Lögberg-Heimskringla - 12.10.1979, Side 3

Lögberg-Heimskringla, föstudagur 12. október, 1979
3
not sell any. They took the food and laid its value in money
behind. Koir went down to Hitarnes and laid a complaint
before Seggbjörn, who lived there. He went with Kolr'to
meet Þangbrandr, and they asked him to have the seized
property restored and to give compensation for it. But Þang-
branar íiatly refused this. They íought each other on the
shore meadow down beyond Steinsholt. Skeggbjörn fell
there and eight other men. Skeggjörn’s grave-mound is there
on the shore; but the others were buried in Landrougsholt
there beside the shore where the cairns are still clearly to
An ancint figurine depicting the God Thor.
be seen. Two of Þangbrandr’s men fell. And when Gizurr
the White learned of these events, he asked Þangbrandr to
stay with him; and he was there the third winter. That
winter Þangbrandr’s ship was driven out from Hitará and
greatly damaged. And it drifted ashore across Kálfalækur
to the south. Concerning this event Steinunn, the mother of
Skáld-Ref, composed this:
Þórr broke from its place
Þangbrandr’s long beast of Þvinnill;
he shook the prow-horse and broke it,
and loosed it against the shore:
the ski of Atall’s land will not
again be fit for the sea,
for the bitter rainstorm recognized as Þórr’s
smashed it hard into fragments.
The slayer of the kinsman of the giantess
shattered the bell-keeper’s
whole bison of the sea-mew’s perch;
the gods damaged the horse of the beach;
Christ did not protect the raven of the wave
from stem to stern when it was crushed;
I tehink that God heeded only little
the reindeer of Gylfi.
In the spring Þangbrandr travelled west to Barðaströnd
to meet Gestr the Wise. There a Norwegian berserk chal-
lenged him to single combat. Þangbrandr agreed to it. The
berserk said: “You will not dare to fight against me if you
see my skills. I can walk barefoot through burning fire, and
I can let myself íall naked on the point of my short sword,
and neither harms me.” Þangbrandr answers: “God will
decide in this matter.” Þangbrandr consecrater the íire
and made the sign of the cross over the sword. The berserk
was burned on the feet when he waded through the fire;
and when he iell on the sword it went right through him,
and he got his death from it. At this many good men re-
joiced, although they were heathens. Then Gestr allowed
himseif to be primesigned, and some of his friends. Þang-
brandr went from the west and hád his ship repaired. He
called it Ironbasket. He sailed south along the ijord to Höfn
and put into the bay and put out there for the sea. The
place between Höfn and Belgsholt has been called Járnmeis-
höfði since. He went abroad in the summer to meet King
Oláfr in Trondheim.”
Dr. Harry’s numerous explanatory notes have here been
omitted.
Um islenzka tungu i vesturheimi
I grárri forneskju var það
enn ljósara en nú á dögum
að enska og íslenzka eru af
einni og sömu rót og blönd-
uðust því auðveidlega. Fróð-
legt væri að hlusta á segul-
bandsupptökur frá víkinga-
byggðunum fornu á Bret-
landseyjum, en þar börðust
tunga feðra vorra og forn-
enskan í návígi langa hríð og
voru sáttargerðir jafnan
fólgnar í ýmiss konar sam-
steypum. Eitt af skeinmti-
legri dæmum um þann sam-
runa er Völundarkviða. Sæ-
mundar-Eddu. Það ljóð er
talið ort löngu áður en
kristni kom á ísland. Völund
ur smiður, sem þar segir frá,
flaug víða um lönd og virð-
ist hafa lokið för sinni norð-
arlega á Skanclinavíuskagan-
um. Þótt kvæðið um hann sé
ort á norræna tungu, verða
nokkrar líniar þess hvorki
skýrðar né skildar nema með
hliðsjón af fornensku.
Fornislendingar gera frem
ur lítið úr mismun íslenzku
og ensku. í málfræðiritgerð
islenzkri frá 12. öld og Gunn-
laugssögu ormstungu frá 13.
öld er kveðið svo að orði að
ein og sama tunga ríki um
Norðurlönd og England. Er
þar vitaskuld fullfast að orði
kveðið.
Enn er þess að geta að
ensk málsáhrif á íslandi eiga
sér gamlar rætur. Fornar
bækur herma að enskir menn
voru meðal þeirra er boðuðu
kristni á íslandi í öndverðu.
Áhri’f þeirra kunna að hafa
verið nokkur. Undirstendur
ekki ég, Islendingur frá
Winnipeg”, stendur þar. ...
„Byskup undirstóð þá eigi
norrænu”, segir í Kristni
sögu, sem að öllum líkindum
var í letur færð af sagna-
meistaranum Sturlu Þórðar-
syni seint á 13 öld.
Útúrdúr er það að minna
á að þegar íslendingar hófu
að rita bækur á móðurmál-
inu, lærðu þeir mikið af eng-
ilsaxneskum ritum. Frá Eng
landi fluttu þeir til að mynda
stafinn Þ og fjölmörg orð í
íslenzku sem lúta að ritstörf
um og bókagerð eru úr forn-
ensku komin. Fróðir menn
tína til orðin bók, rita og
stafróf, svo að dæmi séu
nefnd.
DAUGHTERS OF ICELANDIC PIONEERS MEET IN
The annual meeting of the
Daughters of the Icelandic
Pioneers took place on Sat.
Sept. 8th at the home of
Runa Long in Upham, North
Dakota, with co-hostesses
Pauline Nermoe, Ellen
Lunde, and Margaret As-
mundson all of Upham.
At 9.30 in the morning, the
members began to arrive in
time for a delicious cup of
coffee, cookies, Icelandic
Crepes (pönnukökur), and
hot buttered muffins which
started the day just right. It
is a great time for the memb
ers, many of them not hav-
ing seen each other since the
last year’s meeting, to ex-
change news of family and
friends. The morning was a
períect time to take pictures
both insiiífc and outside. The
entire group had gathered
by 10.30 a.m. including the
Cavalier members who had
traveled farthest. Julie Ost-
by, Runa’s sister, and her
sister-in-law, Alice Lynch,
both of Portland, Oregon had
arrived the day before so
Alice was our guest.
A delicious turkey dinner
with mashed potatoes, stuff-
ing, salads, fresh garden
vegetables, pickles, and buns
was served at noon. The din-
ner was topped off with red
velvet cake and two kinds of
sherbet. Ellen Lunde had
made a beautiful two-tiered
red velvet cake. It was deco-
rated and topped by an up-
right sign which was deco-
rated with the name of our
organization in gold letters.
The members took pictures
of it for their scrapbooks.
The cake was as good as it
was beautiful.
In the aftemoon, the
group settled down for a
song fest of Icelandic and
English hymns and other
favorite songs. During this
time Julia taped the singing
and interviewed each memb
NORTH DAKOTA
er on tape which was later
played back for our amuse-
ment. Each member had
been requested to bring a
baby picture of themselves,
if they had one, for a contest.
Slips were to be numbered
from 1 to 26 by each memb-
er. The pictures which had
been numbered on the back
were passed out to match
them with the right number
on the slips.
This proved to be pretty
difficult. It seemed that most
of the people present had
lost their baby looks. Howev
er, Marie Hanneson was
pretty sharp and knew most
of them so was awarded first
prize. Yona Torno was tied
for the boody prize but hit
the Jackpot by guessing the
right number. During the
afternoon, we were so happy
to greet Gwane Hahn of
Minot and her companion,
Louise Foss. Because Gwane
is not in good health, it is not
easy for her to come so far
but she enjoyed it and we
were so glad that she had
made the effort.
Before returning to our
homes late in the afternoon,
we enjoyed some more Ice-
landic Crepes, Wienna Tarts
(vinartertu), Spritz and Ros-
ettes with coffee. We all
decided that it had. indeed
been a perfect day weather-
wise and otherwise.
At this meeting, 26 memb-
ers were present. The were
Runa Long, Ellen Lunde,
Christine Asmundson, Marg-
aret Magnuson, Helga Ginth-
er, Hilda Almquist, and
Pauline Nermoe jtll of Up-
ham; Julia Ostby of Portland
Oregon; Una Hillman, Anna
Tiffany and Victoria Torr of
Bantry; Sarah Hillman, Ber-
^ niece Klaudt, and Kappy
Bernhoft of Cavalier; Becky
Morrison of Bathgate; Lil
Johnson, Ellen Fafnis, Marie
Hanneson and Rose Hauger-
ud of Bottineau; Gwane
Hahn of Minot; Marie Leh-
mann and Doris Brown of
Willow City; Frederica Buri
of Balfour; Metta Swearson,
Olive Einarson, and Yona
Torno of Towner. Seven
members were absent be-
cause of illriess and for oth-
er reasons. We hope they
will be with us next year.
An invitation was extended
by Lil Johnson, Marie Leh-
man, Doris Brown and Anna
Tiffany to meet with them
next summer. The time and
place will be announced lat-
er. Yona Torno.
Árnað heilla
Ingólfur Nikulás Bjarnason
i Brandon varð áttræður
þann 11. september síðast-
liðinn. Hann var fæddur að
Teigarseli í Reyðarfirði og
fluttist vestur um haf árið
1921 og dvaldist þá um skeið
í Winnipeg. Hélt síðan aftur
heim 1924 til þriggja ára
vistar.
I Vesturheimi hefur Ingólf
ur lagt á margt gjörva hönd,
stundað fiskveiðar, verið um-
sjónarmaður með byggingum
og fleira. Hann hefur starf-
að mikið að þjóðræknismál-
um, bæði innan vébanda Þjóð
ræknisfélagsins og íslend-
ingadagsnefndar.
Ingólfur er hress og kátur,
og á honum sjást engin elli-
mörk. Blaðið árnar honum
og fjölskyldu hans allra
heilla.
Haustvísa
ffé Reykjavík
1979
Mörg vill þreytast menjagná
margt vill ganga úr hömlu,
hvítar hænar komnar á
kollinn á Esju gömlu.
B.M.