Skål!

Spelled variably as Skål, Skál, Skaal, Skoal, or Skol (depending on country and how it’s transliterated in English), it’s the ubiquitous Scandinavian “cheers” that no drink of aquavit would be complete without. If you’re a Minnesota Vikings fan you might recognize this word from “Skol, Vikings”, the fight song that plays when the team scores a touchdown.

But where did it come from?

One of the most popular stories is that Skål derives from the Old Norse word for Skull – and that Vikings celebrated their war victories by drinking from the skulls of their vanquished enemies. As badass (and a bit metal) as that sounds, it’s not quite the truth.

Unfortunately for the Vikings, aquavit didn’t exist until a few hundred years after the end of the Viking Age. However, many modern Scandinavian drinking traditions, including the Skål toast, trace their roots back to the Vikings who drank beer and mead copiously.

Skål comes from the Old Norse word Skál, meaning bowl. Coincidentally it is from the same root as the Old Norse word “skalli”, meaning “bald head”, which eventually morphed into the modern English word skull.

Why bowl? Well, back in the Vikings’ days, drinking at parties and festivals was done from communal ale bowls that looked like the one below. So when a Viking yelled, “Skál”, they were really saying, “pass me the beer!”

Next time you’re downing a shot of ice cold aquavit, don’t forget the “Skål”!