Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1999, Page 146

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ON THE OLDEST TERRITORIAL DIVISION OF THE FAEROEISLANDS
dialects. Furthermore, he views these dif-
ferences as being “very old”. Perhaps they
go back to the period of the landnám where
the immigrants came from different areas
within Norway, or possibly one of the
groups came as “West Men” from the
Norse lands in the British Isles.
Rischel (1964) discusses expressions in
the Faeroese language that relate to geo-
graphical location or arrangement, e.g.
Uppi á Brekkum (up on the cliffs), Uti í Líð
(out on the slope). The general form is ad-
verb + preposition + substantive. He states
(39): “those adverbs that indicate the direc-
tions between different villages or the posi-
tion of the villages in relation to each other
are, however, strongly conventionalized.”
In many places, it is standard usage to say,
e.g. go east to a village or go west, north or
south. Of special significance, Rischel
states, are the cases in which certain distin-
guishable areas on an island are referred to
in different ways, e.g. in one area it is com-
mon usage to say north to area “A”, and
people in another area on the island say to
go south to area “B”. Rischel: ”On Streym-
oy a southem area is found, comprising
Tórshavn, Syðradalur and Norðradalur, and
a northern area comprises Kvívik, Skæling-
ur and Kollafjørður. The direction from the
southem area to the northem is consequent-
ly indicated as norður, and the direction in
the opposite way as suður.
In some areas, it is usage to say heim
(home) to one village, and the other way,
from this village to say out, north, east,
west, in or over to the others. The simplest
example is Sandoy. It is usage there to say
heim til Sands from all the other villages on
this island. The two above-mentioned
areas on Streymoy are, moreover, two sepa-
rate “home-areas”. In the southern area,
they say heim til Kirkjubøar and Velbastað-
ar, while people from these villages say
yvir (over) to Tórshavn. In the northem
area, usage is to say heim til Kvívíkar, but in
Kvívík they say oman til (down to) Kolla-
fjarðar. Rischels conclusion is that the
functional division between the two areas is
clear, but it can not be explained by the geo-
graphical conditions. We have to explore
explanations from the settlement history.
Different Origins of the Landnám Men
Matras (1957) points out a few Faeroese
place-names that relate to different regions
in Norway. Thus, the first element in
Ørðavík on Suðuroy contains a reference to
Hørðar or people from Hordaland. The
mnic stone from Sandavágur on Vágar tells
us about “porkæl onundarsun austmapur af
ruhalande” (a man that came from Roga-
land and settled in Sandavágur). Signa-
bøur, situated just north of the Skeiðsá
boundary, Matras (1957) explains, refers to
people from the Sogn region. Thorsteins-
son (1997) proposes that the village name,
Vestmanna, situated in the northem part of
Streymoy, originally Vestmannahavn, de-
rives from vestmen, Norse people who
came from the westem regions of the
British Isles.
The Stone Carving
in the Valley of Koppurin
Then the question arose. Wasn’t it possible
to find something there of interest? Visiting
the valley of Koppurin, I discovered a large,