Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.2007, Síða 101

100 ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
Skrá um breytingar á bæjarnöfnum: Bréf frá örnefnanefnd til Hins íslenzka forn-
leifafélags, dags. 11. febrúar 1954. Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags 1954, bls. 70-72.
Sýslu- og sóknalýsingar Hins íslenzka bókmenntafélags 1839-1873. Skagafjarðarsýsla.
1954. Í: Safn til landfræðisögu Íslands II. Akureyri.
Torskilin bæjanöfn I-IV: Margeir Jónsson. 1921-1933. Bæjanöfn á Norðurlandi.
Rannsókn og leiðréttingar. [I) Torskilin bæjanöfn í Skagafjarðarsýslu. Akureyri 1921,
56 bls. II) Torskilin bæjanöfn í Húnavatnsþingi. Akureyri 1924, 52 bls. III) Bæjanöfn
á Norðurlandi. Eyjafjarðarsýsla. Reykjavík 1929, 63 bls. IV) Bæjanöfn á Norðurlandi.
Þingeyjarsýslur. Reykjavík 1933, 70 bls.]
Summary
During the period 1924-26, a fierce discussion took place in this publi cation on
the meaning of farm names. Three main participants were involved in the discussion:
two learned individuals, Dr. Finnur Jónsson, a professor in Copenhagen and Hannes
Þorsteinsson, head of the Icelandic State Archive in Reykjavík; and a well-read farmer
from Skagafjörður, Margeir Jónsson. This following article describes the discussions and
the main positions taken by each of the participants.
Various discussions of the possible meanings of difficult place names have occurred
in the Yearbook of the Archaeological Society from an early date. In 1907-1915 Finnur
Jónsson published a study on farm names in the series “Safn til sögu Íslands,” clearly
inspired by place name and farm name research in Scandinavia, especially Norway.
Obvious differences can be seen in the way these researchers viewed the farm names,
although they all have a tendency to read and assume personal names into the farm
names, even when the personal name is otherwise unknown from other sources. Finnur
Jónsson seems to have done this more so than the others. Also, many of the differences
seen between the two scholars seem to be inspired by personal discord. On the other
hand, Margeir Jónsson is more careful in this respect and does not tend to assume farm
names are derived from personal names, unless such personal name can be shown to exist
somewhere in older sources.
As an example of the ideas and work of all three parties in these discussions this
article confers each party´s outlook on the following farm names: Útiblígsstaðir,
Lambableiksstaðir, Kúskerpi and Íbishóll. All three names are rather obscure and several
attempts have been made to explain them or deduce their original form.