Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1964, Page 8

16
Dr. Jakob Jakobsen
Ordbok where on almost every page reference is made for
purposes of comparison to some word or words recorded
from Shetland by Jakobsen.
Though he had previously produced a vast amount of
work, including inter alia a Faeroese Ordsamling og Re=
gister (as Part II of Hammershaimb’s Antologi), a doktor*
thesis on Det Norrøne Sprog pá Shetland, a splendid
monograph on Shetlandsøernes Stednavne, and a preli*
minary review of Orkney’s dialect — Nordiske Minder især
Sproglige pá Orknøerne, etc. etc., there is no doubt that
he regarded his huge Etymologisk Ordbog over Det Norrøne
Sprog pá Shetland as his magnum opus. Only three parts
of that work had been published before his death — the
large fourth and final part appearing three years after. But
he had practically completed it all in Ms.
It was through that great work that I came into touch
with his able and devoted sister Anna, Fru Horsbol. She
had definitely dedicated herself to the fulfilment of her
beloved brother’s earnest wish to have his Ordbog printed
in English as well as in Danish so that is might be more
accessible to Shetlanders and others who could not read
Danish. With that end in view she had got into touch
with Sir Wm. Craigie, our great lexicographer and part*
editor of the vast Oxford English Dictionary. He had
warmly encouraged her, and afterwards she came up here
to Orkney and consulted me. She was an admirable Eng*
lish scholar herself, but she doubted whether she could
adequately translate the Ordbog into good idiomatic Eng*
lish. I too gave her all the encouragement I could, and
offered to read over her translation as she made it. That
help she gladly accepted, and decided to make the attempt.
The proofs were also examined by Dr. George Watson of
the Oxford Dictionary and finally by Sir Wm. Craigie
himself. It was a massive undertaking for a woman of her
age, but she carried it through most ably and gallantly.
The translation finally appeared in two large volumes —