PRONUNCIATION OF “VIKING.”

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVI, Issue 4882, 25 September 1925, Page 3

PRONUNCIATION OF “VIKING.”

CTo the Editor..! Sir,—on Wednesday evening at the very enjoyable Manx concert at Ngatea the Rev. A. M. Costain happened to pronounce the word viking as “vi-king. The word should be pronounced as “viek-ing,” as it is derived from the Norwegian word “viK - -a bay, or the head of a fiord, and the act of harbouring therein. The word is often taken to mean a sea king (Nor. sjoe konge), but .this is wrong. The commander of a viking ship waSi of course a viking, but his title was .a sea king. As Samuel Laing, the English traveller. (1780-1868) says, the sea king was a . man connected with a royal race, and who, by right, received the title of king as soon as he took the command of men, although only of a ship’is 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 harboured in their long ships or rowing galleys. The word is very often mispronounced, and I thank the Rev. Costain for this opportunity of expla'ning the correct pronunciation. INGVALD J. H. BRATLIE. Ngatea, 23/9/25.