Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags

						60                                                                         ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS

Brákarey stóra. On both sides of the sound were rather low but steep cliffs and

the width of the sound was ca. 40—50 m., before a bridge was built there in modern

times; the length is approximately the same. With the rising tide there is a power-

ful current southwards through the sound and in the opposite direction with the

falling tide. Brák was a common tool, which was used to make skin soft. The tool

had various forms, but its main characteristic was a narrow passage, through

which the raw skin, soaked in cod-liver oil, was drawn back and forth until it became

soft. The suggestion is that the narrow and short passage between the steep cliffs,

with the powerful current back and forth, reminded the people of old times

of the well-known tool brák and its use, and that this has given rise to the place-

name. Assuming this, the explanation given by the saga must be invented later.

Originally the placename may have been Brák, cfr. the mountain names Ok and

ÞyriH in the neighbouring district, both seemingly derived from their appearance,

the first as the farming utensil ok (d: a yoke) and the second as the kitchen-utensil

þyrill (o: a whisk with a fringe at the end).