Brewer's: Berserker

Grandson of the eight-handed Starkader and the beautiful Alfhilde, called bær-serce (bare of mail) because he went into battle unharnessed. Hence, any man with the fighting fever on him.

“You say that I am berserker. And ... baresark I go to-morrow to the war.” —Rev. C. Kingsley; Hereward the Wake.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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