Changing views on Vikings

Samenvatting

The etymology of ON víkingr is controversial and many proposals have been made for its solution. According to one of those (published 1996), viking is a derivation from the verb wīken ‘withdraw, escape’, denoting people from the northeastern part of the Netherlands who, after having escaped from Christianisation, returned to their homeland and revenged themselves on Christian institutions. Less problematic is the derivation from Vík ‘Oslo Fjord’, denoting vikings as people from the Oslo Fjord area. The negative reputation of the Vikings should be supplemented with an appreciation of their technical achievements.