aust-maðr

m., pl. austmenn, in Icel. and in the northern part of the British Islands a standing name of those who came from the Scandinavian continent, esp. Norse merchants, vide the old Irish chronicles, and the Sagas, passim. The English used ‘easterling’ in the same sense, and sterling is an abbreviation of the word from the coin which the ‘easterlings’ brought with them in trade. Eyvindr austmaðr, Landn., Nj. 81, Eg. 744, Ísl. ii. 192, 128, Sturl. ii. 47, Lv. 23, Valla L. 216, Landn. 36, 290, 305, Eb. 104, 196, etc. In the Norse GÞl. 450 it is used of Swedes in Norway: austmanna-skelfir, m. ‘skelper’ (conqueror, terror) of the east men, a nickname, Landn. 305.