What is "viking"

Viking \Vi"king\, n. [Icel. v[=i]kingr, fr. v[=i]k a bay, inlet.] One belonging to the pirate crews from among the Northmen, who plundered the coasts of Europe in the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries.

Of grim Vikings, and the rapture Of the sea fight, and the capture, And the life of slavery.
--Longfellow.

Note: Vikings differs in meaning from sea king, with which frequently confounded. ``The sea king was a man connected with a royal race, either of the small kings of the country, or of the Haarfager family, and who, by right, received the title of king as soon he took the command of men, although only of a single ship's crew, and without having any land or kingdom . . . Vikings were merely pirates, alternately peasants and pirates, deriving the name of viking from the vicks, wicks, or inlets, on the coast in which they harbored with their long ships or rowing galleys.''
--Laing.

Scandinavian pirate, 1801, vikingr, in "The History of the Anglo-Saxons" by English historian Sharon H. Turner (1768-1847); he suggested the second element might be connected to king:\n\nThe name by which the pirates were at first distinguished was Vikingr, which perhaps originally meant kings of the bays. It was in bays that they ambushed, to dart upon the passing voyager. \n\nBut this later was dismissed as incorrect. The form viking is attested in 1820, in Jamieson's notes to "The Bruce." The word is a historians' revival; it was not used in Middle English, but it was reintroduced from Old Norse vikingr "freebooter, sea-rover, pirate, viking," which usually is explained as meaning properly "one who came from the fjords," from vik "creek, inlet, small bay" (cognates: Old English wic, Middle High German wich "bay," and second element in Reykjavik). But Old English wicing and Old Frisian wizing are almost 300 years older than the earliest attestation of the Old Norse word, and probably derive from wic "village, camp" (large temporary camps were a feature of the Viking raids), related to Latin vicus "village, habitation" (see villa).\n

\nThe connection between the Norse and Old English words is still much debated. The period of Viking activity was roughly 8c. to 11c. In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the raiding armies generally were referred to as þa Deniscan "the Danes," while those who settled in England were identified by their place of settlement. Old Norse viking (n.) meant "freebooting voyage, piracy;" one would "go on a viking" (fara í viking).

The Vikings were seafaring Scandinavians engaged in exploring, raiding and trading in waters and lands outside of Scandinavia from the eighth to eleventh centuries.

Viking or Vikings may also refer to:

The Viking rocket series of sounding rockets were designed and built by the Glenn L. Martin Company (now Lockheed-Martin) under the direction of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Twelve Viking rockets flew from 1949 to 1955.

Viking was an automobile manufactured by General Motors' Oldsmobile division for model years 1929 to 1931 and used the GM B platform.

Viking was part of Alfred Sloan's companion make program introduced to help span gaps in General Motors’ pricing structure, and was marketed through GM's Oldsmobile division. Viking was one of four makes introduced by General Motors, the other lines (and their GM divisions) being Pontiac ( Oakland), Marquette ( Buick) and LaSalle ( Cadillac). Of the four makes, Viking was the only one priced higher than its "parent" make. Riding a wheelbase, Vikings were powered by a monobloc V8 engine, the first automobile using this type of engine construction. Vikings were available as 4-door sedan, deluxe 4-door sedan, convertible coupé with rear deck seat, deluxe convertible coupé with rear deck seat, close-coupled 4-door sedan and deluxe close-coupled 4-door sedan.

Viking production for 1929 was 4,058 units and 1930 2,813. GM discontinued the Viking and the Marquette at the end of the 1930 model year, preferring to bet on Oldsmobile and Buick which had better consumer awareness. However, an additional 353 units were assembled using existing parts and marketed as 1931 models.

Viking was Sweden's first satellite. It was launched on an Ariane 1 rocket as a piggyback payload together with the French satellite SPOT 1, on February 22, 1986. Operations ended on May 12, 1987. Viking was used to explore plasma processes in the magnetosphere and the ionosphere.

Viking is the second and final studio album by the American punk rock band Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards.

Viking is an American thrash metal band in Los Angeles, California, which had existed for four years, between 1986 and 1990. However, they reformed in 2011. To date, Viking has released three studio albums, Do or Die (1988), Man of Straw (1989) and No Child Left Behind (2015).

Viking is a creator-owned comic book series published by Image Comics. It is written by its creator, Ivan Brandon, with art by Nic Klein.

Viking is the name of the son of Vífil and Eimyrja in Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar. Viking is the father of Thorsten and Thorer.

The two daughters of Logi (Haloge) are stolen away by suitors to nearby islands. Viking is a son of one of these daughters. He grows up in Bornholm. By the time he is 15, he is the biggest and strongest man of his time. His magic sword Angurvadel is fatal even to giants. The sword was inscribed with Runic letters, which blazed in time of war, but gleamed with a dim light in time of peace. His friend is Halfdan. His magic dragon ship is Ellida, the first ship in the North, given to him as a gift by Aegir. The ship is big like a fortress, but faster than an eagle. It is not fastened by nails, but rather, the planks were grown together.

Hunvor, a Swedish princess, asks for his help against a giant suitor who harasses her. The giant escapes to India with her. Viking slays the giant in a holmgang (duel). Viking is unable to marry her because is it disgraceful to marry before 20. The giant's relatives, who are adept at magic, pursue him and bring him sea perils.

He settles in Sweden. Halfdan marries Ingeborg, Hunvor's attendant. Viking sires nine sons by a second wife. He befriends his worthy foe Njorfe, King of Upplands, in Norway, who also has nine sons. The two groups of sons are highly competitive against each other. In a brutal ball game, they beat and maim each other, breaking each other's arms. A son of Viking, near death, slays a son of Njorfe. Viking scolds this son and sends him to an island in Lake Werner. Two more sons go with him, including the eldest Thorsten (or Thorstein). Viking gives Angurvadel to Thorsten and tells him to wait quietly on the island until the danger is over. Njorfe's sons want revenge. They use magic to conjure a frost that freezes the lake and travel across it to attack the three sons of Viking. Two of Viking's sons survive: Thorsten and Thorer. Two of Njorfe's sons survive, including his eldest son, Jokul, a sorcerer. Njorfe's sons use magic to discover that Thorsten and Thorer are alive. Viking sends his two sons to the court of Halfdan for safety.

Viking's son Thorsten and grandson Frithiof inherit Angurvadel and Ellida.

The Viking rocket engines were members of a series of bipropellant engines for the first and second stages of the Ariane 1 through Ariane 4 commercial launch vehicles, using storable, hypergolic propellants, N2O4/ UH 25 (mixture 75% UDMH and 25% Hydrazine.)

The earliest versions, developed in 1973, had a thrust of about 390 kN. The version used on the Ariane 4 first stage, which clustered four together, had 667 kN thrust each. The second stage of Ariane used a single Viking. Over 1000 were built, and achieved a high level of reliability from early in the program.

The 144 Ariane 1 to 4 used a total of 958 Viking engines. Only 2 engines have led to a failure. The first failure was due to a crack in the combustion chamber, the second is of human origin: a rag had been left in a pipe during installation. Initially, all the engines were tested before being integrated on a launcher. Beginning in 1998, engineers, confident of the reliability of the engine, authorized the use of untested engines on launchers. Some engines, randomly taken in the workshops of assembly, were tested from time to time. This confidence is very rare in the world of space engines.

Viking is a given name which may refer to:

• Viking (Norse mythology), father of Thorstein, from Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar
• Viking Björk (1918-2009), Swedish cardiac surgeon
• Viking Dahl, (1895-1945), Swedish composer, as well as a painter and author
• Viking Eggeling (1880-1925), Swedish avant-garde artist and filmmaker
• Viking Palm (1923-2009), Swedish wrestler and 1952 Olympic champion

Viking is a 2016 historical action film by director Andrei Kravchuk, based on the historical document Primary Chronicle and Icelandic Kings' sagas. Screen International has called it Russia's Game of Thrones. The films stars Danila Kozlovsky ( Vampire Academy, Hardcore Henry) and Svetlana Khodchenkova ( The Wolverine, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy).