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# The BFD Word of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/the-bfd-word-of-the-day-1416/
- Published: 2023-12-15T17:15:00.000Z
- Updated: 2023-10-21T19:01:43.000Z
- Author: David Theobald
- Tags: General, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-16 22:07

The word for today is…

berserk (noun, adjective):

Source : [Merriam -Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/berserk?ref=goodoil.news)

*noun*  
1: an ancient Scandinavian warrior frenzied in battle and held to be invulnerable  
2: one whose actions are recklessly defiant

*adjective*  
:markedly out of control due to intense anger or excitement : frenzied

Etymology : Combine a bear with a shirt and what do you get? A cuddly, honey-loving, ursine pal, perhaps. Combine the words bear and shirt however, at least in Old Norse, and you get something quite different. Our English word berserk comes from the Old Norse noun berserkr, which is likely a combination of ber- (“bear”) and serkr (“shirt”). According to Norse legend, berserkers were not ones to say “Oh bother” when faced with sticky situations—they were warriors who wore bearskin coverings and worked themselves into such frenzies during combat that they became immune to the effects of steel and fire. Berserk was borrowed into English (first as a noun referring to such a warrior) in the 19th century, when interest in Scandinavian myth and history was high. It was considered a slang term at first, but it has since gained broader use.

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