--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "xigung" <xigung@...> wrote:

> --- In norse_course Marco Moretti wrote:
>
> > Sagas are full with similar
> > names of families ending in -ingar (pl.) and derived from the

name of

> > a common ancestor. We find similar denominations for folks in

Gothic,

> > Vandalic, Longobardic (Greotungi, Tervingi, Hasdingi, etc...)
> > It has nothing to with /ungr/ "young" which comes from /jung-/

and

> > has initial /j-/ regularly disappeared.
> >
>
> Does that mean that the vikings descended from a man named "Vik"?
>
> I, for one, thought the Norsemen had no family names,
> but only used the father's name. (going back only one generation)
> I have seen it applied to dynasties, though.
> Possibly modeled after Carolingians, Merovingians etc.
>
> Regards
> Xigung

Hello!

The ending can be applied also to common nouns, so
/Víkingar/ derived their name from /vík/ "bay". The original
meaning was "pirates".

Regards
Marco