Viking
Contents
English
Noun
Viking (plural Vikings)- (historical)[1] One of the Scandinavian seafaring warriors that raided (and then settled) the British Isles and other parts of Europe in the 8th to the 11th centuries.
- (by extension) A barbarian character with helmets adorned with horns or wings.
Derived terms
|
|
Thesaurus
AB, Ancient Mariner, Argonaut, Blackbeard, Captain Hook, Captain Kidd, Dylan, Flying Dutchman, Henry Morgan, Jean Lafitte, Neptune, OD, Poseidon, Varuna, able seaman, able-bodied seaman, air pirate, airplane hijacker, bluejacket, buccaneer, corsair, deep-sea man, fair-weather sailor, fisherman, hearty, jack, jack afloat, jack-tar, jacky, limey, lobsterman, mariner, matelot, navigator, picaroon, pirate, privateer, rover, sailor, salt, sea dog, sea king, sea rover, seafarer, seafaring man, seaman, shipman, skyjacker, tar, water dog, whaler, windjammer, windsailor
Alternative forms
Etymology
A loan from Old Norse víkingr. Already in Old English as wīcing and Old Frisian witsing, wising, but extinct in Middle English and loaned anew in the 19th century.
Old Norse víking (“marauding”, “piracy”)) itself is from Old Norse vík (“inlet”, “cove”, “fjord”) + -ing (“one belonging to”, “one who frequents”) (the -r is the nominative desinence). Thus, “one from or who frequents the sea’s inlets”,
The Old English or Anglo-Frisian form, existing therein since at least the eighth century), could also have been derived from or influenced by Old English wīc (“camp”), on account of the temporary encampments which were often a prominent feature of the Vikings’ raids.[1]
Pronunciation
Translations
|
References
Swedish
Proper noun
Viking
- A male given name derived from the Swedish noun viking (“a Viking”), used since the 19th century.
