[192] In a scholium, possibly by Adam himself, there is this correction: “According to what others report, Halagland is the extreme part of Norway, which borders on the Skridfinns and is inaccessible by reason of the forbidding mountains and the harshness of the cold.”
[193] This statement that the summer day and the winter night were of the same length cannot here, any more than in Jordanes and Procopius, be due to direct observation on the part of Northerners, but must be an echo of classical astronomical speculations (cf. above, [pp. 134], [144]). It is strange, too, that while in Jordanes (and Procopius) the length of the summer day and winter night was forty days (among the “Adogit” in Hálogaland), it is here given as fourteen days in Hálogaland. Possibly the number fourteen may be due to a confusion or a copyist’s error for forty.
[194] Probably Adam has taken this explanation from Bede [cf. Kohlmann, 1908, pp. 45 ff.].
[195] This passage, from “Beyond this island,” is not found in all the MSS., whence Lappenberg [1876, p. xvii.] thinks it is a later addition—but by Adam himself, as the style resembles his. To this latter reason it may be objected that when Adam mentions Harold Hardråde earlier in his work, he is disposed to disparage him, which is not the case here. But since he does not disparage him either in his mention of the Baltic voyage (see [p. 185]), this is of little importance.
[196] While this sheet is in the press I happen to see that the same opinion has been advanced, almost in the same words, by Sven Lönborg [1897, p. 168].
[197] Adam’s idea of Hálogaland (Halagland) as an island may be due to its similarity of sound to the “Heiligland” (Heligoland) mentioned by him. As one of these lands was an island it must have been easy to suppose that the other was one also. The interpretation of the name as meaning holy may come from the same source. Heiligland was regarded as holy on account of the monastery established there. A corresponding name, “Eyin Helga,” is applied in the sagas to two islands: Helgeö in Mjösen, and the well-known Iona in the Hebrides [Magnus Barfot’s Saga, cap. 10]. The latter was holy on account of Columcille’s church.
[198] See [note 2, p. 197].
[199] Adam did not apparently know the name “Finn,” he only mentions Finnédi and Scritefini. It might then seem natural that he should intermix the names Vinland and Finland, and believing that this Fin- or Vin- had something to do with Wine, he may have applied to this land Isidore’s description of the Fortunate Isles, in a similar manner as he applied the Greek story about the Amazons to Kvænland with the Cynocephali, etc.
[200] S. Bugge has since maintained the probability that the name “Skaði” is of Germanic origin.
[201] We shall not here enter into the difficult question of the blond short-skulls, as it has no bearing on our argument.