Do You Use the Word Viking Correctly?

Do you use the word Viking correctly? Language matters, and how a person uses language significantly affects their worldview and how they perceive people, objects, and concepts.

Language matters, and how a person uses language significantly affects their worldview and perception of people, objects, and concepts. It is no surprise that a growing number of people are dismayed by today’s liberal use of the word Viking to describe a significant number of things that the word initially did not. Historians have fought pitched battles over the word's origins, and many an unsuspecting Viking history fan has been on the receiving end of the ire of the word's purists. Do you use the word Viking correctly? Here, I will attempt to clarify the word's origins, its various uses across the ages, and the evolution of its modern incarnation, specifically in non-Scandinavian languages.

The Origins of the Word Viking

We know this for sure: the modern word Viking is derived from Old Norse via the Icelandic Sagas. Its exact origins, however, are hotly debated. Some propose the word stems from the Norse word vik, or inlet (such as those found in Fjords). Others suggest the word leape…