Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1977, Page 86

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Heimildir um seyðamjólking í Føroyum
Landt, Jørgen: Forsøg til en Beskrivelse over Færøerne. København 1800,
Nýútg. Tórshavn 1965.
Matras, Chr.: Stednavne paa de færøske Norðuroyar. Aarbøger for nordisk
Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1932.
Patursson, Jóannes: Vinnuvegabøtur. Varðin, 5. bind, 1925.
Rasmussen, Holger: Føroysk Fólkamenning. Keypmannahavn 1968.
Seyðabrævið, Tórshavn 1971.
Storm, Gustav: Samlede skrifter af Peder Claussøn Friis. Kristiania 1881.
Svabo, ]' C.: Dictionarium Færoense I. København 1966.
Svabo, J. Chr.: Indberetninger fra en Rejse i Færøe 1781 og 1782. Køben-
havn 1959.
1
SUMMARY
Sources on Sheep-Milking in the Faroes.
In modern historical treatises one frequently encounters the postulate
that it has been the practice to milk sheep in the Faroes in the past. How-
ever, on reference to the source material it becomes clear that sheep-milk-
ing has definitely not been practised since circa 1600. Furthermore, on
examination of the Seyðabrævið of 1298, a special enactment for the
Faroes mainly concerning sheep-breeding, it emerges that the structure of
sheep-breeding in the 13th century was appreciably the same as deschribed
in later times, and in that structure there was no place for sheep-milking
(i. e. because of the poor domesticity of the sheep).
The postulate, first stated by J. C. Svabo in 1782, was based on vague,
unrecorded traditions and undocumented explanations of the place-name
element kví(ggj).
If sheep-milking has ever been practised in the Faroes, and that possi-
bility during the earliest phases of settlement cannot be here dismissed, it
will only be documented by archæological means and through a survey of
the structures comparable to other structures which are definitely known
to have existed in sheep-milking contexts in other countries. This must be
the next avenue of investigation towards a final solution to this problem.