul-Fart Tongue-Odd Mice-Bolverk Thorarin the Evil Hallgerd Twist-Breeks Havard the Lame Arnmod the Squint-Eyed Bjorn Butter-Box Hroald Sp...