Pages: 405-409

The author of this article proposes a new hypothesis concerning the origin of the word Varang. This term comes from the German Varg – wolf, a word for offender and marginal, through Varegang - foreigner as used by Langobards. By means of Langobard-Byzantine relations, the word appeared in Greek in a distorted form, which it had acquired in Italy, but with the same meaning, where it was accepted by Scandinavian mercenaries to finally come to Kievan Rus and Scandinavia in its known form.

Keywords: Varang, Varjag, Væring, Etymology, Langobard-Byzantine relations