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I'm Norwegian and I just realized why its called "Viking" (not 100% sure it's true). The word vik describes a geographical phenomenom, much like the word fjord

I'm Norwegian and I just realized why its called "Viking" (not 100% sure it's true). The word vik describes a geographical phenomenom, much like the word fjord does. Google translate says it is in English: "inlet", i.e. it's where the ocean penetrates into the land and creates a small body of water, smaller than a bay. Adding ing to any word, is similar to in English as adding ling to any word. So if it were English, it would be vikling, someone who is of the vik. Norwegian definition: Vik er et vannområde som danner innskjæring i kysten eller i en innsjø, oftest trangere enn bukt og kortere enn kil.

TazeTSchnitzel 4y ago
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/v%C3%ADkingr#Old_Norse https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/v%C3%ADkingr#Old_Norse agrees that this is the etymology
HelloNurse 4y ago
It makes sense that sea pirates should be people from the seaside, but why specifically people from viks? Were the viks more populated than other coastal features or more suitable as ports?
tboyd47 4y ago
Perhaps it refers to penetrating into the inland of the victim's territory by way of a vik.
atombender 4y ago
But this how folk etymologies emerge, because people find familiar-looking connections that "make sense" without much supporting evidence. You're using modern Norwegian to form a theory about the origin of an ancient word in a different language. The fact is, we simply don't know for sure where the word "viking" comes from. The word was essentially invented in the 18th century to mean something other than the original meaning; the word was not so common during the Viking age, and almost certainly wasn't used at the time to refer to an entire culture or people. We are not even sure if it is of Norse or English origin, and it's unclear who called them this first. The Old English "wic" meaning village or camp predates "viking" by several hundred years [1], and the Latin "vicus" is much older. The oldest sources we have for the word (as "wicing" or "witsing", both pronounced the same) are Old English texts; it's not unlikely that the word was first used by Anglo-Saxons to refer to "pirates" from the North, and that the word was then adopted by the latter. Another possibility, as seen in the Widsith text, which refers to a tribe as "wicinga cynn", is that it refers to the historical geographical area of Vík (or Víkin) which today is the area surrounding the Oslo fjord. [1] https://www.etymonline.com/word/Viking https://www.etymonline.com/word/Viking
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TazeTSchnitzel 4y ago

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/v%C3%ADkingr#Old_Norse https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/v%C3%ADkingr#Old_Norse agrees that this is the etymology

HelloNurse 4y ago

It makes sense that sea pirates should be people from the seaside, but why specifically people from viks? Were the viks more populated than other coastal features or more suitable as ports?

tboyd47 4y ago

Perhaps it refers to penetrating into the inland of the victim's territory by way of a vik.

atombender 4y ago

But this how folk etymologies emerge, because people find familiar-looking connections that "make sense" without much supporting evidence. You're using modern Norwegian to form a theory about the origin of an ancient word in a different language. The fact is, we simply don't know for sure where the word "viking" comes from. The word was essentially invented in the 18th century to mean something other than the original meaning; the word was not so common during the Viking age, and almost certainly wasn't used at the time to refer to an entire culture or people. We are not even sure if it is of Norse or English origin, and it's unclear who called them this first. The Old English "wic" meaning village or camp predates "viking" by several hundred years [1], and the Latin "vicus" is much older. The oldest sources we have for the word (as "wicing" or "witsing", both pronounced the same) are Old English texts; it's not unlikely that the word was first used by Anglo-Saxons to refer to "pirates" from the North, and that the word was then adopted by the latter. Another possibility, as seen in the Widsith text, which refers to a tribe as "wicinga cynn", is that it refers to the historical geographical area of Vík (or Víkin) which today is the area surrounding the Oslo fjord. [1] https://www.etymonline.com/word/Viking https://www.etymonline.com/word/Viking

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