Viking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Viking - Essay ExampleSimpson (1967, p11) propounds, In chivalrous Scandinavian languages, a vikingr is a pirate, a freebooter who seeks wealth either by ship-borne raids on unusual coasts or by waylaying more peaceful seaf arrs in home waters. There is also an abstract noun viking, mean the act of going raiding overseas. This definition hints to the historic approach of delineating the term Viking by referring to them as the looters and raiders of the lands of Scandinavia. It takes matchless to an era in history when Europe was under constant attack of these raiders often referred to as Vikings. These bulk were pirates by nature and looted the wealth of most of the British coastal lands including England, Scotland, Ireland and Netherlands etc. However, this approach does non identify all of the people from Scandinavia as the Viking, kind of it points to certain activities as raiding, pirating and plundering to identify them. Hence, a Viking according to this definition is a p erson engaged in brutal attacks at the foreign lands by the seaways in the quest of wealth contained in those areas.Gibson (1987, pp11-15) also relates to the word Viking as those pirates who were born to fight, made to damp and fostered for bloodshed. Hence he refers to the era when a great part of Europe was under the raid of the Vikings approach path mainly from Norway, Sweden and Denmark. He says, The Vikings are a qualificationy nation with huge bodies and great courage. They do non know the meaning of the word defeat, they never turn their backs on their enemies, but slay or are slain. This definition is a bit closer to the one presented at first and only antithetic in the sense that it ties the term not with individuals but with a nation or a break away of people with regard to the historical event during 750 and 1066 C.E. Gibson (1987) signifies the term Viking with those sturdy people of Scandinavia who were fearless and stood bravely in the face of war and death. The y considered warfare as a symbol of courageousness and even associated these feats with their religious faiths. The corporation between these two definitions is that both relate to history and illuminate the term in its specific context. The very(prenominal) people and the same individuals indulged in raiding Europe in retrospective. Whatever might be their objectives, pile and consequences they were driven by the availability of wealth in specific areas of Europe leading them to brutal invasions. afterwards having learnt the basic definition of the word Viking or assessing the idea encompassed with its usage, one also comes across some hostile views on its illustration. Goldsmith (2004) illuminates that the word Viking is misunderstood many times owing to the history that encompasses the word. She says that some might associate the term with violence, brutality and savagery, while in the linguistic sense it means simply a merchant or a warrior. Therefore, the term Viking simply means someone who travels or an alien. In other words, she attempts to enunciate that the word does not necessarily indicate someone brutal or vicious. It simply signifies that if the term Viking is to be taken in pure linguistic form, irrespective of the history associated, it plainly refers to a traveller rather than a brutal tribesman or a raider of North. ConclusionAll the above-mentioned definitions and approaches concerning the term Viking, obscure from its linguistic sense, refer to the tribesmen of North who were mainly