| Korvessa | 20 Oct 2025 9:04 p.m. PST |
As I understand it, there is no clear concensus on what his epithet means. I have heard:
1: It was ironic (like little John) – he was very tall
2: He was double jointed
3: He had some physical disability What do you think?
Perhaps a poll question? |
 John the OFM  | 20 Oct 2025 9:30 p.m. PST |
Consider everyone's favorite TV Viking, his dear old dad, Ragnar Lođbrók, "Ragnar Hairy breeches". Imagine being known throughout history by that name.
So I googled Ivar.
link
His name could be a bad Latin (hello 40K and Harry Potter!) translation of "cursed". Or not.
If his name means "wise strategist" give the miniature a +2 on initiative. 🤷 Do the sources treat him well, or badly? Procopius certainly despises Justinian and few Roman historians have a good word to say about those great and good men Caligula and Nero. Or Tiberius for that matter. Suetonius was certainly hostile. Perhaps his nickname was a sly dig at his virility, in the same manner. |
| Martin Rapier | 20 Oct 2025 10:46 p.m. PST |
"Perhaps his nickname was a sly dig at his virility, in the same manner" Not very sly, but pretty explicit. It seems far more likely than I ar riding around the battlefield in a chariot made to look like a long ship! Unlike Ragnar, who may or may not have been real or an amalgam of several people, Ivar apparently was a real person and gets mentioned a lot in the sources we have available. |
 Herkybird | 21 Oct 2025 12:08 a.m. PST |
I think that as a child he must have squeezed into a small inaccessible place no one else could fit in, so earned the epithet, but who knows? I doubt the disabled option as disabled children were often exposed or otherwise disposed of. |
marmont1814  | 21 Oct 2025 1:24 a.m. PST |
I think that a sly dig at a huge violent Viking warrior would not let you live long, I suspect it is more a compliment, perhaps he was so tall that his bones couldn't stop him growing, or he was fearless as he had no fear in his bones. In our modern woke society it has to be a flaw a disability – if it was meant as an insult this way, similar as it is to Richard the thirds hump etc its a derogatory name from the enemies he beat – after all in those days of men where men and not men where women , hurty words didn't hurt |
| John the OFM | 21 Oct 2025 2:38 a.m. PST |
We're "they" writing about him and giving him that name while he was still alive? |
| The Last Conformist | 21 Oct 2025 10:45 a.m. PST |
I think the nickname is only known from the sagas, written down a few hundred years after he died? |
| Korvessa | 23 Oct 2025 2:40 p.m. PST |
Just came across this in the comment section of a Youtube video on Ivar – the best explanation I have ever heard: In the hinterlands of the Oslofjord here in Norway being boneless means that you are quiet as a ghost, you can sneak up on people without them noticing you, as if your legs dont touch the ground and make noise. Like when someone is sitting at a desk doing their thing and suddenly become aware that a family member or a friend suddenly are inches away from them, they get startled and call him/her boneless. Still used today. That would also be a good trait for a waring leader, to be able to sneak up on the enemies without them noticing before it was to late. Maneuver warfare. |
| Herkybird | 23 Oct 2025 11:01 p.m. PST |
Great find Korvessa, that makes a lot of sense to me too! |
| dapeters | 24 Oct 2025 12:11 p.m. PST |
Ancient Germanic culture made a habit of disposing of small children with congenital conditions, this lasted in Scandinavia into the thirteen century. |
returns from Mexico with a new vision for making palm trees from scratch.