Vikings just misunderstood?

[Andreas Johansson]

The impression they made on contemporaries is reflected in the designation or epithet by which they are still known.

Except it isn't. The usage of "viking" in English is a modern habit, contemporary records usually call them "heathens" or "Danes".

[Swampster]

The impression they made on contemporaries is reflected in the designation or epithet by which they are still known.

Except it isn't. The usage of "viking" in English is a modern habit, contemporary records usually call them "heathens" or "Danes".

Mostly true. There are a handful of usages of 'wicing' in e.g. the A/S Chronicles (though the word adds to the debate about the origin of the word 'viking' and _may_ have a different root).
See https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/72p295.pdf

[Patrick Waterson]

The impression they made on contemporaries is reflected in the designation or epithet by which they are still known.

Except it isn't. The usage of "viking" in English is a modern habit, contemporary records usually call them "heathens" or "Danes".

Good point; I was referring more loosely to the fact that their then-major activity is reflected in their current designation, indicating what it was they have been remembered for since their presence was first felt.  We of oft-plundered Europe do not know them as 'chapmen'.

[Mick Hession]

In Ireland they were usually known simply as Gaill - foreigners - though until they adopted Christianity clerical annalists also called them Gentiles or Pagans.

I suppose Gaill could be construed as a synonym for pirates, for the same term was used of the English   

Cheers
Mick

[Nick Harbud]

Yes, a strange article. I'm not sure who the people supposed to hold the opinion that "that all the Vikings did was to raid and to rape" are. And the idea that musicianship, craftsmanship and trade being part of the culture should be considered extraordinary is again odd.

Their behaiviour seems a bit like that of modern bankers...   

[Prufrock]

Yes, a strange article. I'm not sure who the people supposed to hold the opinion that "that all the Vikings did was to raid and to rape" are. And the idea that musicianship, craftsmanship and trade being part of the culture should be considered extraordinary is again odd.

Their behaiviour seems a bit like that of modern bankers...   

It's a rotten job but someone's got to do it 

[Andreas Johansson]

Mostly true. There are a handful of usages of 'wicing' in e.g. the A/S Chronicles (though the word adds to the debate about the origin of the word 'viking' and _may_ have a different root).
See https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/sites/default/files/72p295.pdf

And here I was trying to keep things simple

Yes, wicing is sometimes found in Old English, but, crucially for the point I was making, it doesn't live on in Modern English 'viking', which is a modern loan from Scandinavian. There's is no continuity from contemporary English usage to the modern as Patrick suggested.

(In Swedish at least, the word died out in the Middle Ages and was re-introduced from the Icelandic sagas in early modern times. I would bet that the same applies to Danish and Norwegian, and that all modern use goes back directly or indirectly to the Icelandic.)

[Patrick Waterson]

Yes, wicing is sometimes found in Old English, but, crucially for the point I was making, it doesn't live on in Modern English 'viking', which is a modern loan from Scandinavian. There's is no continuity from contemporary English usage to the modern as Patrick suggested.

Agreed no continuity in usage; my emphasis was on continuity of expression of the impression made, even without semantic symmetry.