Variations of famous Viking-era swordsmiths' names

[Jim McDougall]

Originally Posted by Victrix

Jim, it’s interesting to note that even today in Sweden you find people whose first names are Ulf and Bert, which have Germanic origins and mean wolf and noble/shining respectively. So Ulfberht could then be translated as noble/shining wolf. I think the vikings were Germanic tribes which settled in the North, and were stubbornly reluctant to be converted to Christianity with lapses in between. The Franks and other Germanic tribes further South were much earlier in adopting Christianity. If the blade was decorated with crosses then presumably it would more likely have been produced by a Christian smith perhaps in Frankish lands. It’s a mindboggling thought that the Ulfberht (noble/shining wolf) brand could be the predecessor of the latten running wolf mark of Passau? Surely it must be a coincidence, and the Passau wolf mark appeared centuries later I understand.

Victrix, thank you so much for answering!! Interesting note on the Ulf and Bert names still used there. My suggestion of a possible link from Ulfbert to Passau Wolf is admittedly tenuous, but I thought an intriguing possibility. When the 'wolf' came into use in Passau by knife makers long before its recognized use on sword blades, it seemed a most interesting choice for a symbolic device. It was of course so highly stylized it was in cases almost unrecognizable, still it carried an almost temporal significance in a talismanic sense, along with what became known in that capacity as 'Passau art'.

The point was that in this same convention, the Ulfberth name seems very likely to have been the same kind of imbuement. The connection between it and the Passau wolf is of course most probably a coincidence, but in my view a most interesting one.

To carry similar theme, the Passau wolf (actually used in Solingen in continuation of the symbolism/quality connotations) was later transmitted into the Caucasus with trade blades, likely late 18th c. It continued use representing quality (presumably) but again the wolf symbolism carried forward. The universality of the wolf warrior connotation is unclear in connections, but the similarities are compelling.

To the original query, the somewhat contemporary name 'Ingelrii' (to Ulfberht) does seem a maker (or shop) name which probably may have been used spuriously in the same manner which prevailed in sword blade making industry in continued instances over time.