Eric

or ERIK (er'ik,) the name of a succe ion of Danish and Swedish kings, the majority of whom are historically unimportant. Er'ic the Red, a Norse navigator who emigrated to Iceland abt. 982 A. D. He subsequently discovered Green land, and also, tradition has it, the coast of New England, to which he gave the name of Vinland; in which case (supposing it could be substantiated) he must have been the original discoverer of the American continent. [s. 339]