WHAT MEANS 'VIKING' ?
The earliest reference to 'Vikings' is in the Old ENglish poem 'Widsith'. This is a catalogue of the various Northern peoples and tribes which the author proudly declares to have met on his travels.
There has been debate about the dating of this poem. It has had a place as the earliest in OE and one of the earliest in any Germanic language. This was challenged in the 1980s but is again supported by recent work. (Neidorf 2013). The poem is on Wikipedia HERE.
There are two references to Vikings in the poem - here given as 'WICING'. They are given as taking part in conflicts with neighbours and as one of the tribes of North Germany-Scandinavia.
There is an additional reference to 'LIDWICINGUM' - maybe 'warband (LITH/LID) vikings.
Notwithstanding this poem there have been many attempts to identify a special origin for the name 'Viking'. Here are a few.
Rowers
Lurkers-in-bays
Piratical venturers
'viking' is a verb meaning 'to go on a piratical expedition'
Peoples are rarely named after their occupation, more likely, the place they live. They are most often named after the language they speak. The British are named after the language of their ancient ancestors - Bretonnic, ancient *Pretannic- not as 'the ones living on islands'. Even though the English-speaking group can be called English, the whole of the occupants of the main island can still be called British.
Seldom are peoples named after their occupations. Even well -established horse-traders such as the Irish have never been called 'horse'traders'. The Welsh are not 'the people of the sheep'.
Rarely, a people are named after a place - Gypsys (Zygojner) were thought to have come from Egypt, for example.
It makes most sense that Wicing s were a group who spoke the Wic language or dialect. This may have stemmed from the Viken area. It is here we should place the origins of the Wicing and the originators of the Viking. Initially all Viken-dwellers were speaking the same and probably doing the same - raiding, trading and ambushing ships in the Skagerrak and Kattegat.
MAP
In an age when sea travellers usually hugged the coast these areas were difficult to navigate and ideal for locals to conduct piracy. The ordeals of travelling these waters led to the people of Viken - Wicingum- becoming a byword for pirates. The English were a seafaring people as were the Frisians - just as much as the inhabitants of the other North Sea coasts. There would have been common dread of a region notorious for piracy.
This is an easy process to imagine occuring. It does not require that by the time northmen enter the annals of the Christian chroniclers that there is still a single ethnic group called Vikings, merely a type who behave in the recognised way - pirates, generally from the north-eastern North Sea. The northmen who made the first recorded raid at Pevensey in 787AD are reported by a later source to have come from Vestfold - on the western side of Viken.
'Viking' as a term in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle is used sparingly. It is most used as a perjorative for the armies in the later or Second Viking Age. At this time the action is between kings and states rather than raiding. The term is used to slander those who have high pretensions. In the earlier entries the attackers are simply 'northmen' or 'heathen'. One could be led astray by the Penguin Classics 'Alfred the Great' - an anthology of works relating to his times. The editors made a decision to use the word 'Viking' instead of northmen, heathens or Danes- to the disgust of the translators. Here, still, the word Viking is used for effect, not technical accuracy.
In the east the Swedes who ventured into what is now Russia were known as something which became Ruotsi and Rus - no perjorative. In the west, the men from the north were dubbed as 'vikings' - whelps of the accursed piratical denizens of Viken, who were long since gone but their depredations were not forgotten.
There has been debate about the dating of this poem. It has had a place as the earliest in OE and one of the earliest in any Germanic language. This was challenged in the 1980s but is again supported by recent work. (Neidorf 2013). The poem is on Wikipedia HERE.
There are two references to Vikings in the poem - here given as 'WICING'. They are given as taking part in conflicts with neighbours and as one of the tribes of North Germany-Scandinavia.
There is an additional reference to 'LIDWICINGUM' - maybe 'warband (LITH/LID) vikings.
Notwithstanding this poem there have been many attempts to identify a special origin for the name 'Viking'. Here are a few.
Rowers
Lurkers-in-bays
Piratical venturers
'viking' is a verb meaning 'to go on a piratical expedition'
Peoples are rarely named after their occupation, more likely, the place they live. They are most often named after the language they speak. The British are named after the language of their ancient ancestors - Bretonnic, ancient *Pretannic- not as 'the ones living on islands'. Even though the English-speaking group can be called English, the whole of the occupants of the main island can still be called British.
Seldom are peoples named after their occupations. Even well -established horse-traders such as the Irish have never been called 'horse'traders'. The Welsh are not 'the people of the sheep'.
Rarely, a people are named after a place - Gypsys (Zygojner) were thought to have come from Egypt, for example.
It makes most sense that Wicing s were a group who spoke the Wic language or dialect. This may have stemmed from the Viken area. It is here we should place the origins of the Wicing and the originators of the Viking. Initially all Viken-dwellers were speaking the same and probably doing the same - raiding, trading and ambushing ships in the Skagerrak and Kattegat.
MAP
In an age when sea travellers usually hugged the coast these areas were difficult to navigate and ideal for locals to conduct piracy. The ordeals of travelling these waters led to the people of Viken - Wicingum- becoming a byword for pirates. The English were a seafaring people as were the Frisians - just as much as the inhabitants of the other North Sea coasts. There would have been common dread of a region notorious for piracy.
This is an easy process to imagine occuring. It does not require that by the time northmen enter the annals of the Christian chroniclers that there is still a single ethnic group called Vikings, merely a type who behave in the recognised way - pirates, generally from the north-eastern North Sea. The northmen who made the first recorded raid at Pevensey in 787AD are reported by a later source to have come from Vestfold - on the western side of Viken.
'Viking' as a term in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle is used sparingly. It is most used as a perjorative for the armies in the later or Second Viking Age. At this time the action is between kings and states rather than raiding. The term is used to slander those who have high pretensions. In the earlier entries the attackers are simply 'northmen' or 'heathen'. One could be led astray by the Penguin Classics 'Alfred the Great' - an anthology of works relating to his times. The editors made a decision to use the word 'Viking' instead of northmen, heathens or Danes- to the disgust of the translators. Here, still, the word Viking is used for effect, not technical accuracy.
In the east the Swedes who ventured into what is now Russia were known as something which became Ruotsi and Rus - no perjorative. In the west, the men from the north were dubbed as 'vikings' - whelps of the accursed piratical denizens of Viken, who were long since gone but their depredations were not forgotten.