Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1964, Side 19

Nágra ord om spráket i Husaviksbreven
27
In a review of Jakobsen’s book Marius Hægstad examined the lan»
guage of the Húsavík letters. He concluded that the transcript had
been written by a Norwegian hand, as he found so many forms that
were unknown in the North Germanic dialects west of Norway, above
all the considerable number of words without mutation of a to o (or ó)
when u follows in the next syllable. (Forms like »annur« and »allum«
for onnur and ollum.)
Another Norwegian scholar, Mikjel Sorlie, finds it most probable
that the writer of the transcript was a Faroese.
The author of the present paper discusses the different features in
the Húsavík letters, and points out that research work in recent times
shows us that forms without mutation of a may be found also in
western old colonies of Norway, e. g. in Svabo’s 18 th century records
of Faroese ballads. Also to other »Norwegian« features in the Húsavík
letters we may find Faroese equivalents in the ballads and in the spoken
laguage of today.
It is important to consider the cultural relations between Norway
and the Faroes in the Middle Ages. Since 1035 the Faroes constituted
part of the Norwegian kingdom, and Norwegian laws were in force
in the islands. We may suppose that the Faroese took Norwegian
documents as patterns when writing. Thus Faroese features, though
divergent from Norwegian, may be concealed by traditional spelling.
This considered it seems most likely that a Faroese wrote the transcript
of the Húsavík letters. The document is of great interest, not only for
the vivid picture it shows us of life in the Faroes in the Middle Ages,
but also for what it teaches us about the Faroese language of that
period.
LITTERATURLISTA
1. Hammershaimb—Jakobsen, Færósk Anthologi, 1891
2. Hamre, Hákon, Færóymálet i tiden 1584—1750, 1944.
3. Helgason, Jón, Kongsbókin úr Fóroyum, Otiseti 1951.
4. Hxgstad, Marius, Anmalan av »Diplomatarium Færoense I av Jakob
Jakobsen«, Arkiv fór nordisk filologi nr. 26, 1910.
5. Hxgstad, Marius, Vestnorske maalfóre fyre 1350, II 2, andre bolken,
Færóymaal, 1917.
6. Jakobsen, Jakob, Diplomatarium Færoense I, 1907.
7. Svabo.J. Chr., Svabos færóske visehaandskrifter, udgivne for Samfund
til udg. af gammel nordisk litteratur ved Chr. Matras, 1939.
8. Sórlie, Mikjel, Færóysk tradisjon i norrónt mál, 1936.
9. Widmark, Gun, Det nordiska u=omljudet I, 1959.