Anonymous asked:
how did vikings called themselves (is it different by country/area?)? the term, “Viking” came later after the viking age (if I recall this well).
This is a wonderful question, because the term “Viking” is now a convoluted mess of our own creation.
The “Vikings” never addressed themselves as “Vikings” in the sense of ethnicity. It was always reserved for certain Scandinavians, speaking a common language, Dönsk Tunga (Danish Tongue/ Old Norse) [1], who went abroad raiding. Yet, even these men were not always referred to as being “Viking.” They were only “Viking” while raiding abroad, but once they returned it was no longer their identification. However, literature often says hann var víkingr (he was a Viking), implying that a man once was a Viking, but is no longer a Viking [1].
The use of the term víkingr dates back to the period, but it was not to used in the same sense that it is today until afterwards. Based on native literature, and not just foreign chronicles, they usually referred to themselves based on region – Íslendingr (Icelander), Norrœnn(Norse, Norwegian), Danskr (Danish), or Svenskr (Swedish) [2][3]. Yet, the terminology was far more complex than that. Those countries did not actually develop until the end of the Viking Age. The “Vikings” were hardly a unified people, and they did not see themselves as being unified either.
In the end, tribal and regional identifications would have been the most common. The term “Viking,” to them, meant more of an action or a job (past or present, but temporary). We use the term much differently today to simplify the complexity of their time period.
Here are some other posts I have made about the term “Viking:”
– A Concise History of Medieval Iceland – Lesson 3: Language.
– (#10) Old Norse Words – Víkingr & víking.
– Previous question asked about the terms Víkingr & viking.
I hope that was helpful! If not, try looking into some of the sources I listed below. Also, if you would like any quotes from primary source material, let me know and I can post a few of them.
SOURCES
[1] Jesse L. Byock, Viking Age Iceland. (London: Penguin, 2001), 11-13.
[2] Geir T. Zoëga, A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic. (Mineola: NY, Dover Publications, 2004), 315, 421.
[3] Jesse L. Byock, Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas. (Pacific Palisades, CA: Jules William Press, 2013), 342, 360, 367.
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