Talk:Vikings

Removed "the vikings preserved a lot of knowledge from the old greeks and romans. For instance they knew the Earth is round." because according to Flat earth and other sources, the round Earth tradition was preserved in Europe from the ancients to modern times (although it was argued against at various times through history). -- Tim Starling 00:09 Mar 16, 2003 (UTC)

I don't like the sentence on a naval arms race with Vikings falling behind. First, it took roughly 1000 years until faster ships than Viking long ships were developed. Secondly, the Viking age ended for various political and economic reasons long before long ships became anachronistic - note e.g. that William conquered England with a fleet of long ships (and Knarrs). Similar political and economic reasons finally led to new and different ships (which were taken up in previous VIking areas as well as elsewhere). Stephan Schulz

Was the first report of a viking raid on Britain 789 not 793?

Currently the WikipediA article says:

Historical records

The first report of a Viking raid dates from 793, when the monastery at Lindisfarne on the east coast of England was pillaged by foreign seafarers.

A quote from several web pages says: "In the year AD 789, three strange ships arrived at Portland on the southern coast of England and Beaduheard, the reeve of the King of Wessex, rode out to meet them. He took with him only a small blind of men under the mistaken impression that the strangers were traders: "and they slew him...” records the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tersely.

I think I first came across this Viking Saxon confrontation in the book "The Blood of the Vikings" by Julian Richards. It may or may not be in the BBC TV series of the same name. It may or may not be called a raid, but it did get a mention in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and hence the Saxon/English historical record 4 years before the reported first date in Wikipedia. Perhaps someone with more knowledge of this period would like to comment on this and if necessary edit the Wikipedia page.

Also the raid was the first on on Britain, but it may not have been the first ever viking raid. For that one would probably need to look at Scandinavian sources.
210.55.27.190

The problem with Scandinavian sources is that they for this period consist of runestones and oral tradition - and of the tourist Ibn Fadlan's report. Up here in the North christianization and written Latin would not root until 200-300 years later. But of course inter-tribal viking raids were carried out locally in Scandinavia long before. But you have to quest archeologists instead of written sources.
--Ruhrjung 11:02, 17 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Eymnology facts?

I want a source of the current text in the Etymnology section. I have reasons not to believe it, as it is far from the etymology as I know it. -- Sverdrup (talk) 15:56, 11 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Etymology

I removed The Germanic word-stem vik or wik has to do with markets, and was the usual suffix to mean "market town" in the same way that burg means "fortified place". Sandwich and Harwich in England still show this termination, and the recently excavated Frankish port town of Quentovic shows the same ending.

It conflates two etymologies, and is not accurate. Instead I used the American Heritage Dictionary's etymology:

Old Norse vkingr, perhaps from vk, creek, inlet. DigitalMedievalist 16:36, 5 Jan 2004 (UTC) Lisa

Foundation of York

They founded cities such as Jorvik (York),...

But on the York page it makes quite clear that York is at least 800 years older than the Danish invasion. One of the pages must either be in error or vague. - stet 20:03, 19 Dec 2003 (UTC)