Vinland

Vinland ( formerly Winland, often interpreted as "wine country " ) is the name given to a native of Greenland or Iceland Leif Eriksson was a part of North America around the year 1000, when he became probably the first European landed there. According to the Skálholtsbók it happened on the way back from Europe that Leif came off a little off course and discovered on the other side of the Davis Strait Country. In the Flateyjarbók other hand it is said that he first returned to Greenland to the farm of his father and then drove off to look for a flat and wooded land that Bjarni had sighted Herjulfsson from his ship far out in the Davis Strait.

History

The first written testimony can be found in the Gesta Pontificum Ecclesiae Hammaburgensis of Adam of Bremen in the year 1076, Adam wrote the original.:

" Praeterea unam adhuc insulam recitavit a multis in eo repertam occeano, quae dicitur Winland, eo quod ibi vites sponte nascantur, vinum optimum ferentes. Nam et fruges ibi non seminatas habundare, non fabulosa opinione, sed certa comperimus relatione Danorum. "

" He also told [ the Danish king ] on one of many islands in this ocean, which is called Winland, because there happen vines wild, bear the good wine. The fact that there are not seeded fruits in abundance, namely we have not learned by an improbable rumor, but by the report of the Danes. "

The name Vinland stems from the " grapevine " which is said to have found there the German -speaking foster father Tyrkir who accompanied Leif Eriksson. Recent debates about the origin of the name arose. Vin has two meanings Old Norse: With an accent on the i ( ie í ) it means " wine " without an accent " pasture " or "farm" ( the linguist Einar Haugen said that the meaning of " pasture " in the 10th/11th was likely. century in Iceland and in most parts of the Nordic world very uncommon to unknown). The Greenland settlers might have been impressed by the green pastures, compared to the barren soil Greenland. Consequently, may have been referred to as " grazing " the country. There is the possibility of a reinterpretation of the " pasture land " to "wine country ", which enjoyed great popularity. If the name Vinland, as originally assumed, of "wine country " derive, could either vines wild North American wine ( whose grapes probably are but more or less inedible ) have given the idea for this name or the country was named after other wild berries, what is perhaps more probable, since at least the Grænlendingar had probably never seen vines or grapes.

Previously, Leif had, according to tradition discovered Helluland ( Baffin Island ) and the wooded Markland (Labrador or Newfoundland). The exact geographical location of Vinland is controversial, in part, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick is suspected, partially New England near the present-day Boston, Massachusetts, partly also the island of Newfoundland. Meanwhile, this representation is provided by the Archaeology in question by European artifacts from the period before Erik the Red said to have been found all the way up to Devon Iceland.

The sagas also mention the places Bjarney ( " Bear Island " ), Furðustrandir ( " miracle beach " ), Straumfjorður ( " current conveyor " or " brook fjord " ), Straumsey ( electricity "island " ) and Hóp ( " Lagoon "? / " Wiek "? ) as well as a "land of the one-legged ". Leif Eriksson and his men are said to have made ​​itself at home in a place in Vinland, which they christened Leifsbudir, as reported by the Greenland saga. The Saga of Erik the Red, according to other Grænlendingar in the north of Vinland have the settlement Straumfjord and further south founded the settlement Hóp.

At least in the latter, in Newfoundland, the Grænlendingar also settled. There, discovered in 1961 the Norwegian Helge and Anne Stine Ingstad, a settlement at L' Anse aux Meadows at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. This settlement was excavated and reconstructed. It included several houses and a blacksmith. The UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 1978.

Thorfinn Karlsefni should have, according to the Red settled the Saga of Erik with 140 men in Vinland. However, after initially good contacts with the locals, who were called by the Grænlendingar Skrælingar, it should have come to conflict, to which the Northmen returned to Greenland.

Snorri Þorfinnsson regarded as the first child of European descent, was born in Vinland, and thus in America.

The bunch of grapes

When occurring in Vinland vines of the saga, it could well have been the currants. In Scandinavia it is still, as in the Swedish Vinbär referred to as grape. In the Middle Ages it was called in northern Germany as well as it is also known simply in South Germany / Alemannic region Träuble or Meertrübli. The shrub grows up to 1.5 m high and has the monastic name black " currant ", because the fruit can be harvested from the St. John's on June 24.

Your sister is the North American because of their yellow inflorescence so called gold - currant, a fairly undemanding, hardy shrub plant that grows up to 2 m high. The occurrence of this plant extends from north- eastern Canada into the high steppes in northern Mexico. Fruit growers use them at the present time as a base for the finishing of sting, Josta and currant, precisely because of this robust characteristics.

Another possibility would be the blueberry. Traditionally, the Scandinavians had a weak alcoholic beverage made from fermented blueberries familiar, which they described as a win, which was equated in later traditions misleading with the Latin vinum. The encounter with the resident in North America or the American cranberry blueberry, which have unequal yielding fruit, could have prompted the discoverers to name.