[Rolling Bones]

I was going to post this a couple of weeks ago but forgot and it just popped back into my head.

I was flipping through the channels on the the to0b one night and just caught the last few minutes on a history documentary. It was all about the Vikings travelling all over Europe and the middle east by boat and an overland route through Europe. I guess they traded with the natives and were well respected.

Many stayed behind to set up other trading posts and such. AND I'm almost positive the narrator said at the end that modern day white Russians are descended from Vikings and that Russia was a Viking word or derived from such.

Any history buffs out there that can shed light on this.

[Judge_Fire]

Quite extensive Viking history at WikiPedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikings

J

[Oisín]

I don't know about the antecedents of modern-day Russians, but the word Russia is definitely Scandinavian (i.e., Viking) in origin.

[etymology geek]
Originally, it was a word describing the Vikings from the area around Roslagen (which is a coastal area north of Stockholm, in Sweden)—these Vikings were the ones who colonised Russia originally.

The origins of the word itself are believed to have to do with rowing. The oldest recorded form seems to be something like róþer (genitive and combining form róþs), which meant 'rowing', or 'rudder', or 'a Viking ship which is rowed'. Related to words such as rotor, rotate, round, rotunda, etc.

The usage of Róþs(lagin)/Ros(lagen) for place names happened with Russia, where it was the land colonised that was named after the Vikings of Roslagen; but also in Finland (and later Estonia) where the name for Sweden (Ruotsi in Finnish, Rootsi in Estonian) was taken from the name of its people.

See also this page for discussion and counter-arguments to this explanation.
[/etymology geek]

[rickey939]

I know the Minnesota Vikings enjoy some Russians from time to time while on boats...

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by rickey939

I know the Minnesota Vikings enjoy some Russians from time to time while on boats...

This is a placeholder for the way off-color joke that just occurred to me. Stay tuned for further developments as the coffee takes effect and my judgement awakens.

[The Windozer]

The word is Scandinavian, and for a time, Russia was ruled by Vikings (who the locals had willingly invited to rule over them!) but Russians aren't of Scandinavian descent. They're Slavs, and they've been Slavs since before they became Russians.

[SVass]

The use of the word "Russia" adds to the confusion. I believe that "White Russia" is now Belarus and that the Vikings did raid near Kiev in the Ukraine. Also Ostrava in the Czech Republic was near the Moravian Pass that was a trading route between the "Norse" and the Mediterranean before the common era. Particular peoples like the "Russians" or "Slavs" are not defined and therefore can be thrown around by tv announcers. sam

[Obi Wan's Ghost]

The Rus went as far as Belarus and mixed minimally with the Slavs there. The names Rus, Russian, Prussian (northwest Germany) and Bela'rus' are derived from them. I think it originally meant 'red' 'rose' or 'pink' in reference to the skin color of the Scandinavians. The Slavs were a pale skinned people who were once slaves and cheap labor for Roman garrisons in the east. That's where they get the name Slav from.

[Hawkeye_a]

I think, Russians have obviously been influenced by Vikings....just as much as the mongolians, turkmen, slavs, chineeses, etc..... it's not a difinitive that are descendant from any one 'civilization', but rather a mix of all the civilizations in the area throughout history.

Good topic.

Cheers

[The Windozer]

Russians are Slavs. They speak a Slavic language and they have a cultural connection with other Slavic nations, such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Serbia, etc. This cultural connection was the basis for the panslavic movement of the eighteenth century, which the Russian czar tried to use (with varying success) to weaken the Ottoman empire's control over the Balkans.

The Russians have been influenced by Vikings, no question. I'd imagine more so, than by the Turcs and Mongols, due to the greater animosity towards these two, though that's just speculation on my part. In any case, the Russians are Slavs.

[olePigeon]

I did a research paper on Eric the Red and Lief Ericson. Eric was exiled to Greenland and Lief eventually continued south to possibly as far as New York. Some of the first American immigrants. Pretty neet.

[CharlesS]

^ Well, the first American immigrants would have to be the people that came across the Bering Straits from Asia...

[memento]

There was a viking settlement discovered in either Newfoundland or Nova Scotia (I can't remember which). So that is definitive proof that they settled in North America. As to Russia, they settled and founded Kiev. Also Normandy was named after them (the Normans, aka Norse) when they invaded France. As time goes on, we are finding more and more info about them. They traded extensively, especially with the Middle East. They ruled England for almost 100 years.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

^ Well, the first American immigrants would have to be the people that came across the Bering Straits from Asia...

Yes.

[Hugi]

Originally Posted by olePigeon

I did a research paper on Eric the Red and Lief Ericson. Eric was exiled to Greenland and Lief eventually continued south to possibly as far as New York. Some of the first American immigrants. Pretty neet.

Ah, yes, my old cousin Leif - I remember him well.

[SVass]

Originally Posted by Hugi

Ah, yes, my old cousin Leif - I remember him well.

I recommend that you go through http://www.familytreedna.com/ or a similar service. You may find that there was a "non-paternal event" in your background. Actually, such testing for the current National Geographic migration study or earlier analyses reveal many discrepancies in commonly believed histories. Maybe the Chinese did visit the Americas in 1421 or the Egyptians imported marijuana from the Caribbean during the Middle Kingdom period.

Remember that the losers in history did not all die and their descendants are still all around us. sam

[The Windozer]

Originally Posted by CharlesS

^ Well, the first American immigrants would have to be the people that came across the Bering Straits from Asia...

Technical/grammatical question:
Are you an immigrant if noone is living there before you come?

[Hugi]

Originally Posted by SVass

I recommend that you go through http://www.familytreedna.com/ or a similar service.

I don't need to - my family is, of course, perfect.

Seriously though, last year an Icelandic company published the results of a study on "non-paternal events" as you so nicely put it, and according to them the number of wrongly fathered children in Iceland is amazing - I can't find the study right now, but I think it was something like one in every five or six children.

[von Wrangell]

Originally Posted by Hugi

I don't need to - my family is, of course, perfect.

Seriously though, last year an Icelandic company published the results of a study on "non-paternal events" as you so nicely put it, and according to them the number of wrongly fathered children in Iceland is amazing - I can't find the study right now, but I think it was something like one in every five or six children.

10% IIRC. Caused them so much trouble. <viking language also known as Icelandic> Gagnagrunnurinn er gagnslaus útaf þessu </icelandic>

[Hugi]

Originally Posted by von Wrangell

10% IIRC. Caused them so much trouble. <viking language also known as Icelandic> Gagnagrunnurinn er gagnslaus útaf þessu </icelandic>

Damn, that's tough! Apparently we're a nation of bad boys and dirty girls.

<secret language>Eru þeir ekki að nota kvenlegginn í þetta í dag?

[von Wrangell]

Originally Posted by Hugi

Damn, that's tough! Apparently we're a nation of bad boys and dirty girls.

You just figured that out?

<secret language>Eru þeir ekki að nota kvenlegginn í þetta í dag?

Þeir eru að tékka þann lið núna. En hann er samt erfiðari. Bara hægt að notast við hvatbera. Og bölva mér fyrir að taka ekki vinnu hjá þeim.

[- - e r i k - -]

You are obviously confusing the word "Viking" with the word "Norse" here, but carry on.

[JoshuaZ]

Originally Posted by SVass

I recommend that you go through http://www.familytreedna.com/ or a similar service. You may find that there was a "non-paternal event" in your background. Actually, such testing for the current National Geographic migration study or earlier analyses reveal many discrepancies in commonly believed histories. Maybe the Chinese did visit the Americas in 1421 or the Egyptians imported marijuana from the Caribbean during the Middle Kingdom period.

Remember that the losers in history did not all die and their descendants are still all around us. sam

Though seriously, who didn`t discover America at one point or another?

I like the Chinese approach. `Hmm... we have the largest navy in the world. We have traveled to Africa and America. The food sucks everywhere else, lets go home.` Isn`t history fun.

[SVass]

Getting back to the original query. I had my mtdna tested and it revealed that my ancestral maternal line came from the Middle East to Spain and thence to Lithuania. One exact match went from Spain to Mexico and thence to the US. Another was in Alsace and a third also in Lithuania. Finally several show up in Belarus. So none of my ancestors were Norse/Vikings and yet they were in Lithuania and Belarus. This proves that not all living in Belarus were Vikings. I should note that the only scientifically arguable points have to do with the exact times of these migrations. No one has a provable timeline but the mathematics indicate that these exact matches have a 50% probability of a common ancestor within the last 30 generations. sam

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by Obi Wan's Ghost

The names Rus, Russian, Prussian (northwest Germany) and Bela'rus' are derived from them. I think it originally meant 'red' 'rose' or 'pink' in reference to the skin color of the Scandinavians.

Check the link in my post above—it's Wikipedia, but it works.

Originally Posted by von Wrangell

Gagnagrunnurinn er gagnslaus útaf þessu

Ég héld að það væri útaf þessu með hamsturinn sem var að verða skiptað um?

[von Wrangell]

Originally Posted by Oisín

Ég héld að það væri útaf þessu með hamsturinn sem var að verða skiptað um?

(þú þarft að laga málfræðina aðeins)

[deej5871]

In Soviet Russia, villages pillage you!

[Oisín]

Originally Posted by von Wrangell

(þú þarft að laga málfræðina aðeins)

Segir þú að ég þurfi verða kennari?!?

Aldrei!

[Hugi]

Originally Posted by Oisín

Segir þú að ég þurfi verða kennari?!?

Aldrei!

Oisín. I love you - and I'm not even gay.

Anyway, your Icelandic is really good, where are you learning from?