With the new hay for a bed, our blankets spread over us, and our saddles for pillows, we enjoyed a most refreshing sleep. At breakfast this morning, the clergyman-farmer’s dairy and fishing-boat were again laid under contribution. A large raven, one of a pair we had noticed frequently, flew slowly up towards our tent, apparently looking for something to break his fast. Our fowler saluted him with a charge of fine shot, that sent him off at a tangent, and left him minus some of his feathers. A word touching these ravens hereafter. They are among the most ancient of the inhabitants of Iceland.
It was with great regret that I parted from my most agreeable and intelligent company—but separate we must. The French officers, Rector Johnson, and the others, prepared to return to Reykjavik, and I to go towards the east, on a tour of several hundred miles in the interior. They would gladly have continued with me as far as the Geysers, but for some good and weighty reasons. One was, they had no guide to return with them who understood the road, and mine must go on with me. Another reason was, we had all made such terrible havoc with their provision chest, that the remainder would scarcely have stood before a Captain Dugald Dalgetty for a day’s campaign. Then, too, fishing-ponds ten miles long and a thousand feet deep, and yielding trout by the boat-load, are not to be found in every valley, even in Iceland. So a hearty shaking of hands, and a buckling of girths, and we were once more in our saddles; they returning to town, and I and my guide, with faces towards the rising sun, going to see those wonders of nature—the great Geysers of Iceland.
FOOTNOTES:
[2]. I have since learned that the milk used in Iceland is cows’ milk, and that the milk of the ewes is made into cheese.
CHAPTER VI
“You know I pique myself upon orthography,
Statistics, tactics, politics, and geography.”
WE shall climb over the mountains and their hard names, and gallop through the valleys a little more smoothly, if we look at the spelling, pronunciation, and meaning of some of the Icelandic terms. A great appropriateness will be seen in nearly all the geographical names in Iceland. By translating the language, we shall see some characteristic feature embodied in the name of about every place, river, lake, mountain, bay, and island in the country. The explanation of a few Icelandic words will show the signification of many of the names that I shall have occasion to mention. The letter á (pronounced ow) signifies river, and is the last letter in the names of Icelandic rivers. Bru is a bridge, hence bruará, or bridge river. Hvit is white; vatn, water or lake; hvitá, white river; hvitarvatn, white lake. Hver is a hot spring; laug (pronounced lage), a warm spring, and dalr, a dale or vale. There is a valley north of Hekla, known as Laugardalr, or vale of warm springs. The Icelanders pronounce double l at the end of words, like tl. They have a distinct name for each description of mountain. Jokull (pronounced yo-kut-l; or, spoken rapidly as the Icelanders speak, it sounds about like yo-kul) is the term used to designate mountains that are covered with perpetual ice. Fell, fjall, and fjöll (pronounced fee-et-l, fee-aht-l, and fee-ote-l), all signify mountains, but fell is applied to single peaks, to small and isolated mountains, and fjall and fjöll to large mountains, or chains of mountains. Bla is blue; snæ, snow; and we have blafell, or a blue mountain standing alone—an isolated peak in the middle of a plain. A celebrated mountain in the west of Iceland, is Snæfell Jokull (snef-el-yo-kul), a snowy mountain, standing alone, and covered with perpetual ice; and in the comprehensive language of the Icelanders, it is all expressed in two words. Oræfa signifies desert or sandy plain, and torf is turf or peat. There are two mountains, Oræfa Jokull and Torfa Jokull; one standing in a desert, and the other in a large peat district. One portion of the immense mountain, the Skaptar Jokull, is known as Vatna Jokull, as it is supposed to contain, on a portion of its surface, large pools of standing water. The points of compass are, north, suth, æst, and vest. Eyjar signifies islands. South of Hekla is a lofty and celebrated mountain known as the Eyjafjalla Jokull. To an English reader, unacquainted with the Icelandic, it is a crooked-looking mouthful; but on the tongue of an Icelander, it flows off, a round, smooth, sonorous term. They call it i-a-fe-aht-la yo-kull. It defines itself as ice mountain of islands, having numerous knobs or peaks that stand up like islands in the sea. Many Icelandic words are identical with the English, and many others nearly so. It remains for some future lexicographer to show the great number of English words that are derived from the Icelandic. The points of compass have been noticed; a few more examples will suffice. Hestr is a horse; holt, a hill; hus, a house; hval, a whale; lang, long; men, men; mann, man; sandr, sand; sitha, the side; gerthi, a garden; litil, little; mikla, large (Scottish, muckle); myri, a bog or miry place; fjorth, is a firth or bay; kirkja, a church; prestur, a priest; morgun, morning; ux, ox; daga, days. “July, or midsummer month,” stands literally in Icelandic, Julius etha mithsumar-manuthur. J, at the beginning of words and syllables in the Icelandic, is pronounced like y consonant, and in the middle of a syllable, like i or long e.
Their affirmative yes, is já (pronounced yow), and their no is nei (nay). Their counting is much like ours: einn (1), tveir (2), thrir (3), fjorir (4), fimm (5), sex (6), sjö (7), atta (8), niu (9), tiu (10), ellefu (11), tolf (12), threttan (13), fjortan (14), fimmtan (15), sextan (16), seytjan (17), atjan (18), nitjan (19), tuttugu (20), tuttugu og einn (21), thrjatiu (30), fiörutiu (40), fimmtiu (50), sextiu (60), sjötiu (70), attatiu (80), niutiu (90), hundrath (100), fimm hundrath (500), thusund (1000). The date 1851, in words, would be: einn thusund atta hundrath fimmtiu og einn. This list might be extended to great length, showing the similarity between the Icelandic and the English; but these examples are sufficient for my purpose.