Evidence for Thralls in Scandinavian Place Names

A very important source for reconstruction of pre-historic Scandinavian society is toponymy, place-names. There is a caveat here, similar to what we found regarding runic inscription, namely probably very little cause for including slaves in the naming of settlements (and in minor names). We have some probably certain names, and a larger proportion of potential place-names with terms denoting a slave. The most “secure” terms must be þræll, but we might also consider terms such as bryti, man n., and karli. The conclusion is that place-names can unfortunately shed very little light on slaves in early Scandinavian society.