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A community dedicated to sharing and discussing fascinating historical facts from all periods and regions.
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It wasn't even a job description, it was an activity.
No one "was a viking" people would just "go viking" for a while and then come back.
For mainland Europeans, they only encountered Norse while they were viking, so it makes sense that they became known as "the vikings" as a misnomer.
A bunch of them settled in mainland Europe too, they just didn't call themselves vikings then and it was kind of like Superman putting on glasses. They just assimilated and got tossed in the genetic shuffle.
When my kids and I played Raft we’d call it “going viking” for this reason
I don't see a distinction between what you said vs a job. Like "I was a sailor with the Navy."