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Question
#98373. Flem-ish
asks:
Does the name Vinland as used by Leif Ericson imply that wine was produced in that area?
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zbeckabee 
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The earliest etymology of "Vinland" is found in Adam of Bremen's 11th-century Latin Descriptio insularum Aquilonis ("Description of the Northern Islands"): "Moreover, he has also reported one island discovered by many in that ocean, which is called Winland, for the reason that grapevines grow there by themselves, producing the best wine." (Praeterea unam adhuc insulam recitavit a multis in eo repertam occeano, quae dicitur Winland, eo quod ibi vites sponte nascantur, vinum optimum ferentes). The implication is that the first element is Old Norse vín (Latin vinum), "wine".
This explanation is essentially repeated in the 13th-century Grnlendinga saga, which provides a circumstantial account of the discovery of Vinland, and its being named from the grapes (vínber) found there.
A more recent interpretation of the name Vinland is that the first element is not vín but vin, an Old Norse word with the meaning 'meadow, pasture'.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland#Wine-land
Aug 07 08, 4:44 PM
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author
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As you say, the word 'vin' in Norse has nothing to do with "wine", although the word presently means "wine".
Norse 'vin' refers to a natural, open meadow or pasture, that is: A piece of land which you don't have to deforest.
Reference in Norwegian:
http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland
Aug 07 08, 8:55 PM
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Flem-ish
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I don't know if today Canada is a wine producing country, but with regard to the USA wine-production it seems to have come much later than this Vinland-episode. I also heard about Vinland as an area with "wild grapes" rather than vineyards.Strange that Adam of Bremen who got part of his information from a Danish King, should write: "vinum optimum ferentes" if there were no vineyards. Why would the Danes have lied about this far-off territory?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wine
American wine - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aug 08 08, 4:11 PM
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