You know
that Bluetooth got its name
and logo from a Scandinavian king named Harald Gormsson? He was
nicknamed Bluetooth due to his dead tooth that looked
blue. Special Interest Group (SIG), which was responsible for developing a
common radio communication standard, decided to adopt this name. This
decision was made because the king united Scandinavia, just like SIG “intended
to unite the PC and cellular industries with a short-range wireless link.”
Today, I’m going to tell you the story behind the name of one
more interesting technology — Bluetooth.
Bluetooth
is a low-cost radio communication technology that allows short distance
wireless networking between phones, computers, and other electronic devices. It
was designed to support the networking of portable devices that are powered by
batteries. When a network is established between different Bluetooth devices,
one device acts as a master while others act as slaves.
The History
of Bluetooth and its Name
I don’t think
I’d be wrong to assume that you haven’t spent much time looking for the answer
to this question. Some of you might be knowing that Bluetooth’s name has
something to with a medieval Scandinavian king whose nickname was blátǫnn in
Old Norse or Blåtand in
Danish. The king was named Bluetooth as he had a dead tooth that looked blue.
In the summer of
1997, Intel’s Jim Kardach went to a pub with Ericsson’s Sven Mattisson. There,
they started talking about history and Mattisson mentioned a book he
had recently finished reading. The book was called The Longships, and it was about the reign of Danish
King Harald “Bluetooth” Gormsson. After this meeting, Kardach went home
and read a book named The Vikings.
Later,
he proposed that SIG should be called by the codenamed Bluetooth. “Bluetooth
was borrowed from the 10th century, second King of Denmark, King Harald
Bluetooth; who was famous for uniting Scandinavia just as we intended to unite
the PC and cellular industries with a short-range wireless link,” he wrote in a column a decade later.
The story of Bluetooth’s logo
Well, as one
might expect, the team again looked at its Nordic origins. The iconic Bluetooth
logo is a combination of King Bluetooth’s initials (Hagall (áš¼) and Bjarkan (á›’)) in The Younger Futhark, also
called Scandinavian runes. It’s a runic alphabet in use from the 9th century.
I hope
that you found the story of Bluetooth’s name and logo interesting. Don’t forget
to share your views with us.
I hope
that you found the story of Bluetooth’s name and logo interesting. Don’t forget
to share your views with us.
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