The Iceland year-book - 01.01.1927, Page 67

tionaries were not available. Prof. W. A. Craigie’s
Easy Readings in Old Icelandic* *, where the es-
sentials of the grammar are, with marvellous
lucidity, set out in eight pages, ought to be the
final death-blow to this persistent belief. For the
satisfaction of the curious the first and the last
verse of the Icelandic national hymn, together with
an English translation, are given here as a speci-
men of the language :
Eldgamla Isafold,
astkajra fosturmold,
fjallkonan friS,
mogum Jrin muntu kser
meSan land girSir saer
■og guma girnist maer,
gljar sol a hliS.
Fire-olden Iceland strand,
Heart’s dearest foster-land.
Hill-maiden rare!
Of thee shall souls be fain
While land is girt of main,
And wooeth maiden swain,
Or sun shines fair.
Eldgamla Isafold,
ustka'ra fosturmold,
fjallkonan friS,
Agatust auSnan l)jer
upp lyfti, biftjum vjer,
meSan aS uppi er
oil lieimsins tic5.
Fire-olden Iceland strand,
Heart’s dearest foster-land,
Hill-maiden pure!
Best gifts be thine alway,
From heart and soul we pray,
While this world’s night and day
Steadfast endure.*
Almost every European possessed of some
education knows a little about Old Icelandic litera-
ture, for even those who have not read any of the
sagas in translation, have at any rate read some-
thing about them, or some modern work of poetry
or fiction based on them. Who, for instance,
speaking the English language, would readily ad-
• Published in 1924 by I. B. Hutchen, 22 Eildon St.,
Edinburgh.
* Mrs. Disney Leith’s translation.
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