Viking

Meanings

Noun

• One of the Scandinavian or other Northern European seafaring warriors that raided (and then settled) the British Isles and other parts of Europe in the 8^th to the 11^th centuries and, according to many historians, were the first Europeans to reach North America.
• A stock character common in the fantasy genre, namely a barbarian, generally equipped with an axe or sword and a helmet adorned with horns.
• A Norseman .
• An ethnic Swede, Norwegian, Dane, Icelander or Faroe Islander.
• A player on the Minnesota Vikings NFL team.

Proper Noun

• A sea area between Scotland and Norway
• town Alberta (province) Canada (country)
• city Minnesota (state)

Origin

• Borrowed from Old Norse víkingr ("Viking"). Already in Old English as wīcing and Old Frisian witsing, wising, but extinct in Middle English and borrowed anew in the 19th century.
• Old Norse víkingr itself is from Old Norse vík + -ingr (the -r is the nominative desinence). Thus, “one from or who frequents the sea’s inlets”.
• The Old English and Anglo-Frisian form, existing since at least the eighth century, could also have been derived from or influenced by Old English wīc, on account of the temporary encampments which were often a prominent feature of the Vikings’ raids.