The Correct Semantic Usage Of The Term ‘Viking’
This brief article showcases the correct semantic usage of the term ‘Viking’. Many people tend to mistake the term ‘Viking’ for the broader sense of all Norsemen (i.e. the early medieval Scandinavians). In fact, the term only denotes the occupation of a Norseman and not the ethnicity of the respective individual. Regarding the etymology of the word itself, various linguistic theories had been proposed in order to explain from which root had it actually been derived.
Viking Age re-enactors. Image source: www.pixabay.com
According to the most well known linguistic theories, the term ‘Viking’ might denote the following:
- The term ‘Viking’ can be derived from the Old Norse counterpart ‘víkingr’ (meaning ‘pirate raider’, according to Wiktionary and ‘pirate’ according to Encyclopædia Britannica online);
- The term Viking can be derived from the word ‘vík’ from Old Norse (a ‘small bay’ or a ‘creek’ in translation);
- The term ‘Viking’ could have been derived from the name of a modern Norwegian district called ‘Viken’ (less likely), implying that the term would ultimately describe a person who lived there and subsequently gained a broader usage for all early medieval Scandinavians;
- The term ‘Viking’ can be derived from ‘vika’, which in translation means ‘sea mile’. This theory is better linguistically attested since it is known that a Proto-Nordic root ‘wikan’ means ‘to turn’ or ‘to move’, thus linking the term with the nautical ability of a Norseman.
Therefore, the correct semantic usage of the term “Viking” can be explained in a nutshell as follows: Almost all Vikings were Norsemen (there were some Vikings of other ethnic backgrounds than from Scandinavia, actually) but not all Norsemen were Vikings. In other words, to be Viking was an occupation. It meant that a certain person would go a Viking if he or she would have been disposed to raid, plunder, loot and explore lands overseas.
To be a Viking was not the same thing as being a thief. Theft was not tolerated under any circumstances in the Norse society. In the end, what separated Vikings from thieves were the raids. The raids represented the unique and most valuable chances for one to prove worthy in battle, gain honour and respect, thus exponentially increasing his or her social status, evidently depending on the achievements made on the battlefield.
In modern North Germanic languages the term ‘Viking’ is present under almost the same form:
- Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish – Viking
- Icelandic and Faroese – Víkingur
Documentation sources and external links:
- What does the word ‘Viking’ mean on www.hurstwic.org
- Define Viking on www.dictionary.com
- Viking Meaning in the Cambridge Dictionaries on www.dictionary.cambridge.org
- Definition of Viking on www.oxforddictionaries.com
- Viking is not a verb on www.roderickdale.co.uk
- Vikings and Víkingar on www.norseandviking.blogspot.com
I think that “viking ” comes from ” wikan”..
Interesting for in the Edda & or the sagas we find a character ‘named’ Viking’.
Viking is a myth invented by nationalists in the late 1800’s. Come on, there was never any Vikings! Wake up! the idea was heavily supported by wagner and later by racist and nationalist political currents! We where gaeter, ruser and svinoner etc. Viking is a very recent invention that only exists today. and the historical province of Viken is located from Gothenburg, Sweden to Oslo, Norway. Todays Östfold and Bohuslän.
But we have written accounts of the word “viking” that predate the 1800s
Then, what were the sailors pirates that settled in Canada from Norway that were my ancestors if not Vikings, my genealogical line ends at Oden mythological, Anglo Saxon God and 300 BC food for thought
Two comments:
-The phrase “go a Viking” should probably be spelled “go aViking” ot “go a-Viking”..
-re “theft” and “raid”: Theft, like murder, occurs *within* a society. When you do it to someone else *outside8 your society, it’s neither theft nor murder.,
All the Vikings were not Norse (Scandinavian). The Norse settlers in the Irish Sea area were known to ally with every local faction there was going, fighting with them and raiding with them. Cerbal king of Ossory in the south-east of the island married one of his daughters to Eyvindur Austman (a (now) Swedish then Danish) shipbuilder in Dublin. Part of Dublin still bears his nickname Austman. Cerbal became known as MuirCerbal or Kjarval of the sea (Marine-Kjarval). Kormakur (Cormac) fought with Haraldur Harfagri (fairheared), but left Norway to settle in Iceland when Eiric Blodaxe came to the throne. These are Celtic Vikings whose names are mentioned, there were many more / Vifill settler in Iceland with Aud the deepminded. Most likely Aud herself was half Celtic, all her siblings and most of their children settled in Iceland with further Celtic admixture. Many of the grandchildren had Celtic nicknames. All these people were Vikings in the Irish Sea area before settling in Iceland. Jomsvikingar were certainly as much Slavic as they were Norse etc. Not all Vikings were Norse. There should not need to be a dispute about this!
I forgot to mention the twin brothers Hamundur and Geirmundur Heljarskin. According to the sagas both vent aViking. They were half-Mongolian (most likely Buryat-Mongolian I.e. from the area around Lake Baikal as per DNA indicators).
Thank you for your informed input Magnus, it’s a rare pleasure to read something written with intelligent intent let alone actual facts. Like the Edda’s mean nothing and no one reads them anymore. Thank the one eyed God.
Small Magnus,
May your Shieldwall stand forever and your axe stay keen like a razor.
My thanks. Ajaxx The Bastard.
Fascinating thank you
The Saxon-Frisian an Flemish word “ Wicham, Wikham and Wykeham already excist long before the Scandinavian Viking season. There were Wiking matters long before the word “ wiking” was used. Such activities were mentioned by Orosius in the 1th C. AD on the West coast of northern Europe…..
Pirate = a person who attacks and robs ships at sea, hence a pirate acts on the sea/water and is in this case incorrect for the Vikings as their raids and pillaging was made on land.
The population during the Viking age in Scandinavia spoke Old Norse.
The population was Norse / Norsemen.
Those who went pillaging and raiding went Viking and hence were those we call Vikings.
Thinking in terms of “a Viking” and using the term “Viking age” or “the population of the Viking Age” might steer in the right direction.
Thank you for your time on The Dockyards, for your readership, and for your comment! Indeed, I agree with most of your points. The Norsemen/Norse were not pirates in the conventional subsequent sense (as in much later, the Modern period in the Caribbean for example or elsewhere) nor were they actually corsairs either, again, in the conventional sense, however Britannica online and Wiktionary state that ‘víkingr’ mean either ‘pirate’ or ‘pirate raider’ in Old Norse.
I do agree with you that most of the Viking raids and Viking activity, so to put it, unfolded on firm land, but the Viking ships had to cross oceans, seas, or rivers to get to those lands and they did plunder coastal areas, some which were protected, some which weren’t. Those areas which were protected might have included protecting fleets. It is therefore highly likely (if not accurate actually) that there were some raids which took place on sea from ship to ship. But, indeed, the vast majority of the Norsemen’s loot stemmed from their conquests on land, that’s why the term ‘pirate’ does not actually apply entirely to the Vikings (and certainly not in the narrower, conventional sense which came to be known later on in the passage of time).
Last but not least, another accurate blanket term for the Viking Age population of Scandinavia would be early medieval Scandinavians. All the best and thanks for your time and readership once again!