Editing Harald Bluetooth (section)

== Name ==
[[File:The Curmsun Disc - Obverse.png|thumb|left|upright|[[Curmsun disc]] with "Harald" inscription (''Arald Curmsun'') at the top lines]]

Harald's name is written as [[runic]] ''haraltr : kunukʀ'' (ᚼᛅᚱᛅᛚᛏᚱ ᛬ ᚴᚢᚾᚢᚴᛦ) in the [[Jelling stone]] inscription. In normalized [[Old Norse]], this would correspond to ''Haraldr konungr'', i.e. "Harald [[Germanic king|king]]". The Latinized name as given in the medieval [[Danish chronicles]] is ''Haraldus Gormonis filius'' (Harald, Gorm's son). The given name ''Haraldr'' (also ''Haralldr'') is the equivalent of Old English ''[[Harold (given name)|Hereweald]]'', Old High German ''Heriwald'', from ''hari'' "army" and ''wald-'' "rule".<ref>A. Förstemann, ''Altdeutsches Namenbuch'' (1856), [https://archive.org/stream/altdeutschesnam00frgoog#page/n338/mode/1up 631f.]</ref> Harald's name is also inscribed on the so-called [[Curmsun disc]], rediscovered in 2014 (but part of a Viking hoard previously discovered in 1841 in the crypt of the [[Wiejkowo|Groß-Weckow]] village church in [[Province of Pomerania (1815–1945)|Pomerania]], close to the Viking Age stronghold of [[Jomsborg]]), as ''+ARALD CVRMSVN + REX AD TANER + SCON + JVMN + CIV ALDIN'', i.e. "Harald Gormson, king of [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danes]], [[Scania]], [[Jumne]], [in] {{ill|Bishopric of Aldinburg|de|Bistum Oldenburg}}".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/9647410|title=A unique object from Harald Bluetooth´s time. (2015)|author=Sven Rosborn|access-date=12 October 2015|archive-date=1 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201085538/http://www.academia.edu/9647410/A_unique_object_from_Harald_Bluetooth_s_time._2015_|url-status=live}}</ref>

The first documented appearance of Harald's nickname "Bluetooth" (as ''blatan''; Old Norse ''*blátǫnn'') is in the ''[[Chronicon Roskildense]]'' (written c. 1140), alongside the alternative nickname ''Clac Harald''.<ref>''Mortuo patre, [Haraldus] quinquaginta annos regnavit. Hic Christianus extitit cognomine Blatan sive Clac Harald.'' ed. Langebek (1772) [https://books.google.com/books?id=AJdJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA375 p. 375] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414022811/https://books.google.com/books?id=AJdJAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA375 |date=14 April 2023 }}.</ref> ''Clac Harald'' appears to be a conflation of Harald Bluetooth with the legendary or semi-legendary [[Harald Klak]], son of [[Halfdan]]. The byname is given as ''Blachtent'' and explicitly glossed as "bluish or black tooth" (''dens lividus vel niger'') in a [[List of Danish chronicles|chronicle]] of the late 12th century, ''Wilhelmi abbatis regum Danorum genealogia''.<ref>ed. Ludewig, ''Reliquiæ Manuscriptorum'', vol. IX, 591–650: ''Haraldus, hinc cognomento Blachtent, id est, dens lividus, vel niger''</ref> {{According to whom|The traditional explanation|date=October 2023}} is that Harald must have had a conspicuous bad tooth that appeared "blue" (i.e. "black", as ''[[:wikt:blár#Old Norse|blár]]'' "blue" [[Blue–green distinction in language#Germanic|meant]] "blue-black", or "dark-coloured").
Another explanation, proposed by [[:no:Benito Scocozza|Scocozza]] (1997), is that he was called "blue [[Thegn|thane]]" (or "dark thane") in England (with Anglo-Saxon ''thegn'' corrupted to ''tan'' when the name came back into Old Norse).<ref>Scocozza, Benito (1997), Politikens bog om danske monarker, København: Politikens Forlag, {{ISBN|87-567-5772-7}}</ref>