Varangian

Meanings

Noun

• A member of the ethnically Scandinavian people around the borders of Constantinople in the ninth and tenth centuries.
• A member of the imperial body guard at Constantinople from 955.

Adjective

• Of or pertaining to the Varangians.
• Of or pertaining to the Varanger Peninsula in Norway.
• Pertaining to a period of intense glaciation during the late Proterozoic eon.

Related

Similar words

• Varyag

Origin

• Ultimately from Byzantine Greek Βάραγγος, from Old Norse væringi, from várr or værr, which is cognate with Old English wǣr, + Old Norse gangi. Cognate with Old English wærgenga.