English
berserk
Berserk comes from Old Norse berserkr ‘frenzied Norse warrior’, probably from bjǫrn ‘bear’ + serkr ‘shirt’.
- Old Norsec. 800–1350berserkr1‘Norse warrior who fights in a frenzy’
- Englishearliest quotation 1848berserk1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English berserk
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1848, Charles Kingsley, New Actors, and a New Stage: “She had heard of his profligacy, his bursts of…”.
Lineage
- Old Norsec. 800–1350berserkrWiktionary, English berserk‘Norse warrior who fights in a frenzy’
- Englishearliest quotation 1848berserkWiktionary, English berserk. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1848, Charles Kingsley, New Actors, and a New Stage: “She had heard of his profligacy, his bursts of…”
A compound of bjǫrn ‘bear’ + serkr ‘coat’
Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- ‘brown’
Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-on-
Proto-Germanic *berô ‘bear’
Proto-Germanic *bernuz ‘bear’
Old Norse bjǫrn ‘bear’
Proto-Germanic *sarkiz ‘shirt’
Old Norse serkr ‘coat’
The story
The noun is borrowed from Old Norse berserkr (‘Norse warrior who fights in a frenzy’), probably from bjǫrn (‘bear’) + serkr (‘coat; shirt’), referring to the bearskins which the warriors wore. Bjǫrn is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (‘brown’); and serkr from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (‘to bind, tie together; thread’). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the first element of the word is from berr (‘bare, naked’), referring to warriors who went into battle without armour, but this is now thought unlikely.disputed Scholars disagree here; the competing view is quoted as the source gives it.
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Today it means
noun Synonym of berserker (“a Norse warrior who fought in a frenzy”).
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “berserk”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Old Norse berserkr / berserk