Denemearc, Tanmaurk Ala, and Confinia Nordmannorum: the Annales Regni Francorum and the Origins of Denmark

This article re-examines the arguments for the origins and meaning of the word ‘Denmark’ and the historical context in which it arose. It rejects the idea that ‘Denmark’ originally referred to the eastern part of the later kingdom in sources such as Ohthere’s Voyage and the Jelling stones, and looks instead to ninth-century Frankish annals for evidence of the name. It argues that ‘Denmark’ originally referred to an area on the Danish-Saxon border, and by drawing on work on ‘ethnogenesis’ attempts to explain how this name came to apply to the entire area of the later kingdom.