A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word century comes from the Latin centum, meaning one hundred. Century is sometimes abbreviated as c.
Fimbulwinter is the immediate prelude to the events of Ragnarök in Norse mythology.
The Swedish Academy, founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, is one of the Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish language authority. Outside Scandinavia, it is best known as the body that chooses the laureates for the annual Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded in memory of the donor Alfred Nobel.
The Geats, sometimes called Goths, were a large North Germanic tribe who inhabited Götaland in modern southern Sweden from antiquity until the Late Middle Ages. They are one of the progenitor groups of modern Swedes, along with the tribes of Swedes and Gutes. The name of the Geats also lives on in the Swedish provinces of Västergötland and Östergötland, the western and eastern lands of the Geats, and in many other toponyms.
The Swedish alphabet is a basic element of the Latin writing system used for the Swedish language. The 29 letters of this alphabet are the modern 26-letter basic Latin alphabet plus ⟨å⟩, ⟨ä⟩, and ⟨ö⟩, in that order. It contains 20 consonants and 9 vowels. The Latin alphabet was brought to Sweden along with the Christianization of the population, although runes continued in use throughout the first centuries of Christianity, even for ecclesiastic purposes, despite their traditional relation to the Old Norse religion. The runes underwent partial "latinization" in the Middle Ages, when the Latin alphabet was completely accepted as the Swedish script system, but runes still occurred, especially in the countryside, until the 18th century, and were used decoratively until mid 19th century.
Xmas is a common abbreviation of the word Christmas. It is sometimes pronounced, but Xmas, and variants such as Xtemass, originated as handwriting abbreviations for the typical pronunciation. The 'X' comes from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of the Greek word Christós, which became Christ in English. The suffix -mas is from the Latin-derived Old English word for Mass.
Ur is the recorded name for the rune ᚢ in both Old English and Old Norse, found as the second rune in all runic alphabets (futharks), i.e. Germanic Elder Futhark, Anglo-Frisian Futhark and Norse Younger Futhark. It corresponds to the letter u in the Latin alphabet, but also carries other sound values, especially in Younger Futhark, were its sound values correspond to the vowels:, , and etc., and the consonants: and etc., in the Latin alphabet.
Atter is an older germanic term for "poisonous bodily fluid", especially venom of a venomous animal, such as a snake, dragon or other reptile, but also other vile corrupt or morbid substance from the body, such as pus from a sore or wound, as well as bitter substance, such as bile. Figuratively, it can also mean moral corruption or corruptness; noxious or corrupt influence, poison to the soul, evil, anger, envy, hatred; as well as destruction and death.
Uff da is an American Scandinavian exclamation or interjection used to express dismay, typically upon hearing bad news. Of Norwegian origin, the phrase was brought by Scandinavian Americans to the Upper Midwest, New England, and Pacific Northwest regions of the United States during the 19th century, where its meaning was broadened to express also surprise, astonishment, exhaustion, or relief.
Ergi (noun) and argr (adjective) are two Old Norse terms of insult, denoting effeminacy or other unmanly behaviour. Argr is "unmanly" and ergi is "unmanliness"; the terms have cognates in other Germanic languages such as earh, earg, arag, or arug.
A bogle, boggle, or bogill is a Northumbrian, Cumbrian and Scots term for a ghost or folkloric being, used for a variety of related folkloric creatures including Shellycoats, Barghests, Brags, the Hedley Kow and even giants such as those associated with Cobb's Causeway. They are reputed to live for the simple purpose of perplexing mankind, rather than seriously harming or serving them.
People from the United States of America are known as and refer to themselves as Americans. Different languages use different terms for citizens of the United States. All forms of English refer to US citizens as Americans, a term deriving from the United States of America, the country's official name. In the English context, it came to refer to inhabitants of British America, and then the United States. There is some linguistic ambiguity over this use due to the other senses of the word American, which can also refer to people from the Americas in general. Other languages, including French, Japanese, and Russian, use cognates of American to refer to people from the United States, while others, particularly Spanish and Portuguese, primarily use terms derived from United States or North America. There are various other local and colloquial names for Americans. The name America came from the Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci.
Braies are a type of trouser worn by Celtic and Germanic tribes in antiquity and by Europeans subsequently into the Middle Ages. In the later Middle Ages they were used exclusively as undergarments. Braies generally hung to the knees or mid-calf, resembling what are today called shorts. They were made of leather, wool, or, in later years, cotton or linen. They were adopted by the Romans as braccae. By the 11th century, Braies were ankle-length pants held in place by a cord fitted through the top. People from upper classes wore more fitting braies while people of the lower classes typically wore loose braies.
Canepin is a fine leather made from the epidermis of sheep and goats. It is used to make women's gloves and to test the quality of scalpels. The word comes from the French word canepin, meaning "skin".
In the contemporary English language, the noun Polack is a derogatory term, mainly North American, reference to a person of Polish origin. It is an anglicisation of the Polish masculine noun Polak, which denotes a person of Polish ethnicity and typically male gender. However, the English loanword is considered an ethnic slur.
Det Norske Akademis ordbok, abbreviated NAOB, is one of the largest dictionaries of the Norwegian language and covers its most widely used written variety, Bokmål/Riksmål, which is used by around 90% of Norwegians. It was published as a freely available online dictionary in 2018 by the Norwegian Academy and Kunnskapsforlaget with support from the Parliament of Norway. Knut Olav Åmås has described the dictionary as the Norwegian counterpart of Svenska Akademiens ordbok and the Oxford English Dictionary.
Slavicisms or Slavisms are words and expressions borrowed or derived from Slavic languages.
Blámaðr, meaning “blue man” in Old Norse, was the Nordic designation for dark-skinned people during the Viking Age and into the early modern period, as the color black initially was on the blue spectrum in Old Norse. Bláland, meaning “blue land” in Old Norse, was likewise the analog name for Africa, or specifically North Africa.
