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Muddled? Vik means Bay in norwegian today also (not just in Old Icelandic), -ing is used similarly as in english, so bay-ers or bay dwellers is a straightforwar
by jankovicsandras 3y ago
Muddled? Vik means Bay in norwegian today also (not just in Old Icelandic), -ing is used similarly as in english, so bay-ers or bay dwellers is a straightforward translation. The county Viken, a big part of the Oslofjord bay area is named of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viken_(region) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viken_(region)
"Various theories have been offered that the word "viking" may be derived from this place name, meaning "a person from Viken". According to this theory, originally the word "viking" simply described persons from this area"
- teytra 3y agoProbably just folk etymology (and from the 18th-19th century?). Note that the county of Viken was established in 2020, (though roughfly based on a historical name). The first documented viking raids to England was described as coming from Hordaland, on the west side of (southern) Norway, while Viken is/was on the east side (and partially in Sweden today). Also, people from Viken was in old norse called víkverir, not vikings.
- dandy23 3y agoI think you confuse what OP meant. The words viking and Viken probably both stem from the word vik, as in bay. Any bay.
- teytra 3y agoOr... Maybe both the word viking and vik as in Viken comes from the same verb vikja that means to move (away). The idea being that a vik is where the costline moves away from the "sea road", the "NorWay" ;) By the way, another word used for Viken (when used for the Oslofjord) is Folden, which means "the fold", so it is where the costline moves or folds away. Also, the counties on the west and east side of Oslofjord was until resently Vestfold and Østfold (meaning west and east (of the) fold)
- halgir 3y agoThanks for that extra info, that was interesting. I've also been taught that viking (víkingur in Faroese) simply means person who lives in a bay (vík in Faroese). But it does sound likely it would originally refer to someone from Viken.
- tyfon 3y agoI think it is a bit muddled as the term we use for viking today comes from the verb (in modern Norwegian) "å dra i viking" which is a term used back in the days as seen from the sagas. I see it is mentioned in the article too. However it could be that it originally described a person from Viken, but it was also actively used as a verb a thousand years ago in western Norway. Being Norwegian myself I've actually never connected it with the word vik which is also seen in English often as the word wick at the end of place names.
- woooooo 3y agoThe sagas using it as a verb have to be the authoritative source here, right? We have actual text written by contemporaneous norse.
- pm3003 3y agoI agree. Also, in Denmark and today's Northern Germany, Wik is used in particular to designate places where boats could be beached and where trade was conducted in a non permanent fashion, i.e. a beaching harbour used for trade events. Quite a few of those places became permanent settlements and the toponymy kept the -wik. While a very unscientific thing to say, this makes sense if Viking included sailing from place to place exploring and trading.
- coxmi 3y agoIt's the same in Middle English (-wic), which is still present in the names of old market towns by rivers like Greenwich or the street name Aldwych (i.e. something like "old village") in London.
- lovelyviking 3y agolovely. finally nick makes sense :)
- williamcotton 3y agoMy grandfather was born in Vikvåg in Austevoll, Norge. Vik means bay. Våg also means bay. Bay bay!
- drc500free 3y agoThe article is really about why we recently began using this particular word, not the etymology of the word itself.