Page 165 - INSPERIA-School Magazine TIGPSKON 2021.indd

someone going berserk and it’s not difficult to imagine the
ancient Norse warriors to whom the word “berserker”
originally referred. The word “berserk” conjured up the
fury of these men and the untamed ferocity with which
they fought, and it’s thought that the word came from
two other Old Norse (the Norwegian language) words,
“bjorn”, meaning “bear” and “serkr”, meaning “coat”. An
alternative explanation, now widely discredited, says that
rather than “bjorn”, the first part of the word comes from
“berr” meaning “bare” – that is, not wearing armour. Some
have said that the “berserkers” were so uncontrollably
ferocious due to being in an almost trance-like state, either
by working themselves up into a frenzy before battle, or
by ingesting hallucinogenic drugs. So, next time you use meat before this, these meals were known as “bread and
the expression “going berserk” to describe someone acting cheese” or “bread and meat”. The sandwich is now the
irrationally, remember those battle-crazed Vikings and be ultimate convenience food.
glad that you’re not on the receiving end of the wrath of
a real “berserker”! Malatia
Nightmare You wouldn’t have thought that a word we primarily

associate with Africa would have originated in the
It sounds as though it refers to a female horse, but in slightly more forgiving climate of Rome. It comes from the
fact the “mare” part of the word “nightmare” (a terrifying medieval Italian words “mal” meaning “bad” and “aria”
dream) comes from Germanic folklore, in which a “mare” meaning “air” – so it literally means “bad air”. The term
is an evil female spirit or goblin that sits upon a sleeper’s was used to describe the unpleasant air emanating from
chest, suffocating them and/or giving them bad dreams. the marshland surrounding Rome, which was believed to
The same Germanic word – “marōn” – gives rise to similar cause the disease we now call malaria (and we now know
words in many Scandinavian and European languages.
Interestingly, in Germanic folklore, it was believed that
this “mare” did more than just terrorise human sleepers. It
was thought that it rode horses in the night, leaving them
sweaty and exhausted next day, and it even wreaked havoc
with trees, twisting their branches.
Sandwich

The Earl would be proud.
The nation’s favourite lunchtime snack gets its name
from the 4th Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu. The story
goes that 250 years ago, the 18th-century aristocrat
requested that his valet bring him beef served between that it’s the mosquitoes breeding in these conditions that
two slices of bread. He was fond of eating this meal cause the disease, rather than the air itself).
whilst playing card games, as it meant that his hands
wouldn’t get greasy from the meat and thus spoil the Quarantine
cards. Observing him, Montagu’s friends began asking for
“the same as Sandwich”, and so the sandwich was born.
Latin quadraginta and the Italian quaranta, both
Though people did eat bread with foods such as cheese and
meaning “40.”. The bubonic plague, infamously known
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