Hedeby

H4E1D2E1B3Y4

proper noun

An important Danish Viking Age (8th to the 11th centuries) trading settlement.

OriginDanish Hedeby ← Old Norse Heiða-býr →
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Meanings

proper noun
  1. historicalAn important Danish Viking Age (8th to the 11th centuries) trading settlement.

    Hedeby (the heath-settlement) was Scandinavia's most southerly mercantile center. It is situated at the inner part of the Schlei fjord south of the town Schleswig (by which it was succeeded in the mid-eleventh century when it was destroyed by fire).

    2004, Kirsten Wolf, Daily Life of the Vikings, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 32

Origin

  1. Old NorseHeiða-býr
  2. DanishHedeby
  3. EnglishHedeby

From Danish Hedeby, from Old Norse Heiða-býr (literally “heath-settlement”).

More words from Danish, Old Norse

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Hedeby. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hedeby

MLA

“Hedeby.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hedeby. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Hedeby,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hedeby.

Source: Hedeby on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.