Our modern world is filled with connectivity.
All our devices are always connected to the internet and to each other.
Since the birth of the World Wide Web in 1991, our technology seems to have advanced at a breakneck speed, to being always on and always connected.
But whilst one of our most widely used bits of tech allows us to maintain this connectivity between all our devices, it’s origins and inspiration holds hidden ancient knowledge...
Bluetooth is a technology we are all familiar with. It’s how we connect our speakers to our phones, how we connect our TVs to other devices, and how we get all our devices talking to each other without wires.
But did you know that the name and logo of Bluetooth technology was inspired by an ancient Viking king...?
Harald ‘Bluetooth’ Gormsson was a 10th century Danish king and he was known as “Bluetooth” because of the appearance of a dead tooth he had.
Harald Gormsson ruled Denmark from 958 until 986, and later also became King of Norway following the assassination of their previous king, Harald Greycloak.
King ‘Bluetooth’ was well known as the King who united the two nations of Denmark and Norway, ending years of warring. He later converted to Christianity and brought this new religion to Denmark. He was also known to oversee the construction of the longest bridge in Scandinavia, the 2,490 ft long Ravning Bridge.
Harald became the inspiration for Bluetooth technology after its inventors - Sven Mattisson and Jim Kardach - were sat in a pub, drowning their sorrows after delivering an unsuccessful pitch for funding in the late 1990s.
They got talking about Vikings (as lots of men tend to do over beer, apparently!) and talked about the King who united two nations.
The tech they were developing was to do exactly that - unite the worlds of PC users with that of the cellular and wireless world. So Harald Bluetooth seemed like the perfect inspiration.
But it’s not just the name which has this Nordic connection - the iconic Bluetooth technology logo too has its roots in ancient Nordic traditions.
The Bluetooth logo mark is based on two runes: “Berkanan” from the elder futhark rune set, meaning ‘birth’ and ‘birch tree’ also used as the letter B, and “Hagall” meaning ‘hail’, and used as the letter H from the younger futhark rune set
The two runes together form the initials HB for Harald Bluetooth.
And when the two runes are superimposed one on top of the other, they form the iconic Bluetooth logo we know today.
So there we go - the King of connectivity was the inspiration for what we regard today as our modern day “King” of connectivity.
Both Viking King and modern tech, connecting people across borders...
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