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This is the worst sort of ignorant pop-etymology at work. The vikings were EXPORTING slaves from Ireland, not importing captives from north Africa. The term "fear gorm" ("blue men") arose in Gaelic because the term "fear dubh" ("black men") was already in common use as a term for vikings from Norway. Common Gaelic names such as "MacDougall" demonstrate this use --- having the meaning "son of the black foreigners" --- the MacDougalls being Hiberno-Norse with ancestry in Norway.
"Fear gorm" is used in Gaelic to refer to sub-Saharan ("black") Africans, not north Africans who have skins only slighter darker than many Europeans. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.217.218.37 (talk) 01:18, 12 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Felt it worth adding that the "worst sort of ignorant pop-etymology" removed by the unsigned, anonymous editor above is replicated in a published work, Blighty: a Cynic's Guide to Britain by Steve Lowe & Alan MacArthur, Sphere, 2010: "Blue Men of the Minch: Thought to be a folk memory of Moorish galley-slaves abandoned by Viking pirates. Fascinated with rhyming games, they challenged their victims to verbal duels. So, African rappers challenging sailors to throwdowns...isn't that unusual enough?..." (p.262).--5.150.92.174 (talk) 16:02, 29 May 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Just because an academic spouts something he puts into ink, doesn't mean it necessarily makes historical sense or is deserving any credit. This is about as valid as the theory that Griffins are derived from observations of Protoceratops fossils in Central Asia, which was debunked this year as it lacked evidence that ancient Scythians or whatever dug up suspiciously well preserved skeletons in sufficient numbers to justify this origin.
Can't these "historians" admit that it would simply be a coincidence that Tuaregs are "popularly" and contemporarily known as Blue Men (by Westerners, nobody in the area and certainly not the Tuareg use that term)? Besides, they don't explain how people living in the deep interior of the biggest desert on Earth ended up captured by Vikings hundreds of miles away from their territory. And no, these people didn't venture into the far North of Coastal Africa. This particular author seems to be engaging more in speculative fan fiction (the "rapping" comment, sigh) than serious scientific history, and making up stuff on the spot (unproven "folk memory of Moorish slaves"). And, for last time, North Africans are certainly not pitch black.
