Viking

Meaning

Noun

1. Scandinavian/Northern European seafarers, most familiarly raiders and pirates during the Viking age.
2. A stock character common in the fantasy genre, namely a barbarian, generally equipped with an axe or sword and a helmet adorned with horns.
3. (colloquial) A Norseman (medieval Scandinavian).
4. (colloquial) An ethnic Swede, Norwegian, Dane, Icelander or Faroe Islander.
5. A player on the Minnesota Vikings NFL team.
6. buffet; smorgasbord

Name

1. A sea area between Scotland and Norway
2. A town in Alberta, Canada
3. A city in Minnesota

Synonyms

Norse

pirate

raider

sailor

Scandinavian

seaman

Nordic

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈvaɪkɪŋ/

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse víkingr (“Viking”). Already in Old English as wīċing and Old Frisian wītsing, but assumed extinct in Middle English and borrowed anew in the 19th century; any survivals in dialect through the Middle Ages are unknown.
Old Norse víkingr itself is from Old Norse vík (“inlet, cove, fjord”) + -ingr (“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 and Anglo-Frisian form, existing 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.
Others proposals were made, like e.g. deriving víkingr from the root related to the verb víkja or deriving both English and Old Norse words to *wīkingaz related to víkja or wīc.