Basic meaning="people" or "family" |
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Ing is the shortened form of the Old English word ingas meaning "people of" (often, but not necessarily, family). In modern etymology, it usually appears associated with "ham" (home) or "ton" (enclosed land) of some person. The best remembered usage is in the name of the Norse invaders of the 8th and 9th centuries. The English called them the vik-ingas (vikings), meaning, literally, "people of the fjords". Technically, this could only mean northern Scandinavians (from contemporary Norway, Sweden or Finland) but the English found it difficult to tell them from Danes whose language was (and still is) very similar. Hence many people mentally associate "Viking" with "Danes". |
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