%0 Journal Article
%T Old Norse-Icelandic veðrviti: Weathervane or standard, status marker?
%A Sayers, William
%J Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis
%V 2026
%R 10.4467/20834624SL.26.003.23150
%N Volume 143, Issue 1
%P 27-41
%K social status, Norse ships, standards, weathervanes
%@ 1897-1059
%D 2026
%U https://ejournals.eu/czasopismo/studia-linguistica-uic/artykul/old-norse-icelandic-vedrviti-weathervane-or-standard-status-marker
%X The thirteenth-century form veðrviti represents a folk etymology with a recast signification. Despite the misnomer of the literate period, the veðrviti of early Norse letters was not a ship’s weathervane atop the mast but a stem-mounted metal marker of the worth and thus identity of the most prominent man on board. This eminence was also expressed in ship and crew size, and outfitting, and opulent ornamentation of highly visible, richly symbolic, more than functionally essential ship’s parts and gear. The principal evidence for this lexical evolution is drawn from the sagas of Norwegian kings.