Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1999, Page 140

144
ON THE OLDEST TERRITORIAL DIVISION OF THE FAEROE ISLANDS
Heggstad and Zoega mention several
meanings of the word, skeið: 1) race, run;
2) racecourse; 3) a piece of a way; 4) a
space of time. The basic meaning seems to
be something demarcated or measured.
Kluge (1963: 640) mentions Scheide (f.) in
the meaning of “boundary”, or “to divide”.
The same meaning is found in the English
word, “shed”. Partridge (1983: 614) indi-
cates “shed” means, “to separate”, as in wa-
tershed, which derives from the Latin
scindere, “to split”. Greek has skhindere,
“to split”, and a derivation from this is “ski-
zofren”. In English, a related noun is
“shist”, in Danish skifer. In the meaning as
a boundary, the place-name, Skeiðsá, can
be seen not only as a boundary between the
out-fields of neighbouring villages, but,
moreover, as the boundary between north-
em and southem Streymoy. In Iceland,
there is a Skeiðará on the southern coast,
south of Vatnajokull. This river is the
boundary between Austur and Vestur
Skaftafellssýsla.
I assume, therefore, that Skeiðsá means
the “boundary river”. Otherwise, the na-
mes, Marknará (Boundary River), Markna-
gil (Boundary Creek), Marknagjógv
(Boundary Gorge) and other variations are
common in the Faeroes to demarcate a
boundary of some kind.
Paths and Monumental Stones
by Skeiðsá
On the plateau near Skeiðsá, four paths
meet or cross. From Oyrareingir, the above
referenced, Hórisgøta ascends to this area.
From Kollfaradalur, another path ascends
more slowly through Hundsarabotnur and
Fig 3. Sketch ofthe IM carving in the stone in the
Valley of Koppurin
Mynd 3. Tekning, sum vísir IM merkið í steininum í
Koppinum
along the famous stone, Brynjumannaborð,
which Hammershaimb (1852: 171) men-
tions. The victorious warriors in the Battle
of Mannafellsdalur celebrated their victory
here. (More about this later when dis-
cussing the place-name, Mannafelsdalur.)
From the south, the so-called Oyggjagøtan
comes from the Tórshavn and Kirkjubø
area. Furthermore, we find a Mannaskarð
on the slope down towards Kaldbaksbotn-
ur. In all other places where such a name
appears it is in connection with paths that
have been used by men. This path, howev-
er, is not found on the maps. We could as-
sume that people landing by boat in Kald-
baksbotnur in forgotten days used this path
on their way up to this plateau. Moreover,
there are signs of yet another path, which,
from the mountain protrusion near Hunds-