Vikings as a Concept: Etymological, Historical, and Cultural Approaches to Origin and Evolution
https://doi.org/10.21603/sibscript-2025-27-3-519-530
EDN: NDSFQA
Abstract
The article contains a systematic in-depth examination of key approaches to the concept of Vikings in historical science with a focus on its origin and evolution. Scandinavian historical studies and linguistics know the etymological, historical, and cultural approaches to Vikings as a term and a concept. The historicalgenetic, comparative-historical, and content-analytical research methods made it possible to reveal its etymology and diachronic concept signs. Both foreign and domestic historiography, as well as Scandinavian and Icelandic historical sources, prove that the etymological approach alone cannot provide a full understanding of this concept because it had a different semantics in the Viking age. Only in sagas did it acquire its key features of seafarers, looters, gangs, etc. These features correspond to the historical approach to the concept. The Scandinavian nationbuilding process in the 19th century blurred the line between the historical and cultural approaches: the term Vikings started to be applied to all peoples of Scandinavian origin engaged in trade, colonization, and looting. Today, most researchers use it as an umbrella term for all Scandinavians of the VIII–XI centuries.
References
1. Boyer R. Vikings: History and civilization. St. Petersburg: Evrasiia, 2012, 416. (In Russ.)]
2. Glazyrina G. V. The Icelandic Viking sagas of Northern Russia. Moscow: Ladomir, 1996, 240. (In Russ.)]
3. Gurevich A. Ya. Selected works. The ancient Germans. Vikings. St. Petersburg: SPbSU, 2007, 352. (In Russ.)]
4. Dzhakson T. N. The Icelandic Royal Sagas of Eastern Europe. 2nd ed. Moscow: Russian Foundation for the Promotion of Education and Science, 2012, 799. (In Russ.)] https://elibrary.ru/rklknn
5. Simek R. Vikings: Myth and epoch. The medieval concept of the Viking age. The Earliest States of Eastern Europe, 2001, (1999): 9–25. (In Russ.)]
6. The history of Norway, ed. Kan A. S. Moscow: Nauka, 1980, 715. (In Russ.)] https://elibrary.ru/hyxcua
7. Lebedev G. S. The Viking Age in Northern Europe and Russia. St. Petersburg: Evrasiia, 2005, 640. (In Russ.)] https://elibrary.ru/qpbefn
8. Martynenko V. O. Icelandic sagas as a source of studying the spiritual culture of medieval Scandinavia in the discussions of domestic and foreign researchers. Proc. XXV All-Russian Student Sci.-Prac. Conf. of Nizhnevartovsk State University, Nizhnevartovsk, 4–5 Apr 2023. Nizhnevartovsk: NVSU, 2023, vol. 7. History. Documentation. Archival science, 126–133. (In Russ.)] https://elibrary.ru/dcowur
9. Nikitin M. A. The temporal and territorial contexts of the etymology of the concepts: Varangians, Vikings, and Normans. Student community and Modern Science: Proc. All-Russian Sci.-Prac. Conf., Yelets, 8 Apr 2021. Yelets: Bunin Yelets State University, 2021, iss. 7, 185–192. (In Russ.)] https://elibrary.ru/scebsg
10. Roesdahl E. The Vikings. St. Petersburg: Vsemirnoe slovo, 2001, 271. (In Russ.)]
11. Svanidze A. A. Vikings – people of the saga: Life and morals. Moscow: NLO, 2014, 800. (In Russ.)] https://elibrary.ru/wlvgld
12. Sawyer P. H. Age of the Vikings. St. Petersburg: Evrasiia, 2006, 351. (In Russ.)] https://elibrary.ru/qpdaff
13. Steblin-Kamensky M. I. The origin of the poetry of the Skalds. Scandinavian collection, eds. Pokhlebkin V. V., Roots L. K. Tallin: Estonskoe gos. izd-vo, 1958, iss. 3, 175–201. (In Russ.)]
14. Brink S. Who were the Vikings? The Viking World, eds. Brink S., Price N. NY: Routledge, 2008, 4–7.
15. Driscoll M. J. Vikings! The Vikings reimagined: Reception, recovery, engagement, eds. Birkett T., Dale R. Berlin-Boston: Medieval Institute Publications, 2020, 19–27. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501513886-002
16. Fell C. E. Modern English Viking. Leeds Studies in English, 1987, (18): 111–123.
17. Heebøll-Holm T. K. Between pagan pirates and glorious sea-warriors: The portrayal of the Viking pirate in Danish twelfth-century Latin historiography. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia, 2012, 8: 141–170. https://doi.org/10.1484/j.vms.1.103196
18. Heide E. Viking – ʽRower Shifting’? An Etymological Contribution. Arkiv för Nordisk Filologi, 2005, 120: 41–54.
19. Jesch J. The Viking diaspora. N. Y.: Routledge, 2015, 244. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315708331
20. Langer J. Horned, Barbarian, hero: The visual invention of the Viking through European art (1824–1851). Scandia Journal of Medieval Norse Studies, 2021, 4: 131–180. https://doi.org/10.22478/ufpb.2595-9107.2021v1n4.59146
21. Larrington C. A Viking in shining armour? Vikings and chivalry in the Fornaldarsögur. Viking and Medieval Scandinavia, 2008, 4: 269–288. https://doi.org/10.1484/j.vms.1.100315
22. Lind J. H. "Vikinger", vikingetid og vikingeromantik. Kuml, 2012, 61(61): 151–170. https://doi.org/10.7146/kuml.v61i61.24501
23. Nilsson S. E., Nyzell S. The mythopoetic Viking in European cultural heritage. Viking Heritage and History in Europe: Practices and Re-creations (Critical Heritages of Europe), eds. Nilsson S. E., Nyzell S. N. Y.: Routledge, 2024, 3–17.
24. Somerville A. A., McDonald R. A. The Vikings and their age. 2nd ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013, 160.
25. Tuckley C. The Viking brand in crisis? Current Swedish Archaeology, 2022, 30: 41–44. https://doi.org/10.37718/csa.2022.04
26. Whitehead G. D. Vikings, the Barbaric heroes: Exploring the Viking image in museums in Iceland and England and its impact on identity. Dr. Philosophy Thesis. Leicester: School of Museum Studies University of Leicester, 2013, 373.
Review
For citations:
Martynenko V.O. Vikings as a Concept: Etymological, Historical, and Cultural Approaches to Origin and Evolution. SibScript. 2025;27(3):519-530. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21603/sibscript-2025-27-3-519-530. EDN: NDSFQA
Views:
7
Email this article 