foreigners’. In the east, Swedes could be called rus’ or varjag (ON væringi, væringr). It is
in England during the ninth century (outside Scandinavia) that we find the usage of the
term Viking for ravaging Northmen.
There is no consensus regarding the origin or meaning of the word Viking. We find a
word wicing in the eighth century in Old English, but it is not certain that we are here
dealing with the same word. In Old Scandinavian there is masculine víkingr, which is
normally translated as ‘sea warrior’, and feminine víking, meaning ‘military expedition
(over sea)’. The words are found in Anglo-Saxon chronicles as well as in runic inscrip-
tions. The latter are especially important for understanding the semantics of the words.
Víkingr is also used as a Scandinavian man’s name, and as a by-name (as in Toki vikingr on
a runestone).
The masculine word, víkingr, seems – according to runic inscriptions – to have been
the word used for a man who has gone away on a journey, obviously together with
several others – on a ‘group journey’ we would probably call it today. Most certainly, the
majority, perhaps all, of these journeys were raids and military expeditions, conducted
by a group of warriors (ON lið, drótt) under the leadership of some king or chieftain.
One example is found on a runestone from Hablingbo on Gotland, which tells us that
Helge had gone westward ‘with vikings’ (meþ vikingum).
The feminine word, víking, has obviously denoted the actual expedition, the journey.
This may be exemplified by another runic inscription, from Härlingstorp in Väster-
götland, Sweden, where we can read that a man Toli ‘was killed in the west in viking’
(varþ dauþr a vestrvegum i vikingu). On another runestone at Gårdstånga in Skåne,
Sweden, we are told of several men famous for their expeditions (Þer drængiar waru
w[iþa] [un]esir i wikingu).
But what about the original or etymological meaning of the word Viking? It is here
that the interpretations start to diverge. A popular hypothesis has been that the name
Viken, for the large bay up to Oslo, is the origin, hence the word originally meaning ‘the
people living or coming from Viken’. Another explanation is that the word comes from
vik ‘bay, inlet’, referring to ‘a person who dwells (or embarks) in bays’, or that these
Vikings often lie in wait in bays. A third is that it could contain a ‘Baltic word’ wic, a
Germanisation of a Latin vicus ‘harbour, trading place’, which we find in names such
as Ipswich, Norwich, ‘Hamwich’ (> Southampton). This latter idea was much cosseted when
the warrior side of the Vikings was toned down, and the Vikings as traders were
favoured. A Viking would hence have been someone who visited these vicii or wics, and
therefore they were called wicingas, víkingar ‘persons who visited and traded at these
wics’. A fourth, but not so likely hypothesis, has been the idea that Viking could be
related to a word vika ‘a distance at sea’, hence a week (that is, a section or period), with
the meaning ‘a distance you were able to row between two pauses’. A fifth hypothesis is
that it must be related to ON víkja ‘to move, walk, travel’, with an assumed meaning for
Viking as someone who has digressed from home! All in all, no convincing interpretation
has so far been given of the word Viking. But from what has been said above, it seems
plausible to assume that a víkingr (m.) who was out in víking (f.) probably had not left
Scandinavia for a peaceful trading journey. A warrior-like semantic component seems to
be found in the word.
If the word Viking was used for a man (or the warrior) or a military expedition
to the west of Scandinavia, we have seen that other words have been used for these
Scandinavians who went to the south or the east. The ones who travelled on the rivers in
–– Stefan Brink––