Lögberg-Heimskringla - 23.07.1964, Síða 22

22
LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 23. JÚLÍ 1964
and Logberg (The Law Rock),
January 1888. After these
weeklies had been published
separately for over 70 years
they merged in 1959 to become
Logberg-Heimskringla, which
has fully maintained the high
standards set by its prede-
cessors.
In 1919, the Icelandic
National League was organ-
ized. Its objectives were: to
help develop the qualities of
good citizenship among per-
sons of Icelandic origin on
this mainland; to preserve the
cultural heritage of the Ice-
landers; and to maintain and
strengthen ties with Iceland.
With the assistance of its
many chapters in North
America, the League has
carried out its worthy aims
and objectives in a most
efficient manner.
In the nineteen-thirties an
Icelandic Canadian Society
was established by some of
the younger people of that
period and became an af-
filiate of the Icelandic Nation-
al League. In the Fall of
1942 it adopted the name
Icelandic Canadian Club and
launched a quarerly called
The Icelandic Canadian. The
journal, published in English,
has an enviable record. To-
gether with the publications
printed in Icelandic, it serves
to keep us informed on events
of common interest.
In 1951 the Chair of Ice-
landic Language and Litera-
ture in the University of
Manitoba was established by
the creation of a substantial
Endowment Fund to which
many Icelandic people of
three nations contributed.
This Department is a per-
manent memorial to the Ice-
landic pioneers and will be
a perpetual source of inform-
ation and a centre of re-
search in Icelandic language
and literature and in com-
parative philology.
The most recent ambitious
venture into the field of
cultural interests has been the
formation of the Canada-Ice-
land Foundation. This organ-
ization has had a modest but
significant beginning.
Eventually it could become a
great rallying point for all
those organizations and indi-
viduals who aim to foster an
interest in the great cultural
heritage which belongs to the
people of Iceland and which
will, for an unpredictable
period, continue to make its
contribution to Canadian life.
The Icelandic language
Why should Icelandic be
taught in our universities?
The Icelandic language is the
classical language of Nor-
thern Europe. For one
thousand years this small
island nation has preserved
this “Old Norse” language
which was spoken in 50% of
the British Isles and over
large areas of Northern Eur-
MEÐ INNILEGUM KVEÐJUM
í tilefni af íslendingadeginum 3. ágúst 1964.
GIMLI MEDICAL CENTRE
A. B. INGIMUNDSON, D.D.S. C. R. SCRIBNER, M.D.
J. G. L. JOHNSON, M.D. F. E. SCRIBNER, M.D.
GIMLI MANITOBA
Greetings to our lcelandic Friends and Customers
GIMLI HOTEL
GIMLI, MAN.
THIS IS A "COMMUNITY" HOTEL
CONGRATULATIONS . . .
to the lcelandic People on the Occasion of the
75th Anniversary of their Annual Celebration
Day at Gimli, Manitoba, August 3rd, 1964.
HOOKER'S LUMBER YARD
Phone 482-3631 "The Lumber Number"
SELKIRK, MANITOBA
COMPLIMENTS OF
SALISBURY HOUSE
COFFEE SHOPS - DRIVE-INS
OPEN 24 HOURS PER DAY
WINNIPEG, KENORA, BRANDON
ope in the early centuries.
Much of this “Old Norse” or
Icelandic language has been
carried forward into the
modern languages of these
of the known history of
t h.e early countries
A great deal era of
exploration and discovery is
recorded in the Icelandic
Sagas. The language has a
close kinship with Anglo-
Saxon which forms the basis
of the most forceful and ef-
fective speech in modern
English. Icelandic is a re-
quired subject in advanced
studies in the English lang-
uage in the universities of
Great Britain and in the older
universities of America. Its
study is being emphasized
more today in centres of
learning than ever before, and
it is on the curriculum in
seventy to eighty universities
of the world today.
For many years the Ice-
landic Government has had a
commission which is respon-
sible for maintaining the pur-
ity of the language and de-
vising and constructing new
words to describe modern
inventions and terms in in-
dustry and commerce, all
based on original word roots.
Lord Tweedsmuir
Unlike Latin and Greek, Ice-
landic is still a living spoken
language.
In support of these state-
ments we have the authorit-
ative opinions of many great
scholars including the late
Lord Tweedsmuir, former
Governor General of Canada,
himself a keen an interested
student of Icelandic language
and literature. In his address
to the people of Gimli in
1936, he said:
“I wish I could address you
in your own ancient lang-
uage. Long ago when I was
a very young man I fell in
love with the Icelandic Sagas,
and I learned enough Ice-
landic to read them with
some difficulty in the original.
Alas! since then I have for-
gotten what little of the
language I knew. But I have
always been deeply interested
in your race. The Scandinavian
peoples are the close kinsfolk
of the British. In my own
country of Scotland there is a
great deal of Norse blood.
The Buchan region of Aber-
deenshire, from which I take
my name, was settled by
Norsemen, for there the Vik-
ings used to land to salt down
the wild cattle for victuals
on their long voyages. My
own family is Norse in origin
. . . You have become in the
fullest sense good Canadians,
and have shared in all the
enterprises and struggles of
this new nation, and at the
same time I rejoice to think
that you have never forgotten
the traditions of your home-
land. That is the way in which
a strong people is made — by
accepting willingly the duties
and loyalties of your adopted
country, but also by bringing
your own native traditions as
a contribution to the making
of Canada.
"...we bought
it through
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