14 Comments
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Elizabeth Lamont's avatar

Thanks for this. I was told by an old fisherman on Skye that "viking was a verb, not a noun." He also said some of the raids on Skye included men that looked "like Turks."

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Irina Manea's avatar

"fara i viking" is the expression found both on runestones and later sources, but the noun "vikingr" can also be found sometimes.

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Bridget Collins's avatar

That's what my English professor taught us. To go Viking was a verb and usually entailed summer trading.

His scholarly work was on Beowulf and Icelandic sagas, and there was nothing neater than listening to him read the original text and then show us choices in the translation.

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John's avatar

Great article which fills an immense gap in my knowlege. Thanks.

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Irina Manea's avatar

Really glad to hear this!

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paul teare's avatar

I knew a Norwegian military officer who said Viking was akin to going raiding. They went Viking.

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Michael Walker's avatar

You don't care if a picture is posted upside-down...

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Irina Manea's avatar

Does this have any deep special relevance? It was photographed this way by the National Museum of Denmark to showcase the intricate artistic models.

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Michael Walker's avatar

I may be wrong, but it appears that the axe head photograph is upside-down. Normally the angle of the blade should match the outward and downward motion of the weapon. Cheers.

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Irina Manea's avatar

Didn't really care about that tbh :)) Very likely it was not even used in combat.

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Michael Walker's avatar

I very sorry you went all the way to that museum to look at an upside-down are. You should get your money back.

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Irina Manea's avatar

I already explained the logic behind it, let ot go and move to Pinterest or smth.

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Michael Walker's avatar

Would you post a picture of a longship upside-down? Tends to lend credibility when images are right-ways. Do what you will. It's your name on these articles. Good luck 🙃

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Irina Manea's avatar

Cherry-picking smth that has zero relevance in the context. It is the official photo of the museum and the object is presented in this exact form at the exhibition (I’ve seen it).

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