berserker

Meaning

1. A Norse warrior who purportedly fought in a trance-like frenzy; a berserk.
2. One who fights as if frenzied, like a berserker.
3. A type of von Neumann probe whose mission is to exterminate alien lifeforms.

Synonyms

berserk

balmy

barmy

bats

batty

bonkers

crackers

crazy

cuckoo

frantic

frenzied

fruity

furious

insane

kook

loco

loony

mad

madwoman

maniac

maniacal

nutty

wacko

meshuggeneh

round the bend

nuts

around the bend

meshugge

Hyphenated as

ber‧serk‧er

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈbɜːsɜːkə/

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse berserkr (“Norse warrior who fights with frenzy”), probably from bjǫrn (“bear”) + serkr (“coat; shirt”), referring to the bearskins worn by the warriors. Bjǫrn is possibly ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“brown”); and serkr from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, tie together; thread”). Alternatively, it has been suggested that the first element of the word is from berr (“bare, naked”), suggesting warriors who went into battle without armour, but this is now thought unlikely. Doublet of berserk.
The word was introduced in English by the Scottish author and historian Walter Scott (1771–1832) in Illustrations of Northern Antiquities (1814) (spelled berserkir), and in his novel The Pirate (1822) (spelled berserkar). Sense 3 (“type of von Neumann probe whose mission is to exterminate alien lifeforms”) was coined by the American author Fred Saberhagen (1930–2007) in 1963 in his Berserker series of novels and short stories.
cognates
* Icelandic berserkur
* Swedish bärsärk