Lögberg-Heimskringla - 16.05.1986, Blaðsíða 2

2-WINNIPEG, FOSTUDAGUR 16. MAI 1986
Icelandic Lessons “Íís*y^
As we have studied nouns, pro-
nouns, some verbs, etc. it is time to
put our knowledge to use. The next
few lessons will deal with sentences
Úr sagna-banka Leifs Sveinssonar
Dagandi
þingmaður
Gísli Jónsson frá Bíldudal var einn
harðduglegasti þingmaður fyrir
kjördæmi sitt Barðastrandarsýsiu,
sem um getur. Hann hjálpaði
bændum að byggja allt upp á jörðum
sínum, jafnt íveruhús sem útihús og
áðstoðaði einnig við ræktun, þannig
að víða var búid að rækta allt land
sem ræktanlegt var, girða af
flæðihættur, kaupa traktora, og öll
heyvinnslutæki.
Þegar Gísli er eitt sinn á yfirreið um
héraðið og kom að bæ einum, stóðu
húsráðendur á hlaðinu. Gísli fer af
baki, heilsar hjónunum og spyr af
alkunnri greiðasemi:
— Er eitthvað í ykkar fari sem
betur mætti fara?
— Ja, við erum nú barnlaus,
svaraði bóndi.
— Guðmundur minn, segir Gísli
með vinsemd, haltu í hestana fyrir
mig, rétt á meðan við Guðrún skrepp-
um hérna upp fyrir túngarðinn!
and their structure, and you will be
asked to make some changes. We
know that in Icelandic all things have
their own gender, whereas in English
most of them are neuter. Here we
mean things such as table, chair, car,
bicycle, paper, etc. The following
sentences will deal with the personal
pronouns and nouns. You are asked
to substitute the nouns with the cor-
responding pronouns. All the nouns
in question are in the definite, i.e. the
definite article has been added to
them. This means that you should
have no problem in identifying their
gender. For example: Pilturinn er
stór, (the boy is tall); and after the
substitution: Hann er stór, the -inn
ending is, of course, the masculine
ending of the definite article. Piltur
is third person (he) so, therefore, we
use hann. Here are a few sentences
for you to work with: Konan er ken-
nari, (the woman is a teacher); Þeir
koma til mannsins, (they come to
the man); Kennarinn á bréfið, (the
teacher owns the letter); Stóllin er
rauður, (the chair is red); Borðið er
stórt (the table is big); Stúlkurnar
gefa honum, (the girls give him); Bör-
nin fara í skóla, (the children go to
school); Mennirnir syngja, (the men
sing); Páll og Guðrún fara í búð,
(Páll and Guðrún go shopping; re-
member the rule — male and female
replaced by neuter pronoun).
Children's Corne~
Barnahornið
I
Helgi Thorvaldson
Hi, kids! How did you make out
last week? Did you find all the
words? Are you sure you are telling
the truth? Promise? Okay. I believe
you. But what was the word for boat
in Icelandic? What was it for hat?
You must try to remember these,
because you are supposed to learn a
word or two every week. Remember,
practice your pronunciation and
write the word(s) down until you
remember the spelling by heart.
Now, guess who I met in Edmon-
ton not so long ago? Gretzky? No, he
was too busy playing hockey. I met
Helgi Thorvaidson. In fact, I stayed
at his house for two days and I got
to know Helgi a little. He likes to
watch cartoons Saturday mornings
and play with his Lego. He made all
kinds of space ships, stations and
warriors while I was there. Helgi
goes to a nearby school. He can walk
there, it's so close. That means he
goes home for lunch. Helgi lives with
his mother, Rose, and his uncle, Gun-
nar. They both come from Oak Point
in Manitoba. Helgi hasn't lived in Ed-
monton all his life; he lived for some
time in California. See you next
week.
Was Colombus in Iceland?
Christopher Colombus, the same
who is believed to have re-discovered
America, arrived in Iceland in early
1477 and gathered some very impor-
tant information regarding the west
explorations of vikings. He came to
Hafnafjörður, travelled west and
north around Iceland. Iceland was a
crucial point in his expedition as it
had been the last stopover in earlier
travels to the New World.
Birth rate falls in Iceland
The provisional figure of 3,800
births for 1985 is the lowest figure
since 1947, despite the fact that there
were twice as many women of
child-bearing age in Iceland.
On 1 December there were
241,750 people in the country, and
the increase for the year was 1,626,
or 0.68%, one of the four smallest
rates since 1918. In 1983 and 1984
the rate of increase was around 1%
and there were over 4,000 births.
There was a loss of about 500 peo-
ple through emigration.

V.
Up-Coming Events
Bridge & Whist — May 20, 8 p.m. Scandinavian Centre.
* * *
Annual Meeting Icelandic Canadian Fron — Scandinavian Centre,
more information to follow.
Wednesday, June 17th Independence Day Celebration — Scandina-
vian Centre. Film on Iceland. Wear costumes.
* * *
Scandinavian Festival — June 20, 21 & 22, 1986 — Icelandic Cana-
dian Club of B.C. — Vancouver, B.C.
These statements can be found in
two rather recent Italian history
publications, both of which deal with
Colombus' travels. One is written by
Paolo Emilio Taviani, former
Minister in Italian Governments,
who visited Iceland. He was mostly
interested in a possible friendship be-
tween Bishop Magnús Eyjólfsson
who resided in Hvaifjörður when the
traveller visited Iceland. The other is
by Gianni Granzotto who, for many
years, worked for Italian Television.
The two historians base their con-
clusions, as do many other historians,
on Colombus' diary. The entries as
he sailed near Thule, which contem-
porary historians now agree must
have been Iceland, make several
references to its location in the north
Atlantic. Here is one entry: "In
February I personally travelled hun-
dreds of kilometers past Thule but its
northernmost point is 73 degrees
from equator, not 63 as many claim;
Christopher Colombus
this Iceland is further west and the
British visit and do business on the
island, especially from Bristol. Wlien
I came there, there was no ice.''
We Need More Subscribers
You Can Help
Send us names and addresses of suggested
subscribers. We will maii them four
complimentary weekly copies of
Lögberg-Heimskringla. Be active, support
your heritage during our Centennial year.