Not everyone knows that the origin of the name “Bluetooth” — the technology that allows our smartphones to connect to earbuds or even automated tractors in the field — is rooted in Scandinavian history and, surprisingly, in blueberries.
Around the year 958, Denmark was ruled by Harald I, known as “Blåtand”, which in Old Norse means Blue Tooth. A peculiar nickname, attributed by historical accounts to the fact that one of his teeth appeared dark — perhaps due to a pigmentation defect or, according to the more colorful legend, his overwhelming passion for wild blueberries, which stained his lips and tooth enamel a bluish-purple.
Harald Blåtand was not only a gourmand but also a unifier, capable of bringing together fragmented tribes and territories under a single crown. A “natural connector,” much like the technology that would bear his name a thousand years later.
When Blueberries Met Technology
In 1996, during a project to standardize wireless communications, engineers Jim Kardach of Intel and Sven Mattisson of Ericsson were searching for an evocative name for a new technology designed to “unite” different devices, allowing them to communicate as if they spoke the same language.
Kardach, a Viking history enthusiast, proposed “Bluetooth” as a tribute to Harald Blåtand. The metaphor was perfect: a Nordic king who united peoples, and a digital protocol that connects phones, computers, and sensors.
Since then, that small blue logo, combining the Nordic runes H and B, has become a universal symbol of connectivity. And so, in a way, the ancient ruler’s love for blueberries lives on — not in forested fjords, but in the electronic circuits of every modern device.
A Curious Link to Today’s Berry Industry
For operators in the berry sector, this story reveals an intriguing parallel: just as Harald Blåtand united peoples and Bluetooth connects technologies, berries bring together territories, cultures, and supply chains — from producer to consumer, from laboratory to global market.
Blueberries, raspberries, and currants are today the “Bluetooth of nature”: small connectors of flavor, health, and innovation, capable of interfacing with new technologies for traceability and precision farming.
From Nordic sagas to Europe’s fields, the blue thread linking past and future continues to tell a story of connections — between people, between worlds, between genes and gigabytes — and, naturally, between a Viking king and his beloved blueberries.
