Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1964, Blaðsíða 2

10 The Personal Impact of Jakobsen in Shetland and Orkney
the audiences at the two lectures mentioned above, as they
listened to the perfect Shetlandic pronunciation of the lec°=
turer while he discussed numerous Shetland words and
place>names.
It is fascinating now to look back to these two lectures
as the first outlines of the monumental work which Jakobí
sen later carried out over a period of years, and which
happily is in permanent form in his great »Etymological
Dictionary of the Norn Speech in Shetland.« I am glad to
possess the complete copy of the original Danish edition
in paper covers, the first volume inscribed by Jakobsen
himself to my uncle. I do not possess the translation in
English by Jakobsen’s sister, Mrs Horsbøl, to whom I was
introduced in Lerwick many years ago. I was often told
by my father and others that Jakobsen himself would have
preferred to publish the dictionary in English from the
beginning, but that under the conditions of the Carlsberg
Foundation, which was financing the work, it had to be
published in Danish. There is therefore a great debt of
gratitude due to Mrs Horsbøl for having carried out her
brother’s wish, thus making the work intelligible to those,
the majority in this country, unable to read Danish. It is
a pity that the English translation is now out of print.
Quite recently, as every now and again, I heard someone
asking for it, but unable to get it.
The only person I know who knewjakobsen personally
is Miss Beatrice Hunter, Irvine’s Gord, Lerwick, a niece
of the late John Irvine and the late Miss Katherine Irvine,
both of whom were deeply interested in etymology. Miss
Hunter was on the verge of young womanhood at the
time, and she has vivid memories of Mr Jakobsen, as he
was then, frequently visiting her uncle and aunt in the
same house in which she still lives. She says he was made
welcome to come as often as he wished, and she listened
to many conversations about Shetland words, noting
Mr Jakobsen’s perfect Shetland pronunciation. She adds