Hi Sarah,

There have been many theories about the origins
of the word "viking", but thus far undecided, although
some authorities tend to reject some explanations more
strongly than others.

The word can be traced back to the poem "Widsith", an
Old English poem, where the phrase "Wicinga cyn" is mentioned
(a person who is of Viking race).

There are those who think it has to do with "vicus", a kind
of protected encampment, or a town.

Then there are those who believe it has to do with an old
nautical unit of distance (The vika sjóvar, a precursor to
the present nautical mile).

Then there are those that think it derives from "Víkin",
the present day "Oslo Fjord", from old the area between
Rygjarbit and Gautelfr, where the first Vikings are supposed
to have come from.

Then there are those who think "vík" simply refers to a bay,
because the vikings needed bays to land their ships and set up
camp.


Most of the skaldic poetry is not extremely old, and some of
the supposedly oldest has been reevaluated as much younger
by some of the experts.


Adam of Bremen does not use the word "viking", but rather
the term "Ascomanni" (he wrote in Latin), although I do
believe he uses the word "viking" too. (that can be checked)

The word "viking" came out of use after the viking age,
as you can see from Peder Clausson's translations,
since he translated the word as "pirate" in his early saga
translations. But later the word came back into usage, when people
began to become more familiar with the sagas again.

"Vikingstad" is also the name of a place in Norway.
But I do not know how it came to be called thus.
It is possible, though, that "Viking" was also used as a
person's first name, hence the place name. (There are families
with names like "Vikingsen" and "Vikingsson", and also "Vikingstad".)


Regards
Xigung



--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Sarah Bowen" <sarahbowen@...> wrote:
>
> Hello folks!
>
> I've been keeping a low profile recently and now I have a query. I
am doing a study of what the word "víkingr" meant in Viking Age and
medieval Scandinavia to see if I can trace any change in meaning over
time. I have looked at examples in runic inscriptions, the kings
sagas and sagas of the Icelanders. I am struggling somewhat with the
examples in skaldic poetry. I have one example from a 9th century
poet, eight from 10th century poets, eight from 11th century poets and
five from 12th century poets.
>
> I ran this by Haukur who suggested there might be members of this
group who would be able to help me with translating these. It is no
more than a few lines from each skald. If anyone can help me, perhaps
it would be easiest to contact me direct and I will email you copies
of the relevant verses.
>
> ps. If anyone is interested to hear the results of my findings, I'd
be happy to post them to the group :-)
>
> Cheers,
> Sarah Bowen
>
> sarahbowen@...
>