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Webster 1913 Edition

Viking

Vi′king

,
Noun.
[Icel.
vīkingr
, fr.
vīk
a bay, inlet.]
One belonging to the pirate crews from among the Northmen, who plundered the coasts of Europe in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries.
Of grim
Vikings
, and the rapture
Of the sea fight, and the capture,
And the life of slavery.
Longfellow.
☞ Viking differs in meaning from sea king, with which it is frequently confounded. “The sea king was a man connected with a royal race, either of the small kings of the country, or of the Haarfager family, and who, by right, received the title of king as soon he took the command of men, although only of a single ship’s crew, and without having any land or kingdom . . . Vikings were merely pirates, alternately peasants and pirates, deriving the name of viking from the vicks, wicks, or inlets, on the coast in which they harbored with their long ships or rowing galleys.”
Laing.

Definition 2024

Viking

Viking

See also: viking, víking, and vîkîng

English

Alternative forms

Noun

Viking ‎(plural Vikings)

  1. (historical) One of the Scandinavian seafaring warriors that raided (and then settled) the British Isles and other parts of Europe in the 8th to the 11th centuries and, according to many historians, were the first Europeans to reach North America.
  2. (by extension) A stock character common in the fantasy genera, namely a barbarian, generally equipped with an ax or sword and a helmet adorned with horns.
  3. (colloquial) A Norseman (mediaeval Scandinavian).
  4. (American football) A player on the Minnesota Vikings NFL team.

Derived terms

  • vike (jocular verb)
  • Vikingship

Translations

Proper noun

Viking

  1. A town in Alberta, Canada
  2. A city in Minnesota

References

  1. 1 2 3 “Viking” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd Ed.; 1989]

Czech

Etymology

From Old Norse víkingr.

Pronunciation

Noun

Viking m

  1. Viking

Declension

Slovak

Etymology

From Old Norse víkingr.

Noun

Viking m ‎(genitive singular Vikinga, nominative plural Vikingovia, declension pattern of chlap)

  1. Viking

Declension

References

  • Viking in Slovak dictionaries at korpus.sk

Swedish

Etymology

Originally a nickname, appearing in runestones, from Old Norse víkingr ‎(“a Viking”). Revived as a given name since 1829.

Proper noun

Viking

  1. A male given name.

viking

viking

See also: Viking, víking, and vîkîng

Danish

Noun

viking c (singular definite vikingen, plural indefinite vikinger)

  1. Viking

Declension

References

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse víkingr.

Noun

viking m ‎(definite singular vikingen, indefinite plural vikinger, definite plural vikingene)

  1. a Viking

Derived terms

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse víkingr.

Noun

viking m ‎(definite singular vikingen, indefinite plural vikingar, definite plural vikingane)

  1. a Viking

Derived terms

References

Portuguese

Alternative forms

Noun

viking m f (plural vikings)

  1. (historical) Viking (Scandinavian seafaring raider)

Adjective

viking m f ‎(plural vikings or viking)

  1. relating to the Vikings

Spanish

Noun

viking m ‎(plural vikings)

  1. Alternative form of vikingo

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse víkingr.

Pronunciation

Noun

viking c

  1. Viking

Declension

Inflection of viking 
Singular Plural
Indefinite Definite Indefinite Definite
Nominative viking vikingen vikingar vikingarna
Genitive vikings vikingens vikingars vikingarnas

Etymology

Borrowing from Old Norse víkingr. Already in Old English as wīcing and Old Frisian witsing, wising, but extinct in Middle English and loaned anew in the 19th century.

Old Norse víking ‎(“marauding, piracy”) itself is from Old Norse vík ‎(“inlet, cove, fjord”) + -ing ‎(“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 or Anglo-Frisian form, existing therein 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.[1]

Pronunciation

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