víkingr

Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *wīkingaz. Cognate with Old English wīċing and Old Frisian wītsing.

May be equivalent to Vík +‎ -ingr, or the more general vík (“bay, inlet”) +‎ -ingr. Others proposals were made, like e.g. deriving víkingr from the root related to the verb víkja (or its Proto-Germanic equivalent). ^[1]

Pronunciation

• (9th century West Norse) IPA^(key): /ˈwiːkinɡɹ̝/, [ˈwiː.cɪ̃ŋɡ̊ɹ̻̊˔]
• (12th century Icelandic) IPA^(key): /ˈwiːkinɡr/

Noun

víkingr m (genitive víkings, plural víkingar)

1. opportunistic seafaring adventurer out to raid and pillage, explore and settle new lands or conduct trading voyages
2. pirate raider, freebooter, viking

Usage notes

• Unlike in modern English, this term only refers to a person out on the denoted activity, not to all Norse people of the time.

Declension

masculine	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	víkingr	víkingrinn	víkingar	víkingarnir
accusative	víking	víkinginn	víkinga	víkingana
dative	víkingi	víkinginum	víkingum	víkingunum
genitive	víkings	víkingsins	víkinga	víkinganna

  Declension of víkingr (strong a-stem)

Descendants

All descendants are learned borrowings.

• Icelandic: víkingur
• Faroese: víkingur
• Norwegian Nynorsk: viking
• Norwegian Bokmål: viking
• Old Swedish: ᚢᛁᚴᛁᚴᚱ (vīkingʀ) (Runic Swedish)
  • Swedish: viking
• Old Danish: ᚢᛁᚴᛁᚴᚱ (wīkingʀ) (Runic Danish)
  • Danish: viking
• → English: Viking
• → German: Wikinger
• → Middle Irish: ucing
  • Irish: uiging
  • ⇒ Middle Irish: *ucingech
    • Irish: Uigingeach
    • Manx: Wiggynnagh
    • Scottish Gaelic: Uiginneach

References

1. Eldar Heide (2005) Viking — ‘rower shifting'?