Editing Vikings (section)

==Etymology==
[[File:Sm 10, Växjö.JPG|thumb|[[Viking runestones#Sm 10|Runestone raised in memory of Gunnarr by Tóki the Viking]].<ref>{{cite Scandinavian Runic-text Database | edition=2020 | runor=36beb34c-2869-4841-96c5-2f6fc43fb184 | name=Sm 10 | srdb=f8ca1307-b313-401c-813d-217e3e592652 | access-date=11 May 2025}}</ref>]]
The etymology of the word ''Viking'' has been much debated by academics, with many origin theories being proposed.{{sfn|Jesch|2015|pages=4–5}}{{sfn|Lapidge|Blair|Keynes|Scragg|2001|page=460-461}} One theory suggests that the word's origin is from the Old English {{tlit|ang|wicing}} 'settlement' and the [[Old Frisian]] {{lang|ofs|wizing}}, attested almost 300 years prior.{{sfn|Brink|2008|p=6}} Another less popular theory is that {{tlit|nos|víking}} came from the feminine {{tlit|nos|vík}} 'creek', 'inlet', 'small bay'.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=wyG3HnK0qREC The Syntax of Old Norse] by [[Jan Terje Faarlund]]; p. 25 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101203825/https://books.google.com/books?id=wyG3HnK0qREC&dq |date=1 January 2016 }} {{ISBN|0-19-927110-0}}; ''The Principles of English Etymology'' By [[Walter W. Skeat]], published in 1892, defined '''Viking''': ''better Wiking, Icel. Viking-r, O. Icel. *Viking-r, a creek-dweller; from Icel. vik, O. Icel. *wik, a creek, bay, with suffix -uig-r, belonging to ''[https://archive.org/details/principlesengli02skeagoog Principles of English Etymology] by Walter W. Skeat; Clarendon; p. 479</ref> The [[Old Norse]] word ''víkingr'' does not appear in written sources until the 12th century, apart from a few [[Viking runestones|runestones]].{{sfn|Hall|2007|p=8}}

Another etymology that gained support in the early 21st century derives ''Viking'' from the same root as Old Norse {{tlit|nos|vika}} 'sea mile', originally referring to the distance between two shifts of rowers, ultimately from the {{proto|germanic|wîkan|to recede}}.<ref name="Eldar Heide 2008 23–28">{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/2401159|title=Viking, week, and Widsith. A reply to Harald Bjorvand|department=Centre of Medieval Studies (University of Bergen)|journal=Arkiv för Nordisk Filologi|author=Eldar Heide|volume=123|pages=23–28|year=2008|access-date=20 April 2015|archive-date=14 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210814184108/https://www.academia.edu/2401159|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blog.oup.com/2009/07/vikings/|title=What Did The Vikings Do Before They Began to Play Football?|first=Anatoly |last=Liberman|date=15 July 2009|access-date=13 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304104000/http://blog.oup.com/2009/07/vikings/|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Mees2012">{{cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/4425185|title=Taking Turns: linguistic economy and the name of the Vikings|journal=Arkiv för Nordisk Filologi|first=Bernard |last=Mees|department=Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)|volume=127|pages=5–12|year=2012|access-date=20 April 2015|archive-date=30 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130094748/https://www.academia.edu/4425185|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Heide2005">{{cite journal|url=http://eldar-heide.net/Publikasjonar%20til%20heimesida/viking%20rowshift.pdf|title=''Víking'' – 'rower shifting'? An etymological contribution|journal=Arkiv för Nordisk Filologi|author=Eldar Heide|volume=120|pages=41–54|year=2005|access-date=20 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714233409/http://eldar-heide.net/Publikasjonar%20til%20heimesida/viking%20rowshift.pdf|archive-date=14 July 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> This is found in the early Nordic verb *wikan 'to turn', similar to Old Icelandic {{tlit|is|víkja}} 'to move, to turn', with "well-attested nautical usages", according to Bernard Mees.<ref name="Mees2012" /> This theory is better attested linguistically, and the term most likely predates the use of the sail by the Germanic peoples of northwestern Europe.<ref name="Heide2005" /><ref name="Mees2012"/><ref name="Boutkan">{{cite book|first1=Dirk|last1=Boutkan|first2=Sloerd Michiel|last2=Siebinga|title=Old Frisian Etymological Dictionary|year=2000|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-14531-1|pages=291, 454}}</ref>
[[File:Hammars (I).JPG|thumb|The [[Stora Hammars stones|Stora Hammars I]] [[Picture stone|image stone]], showing the [[Hjaðningavíg|saga of Hildr]], under what may be the rite of [[blood eagle]], and on the bottom a Viking ship]]

In the Middle Ages, ''viking'' came to refer to Scandinavian pirates or raiders.<ref>Stafford, P. (2009). ''A companion to the Early Middle Ages.'' Wiley/Blackwell Publisher, chapter 13.</ref><ref name="Hødnebø1987">{{cite book |last1=Hødnebø |first1=Finn |editor1-last=Knirk |editor1-first=James E. |title=Proceedings of the Tenth Viking Congress: Larkollen, Norway, 1985 |date=1987 |publisher=Universitetets oldsaksamling |isbn=978-82-7181-062-7 |page=46 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_nMjAQAAMAAJ&q=%22pirates%22 |chapter=Who Were the First Vikings? |access-date=1 February 2023 |archive-date=1 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201014103/https://books.google.com/books?id=_nMjAQAAMAAJ&q=%22pirates%22 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Bjorvand, Harald (2000). ''Våre arveord: etymologisk ordbok.'' Oslo: Instituttet for sammenlignende kulturforskning (Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture). p. 1051. {{ISBN|8270993190}}.</ref> The earliest reference to {{tlit|ang|wicing}} in English sources is from the [[Épinal-Erfurt glossary]] ({{circa|700}}), about 93 years before the first known attack by Viking raiders in England. The glossary lists the Latin translation for {{tlit|ang|wicing}} as {{lang|la|piraticum}} 'pirate'.<ref>Gretsch. The Cambridge Companion to Old English Literature. p. 278</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sauer|first=Hans|title=How Anglo-Saxon Glossators Adapted Latin words and their world|journal=The Journal of Medieval Latin|year=2008|volume=18|pages=437–468|doi=10.1484/J.JML.3.26|jstor=45020116}}</ref> In [[Old English]], the word {{tlit|ang|wicing}} appears in the [[Anglo-Saxon]] poem ''[[Widsith]]'', probably from the 9th century. The word was not regarded as a reference to nationality, with other terms such as {{tlit|ang|Northmen}} and {{tlit|ang|Dene}} 'Danes' being used for that. In [[Asser]]'s Latin work ''The Life of King Alfred'', the Danes are referred to as {{lang|la|pagani}} 'pagans'; historian [[Janet Nelson]] states that {{lang|la|pagani}} became "the Vikings" in standard translations of this work, even though there is "clear evidence" that it was used as a synonym, while [[Eric Christiansen]] avers that it is a mistranslation made at the insistence of the publisher.<ref name="Frantzen2012">{{cite book |last1=Frantzen |first1=Allen J. |title=Anglo-Saxon Keywords |year=2012 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-25560-5 |page=275 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ptJPKf32QlMC&pg=PA275 }}</ref> The word {{tlit|ang|wicing}} does not occur in any preserved [[Middle English]] texts.

The word ''Viking'' was introduced into Modern English during the 18th-century Viking revival, at which point it acquired romanticised heroic overtones of "barbarian warrior" or [[noble savage]].<ref name="Richards2005">{{cite book |last1=Richards |first1=Julian D. |title=The Vikings: A Very Short Introduction |year=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-157807-6 |page=119 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UVjoJ-uP1XMC&pg=PA119 |access-date=16 February 2023 |archive-date=16 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216034310/https://books.google.com/books?id=UVjoJ-uP1XMC&pg=PA119 |url-status=live }}</ref> During the 20th century, the meaning of the term was expanded to refer not only to seaborne raiders from Scandinavia and other places settled by them (like [[Iceland]] and the [[Faroe Islands]]), but also any member of the culture that produced the raiders during the period from the late 8th to the mid-11th centuries, or more loosely from about 700 to as late as about 1100. As an adjective, the word is used to refer to ideas, phenomena, or artefacts connected with those people and their cultural life, producing expressions like ''Viking age'', ''Viking culture'', ''Viking art'', ''Viking religion'', ''Viking ship'' and so on.