Chapter IX · (continued 4)

[214] This passage seems somewhat confused and it is difficult to find a logical connection in it. The first part is simple; most of the Sea Finns (Fishing Lapps) speak Norwegian, but badly. Among themselves and with the Mountain Finns (Reindeer Lapps) they do not use this, but their own language. The language of the latter people must consequently have been the same, unless we are to make the improbable assumption that the Fishing Lapps had a language different from that of the Reindeer Lapps, which the latter however had learned, although they are still in our time very bad linguists, and speak imperfect Norwegian. So far there cannot be much doubt of the meaning, but it is different when we come to the statement that they had more languages than one, and that of “their languages they have however another to use among themselves.” It seems to me that the certain examples mentioned by Qvigstad [1909] of the Lapps having been in the habit of inventing jargons at the beginning of the eighteenth century give a natural explanation of this passage [cf. also Magnus Olsen, 1909]. A. M. Hansen’s interpretation [1907 and 1909], that the original mother-tongue of the Fishing Lapps (called by him “Skridfinnish”), which was quite different from that which they spoke with the Reindeer Lapps, is here meant, cannot be reconciled with the words of the text, for in that case they must have had two mother-tongues; it is expressly said that the second language was “their own,” which they spoke among themselves; if it was only the language of the Reindeer Lapps, then it was precisely not their own, nor would they have any reason to speak it among themselves. I understand the passage thus: “of their [own] language they have also another [i.e., another form, variant, or jargon] to use among themselves, which [only] some [of them] can understand.” But how it should result from this that “it is certain that they have nine languages” is difficult to explain; for even if we assume with Hansen that nine is an error for three, it does not improve matters; for in any case they did not use all three languages, including Norwegian, “among themselves.” It is probable enough, as indeed both Hansen and Magnus Olsen have assumed, that there is a reference here to the magic arts of the Lapps; and we must then suppose that this mention of the nine languages was an expression commonly understood at the time, which did not require further explanation, to be compared with the nine tongue-roots of the poisonous serpent [cf. M. Olsen, 1909, p. 91]. Nine was a sacred number in heathen times, cf. Adam of Bremen’s tale of the festivals of the gods every ninth year at Upsala, where nine males of every living thing were offered, etc. Thietmar of Merseburg mentions the sacrificial festival which was held every ninth year at midwinter at Leire, etc.

[215] Remark the resemblance between this passage and the mention of the Lapps in the “Historia Norvegiæ” (above, p. 204).

[216] Ottar’s statement that he owned 600 reindeer is, as pointed out by O. Solberg [1909, p. 127], evidence against the correctness of A. M. Hansen’s assumption that the Finns mentioned by Ottar had learned to keep reindeer by imitating the Norwegian’s cattle-keeping, and that they kept their reindeer on the mountain pastures in summer, but collected them together for driving home in winter; it would have been a difficult matter to manage several hundred reindeer in this fashion, unless they were divided up into so many small herds that we cannot suppose them all to have been the property of one man. Large herds of many deer must have been half wild and have been kept in a similar way to the Reindeer Lapps’ reindeer now.

[217] Gregory of Tours; “Gesta Francorum”; the Anglo-Saxon poems “Beowulf” and “Wîdsîð,” etc.

[218] Zeuss, 1837, p. 501; Müllenhoff, 1889, pp. 18 f., 95 f.; A. Bugge, 1905, pp. 10 f.

[219] Cf. H. Zimmer [1891, 1893, p. 223] and A. Bugge [1905, pp. 11 f.]. In a life of St. Gildas, on an island off the Welsh coast [“Vita Gildæ, auctore Carodoco Lancarbanensi,” p. 109], we read that he was plundered by pirates from the Orcades islands, who must be supposed to have been Norwegian Vikings. This is said to have taken place in the sixth century, but the MS. dates from the twelfth. The island of Sark, east of Guernsey, was laid waste by the Normans, according to the “Miracula Sancti Maglorii,” cap. 5. [A. de la Borderie, “Histoire de Bretagne,” Critique des Sources, iii. 13, p. 236.] This part of the “Miracula” was composed, according to Borderie, before 851; but even in the saint’s lifetime (sixth century) the “Miracula” places an attack by the “Normans” (cap. 2). It has been suggested [cf. Vogel, “Die Normannen und das Fränkische Reich,” 1896, p. 353] that this might refer to Saxon pirates; but doubtless incorrectly.

[220] Cf. Zeuss, 1837, pp. 477 f.; Müllenhoff, 1889, p. 19.

[221] What an enormous time such a development requires is demonstrated by the history of the rudder. The most ancient Egyptian boats were evidently steered by two big oars aft, one on each side. These oars were later, in Egyptian and Greek ships, transformed into two rudders or rudder oars, one on each side aft (see illustrations, pp. 7, 23, 35, 48). On the Viking ships we find only one of these rudders on the starboard side, but fixed exactly in the same way. Then at last, towards the end of the Middle Ages, the rudder was moved to the stern-post. But the rudder of the boats of Northern Norway has still a “styrvold” (instead of an ordinary tiller), which is a remnant of the rudder of the Viking ships.

[222] The types of Scandinavian craft it most reminds one of are the fjord and Nordland “jagt,” in western and northern Norway, and the “pram,” which is now in use in south-eastern Norway. It is conceivable that it represents an ancient boat type resembling the form of the “jagt.”

[223] Professor Gustafson informed me that in the summer of 1909 he saw in a megalithic grave in Ireland a representation of a ship, which might have some resemblance to a Scandinavian rock-carving; but he regarded this as very uncertain.

[224] Professor G. Gustafson has in recent years examined and figured many Norwegian rock-carvings for the University of Christiania. The illustration reproduced here (p. 237) is from a photograph which he has kindly communicated to me.

[225] The Viking ships had, however, only one rudder on the starboard side, while the ancient Egyptian, Phœnician and Greek ships had two rudders, one on each side.

[226] But “Viking” is also explained as derived from a Celtic word, and is said to mean warrior [cf. A. Bugge].

[227] Cf. P. A. Munch, i., 1852; Müllenhoff, ii., 1887, p. 66; iv., 1900, pp. 121, 467, 493, etc.; Much, 1905, pp. 124, 135; Magnus Olsen, 1905, p. 22; A. Bugge, 1906, p. 20.

[228] H. Koht [1908] has suggested the possibility that the name “Hålöiger” (Háleygir) from Hålogaland (Northern Norway) may be the same as the Vandal tribe Lugii, which about the year 100 inhabited the region between the upper course of the Elbe and Oder. With the prefix “há” they are distinguished as the high Lugii. Moltke Moe thinks that “Hallinger” or “Haddingjar” may come from another Vandal tribe, the “Hasdingi” (Gothic “Hazdiggôs”), which had its name from the Gothic “*hazds,” long hair [cf. Müllenhoff, iv., 1900, p. 487; Much, 1905, p. 127]. It may also be possible that the name of Skiringssal in Vestfold was connected with the Sciri in eastern Germany [cf. Munch, 1852].

[229] O. Irgens [1904] thinks the Norwegians may have had the compass very early (lodestone on a straw or a strip of wood floating on water in a bowl), perhaps even in the eleventh century; indeed, he considers it not impossible that the lodestone may have been brought to the North even much earlier than this by Arab traders. But the expression often used in the sagas that they drifted about the sea in thick and hazy weather (without seeing the heavenly bodies), and did not know where they were, seems to contradict this.

[230] O. Irgens [1904] has suggested the possibility that they might measure the length of the shadow of the gunwale by marks on the thwart, and determine when the boat lay on an even keel by a bowl of water, and that thus they might obtain a not untrustworthy measurement of the sun’s altitude even at sea. He further supposed that the Norwegians might have become acquainted with the hour-glass from Southern Europe or from the plundering of monasteries, and that thus they were able to measure the length of the day approximately at sea. But no statements are known that could prove this.

[231] Presuming that King Alfred’s “Iraland” is not an error for “Isaland” and does not mean Iceland (see p. 179).

[232] The priest Ari Thorgilsson, commonly called Ari hinn Fróði or Are Frode (i.e., the learned), lived from 1068 to 1148.

[233] G. Storm, “Monumenta Historica Norvegiæ,” 1880, pp. 8 f.

[234] R. Meissner [1902, pp. 43 f.] thinks it was written between 1260 and 1264.

[235] The original Landnámabók, which was the source of both Styrmir’s and Sturle’s versions, must have been written at the beginning of the thirteenth century.

[236] Cf. Vigfússon, 1856, i. p. 186; P. A. Munch, 1860; J. E. Sars, 1877, i. p. 213; A. Bugge 1905, pp. 377 ff. Finnur Jónsson, 1894, ii. p. 188, is against this view.

[237] Thus the Norsemen settled in Greenland are always described in the Icelandic sagas, while the Eskimo are called Skrælings.

[238] Opinions have been divided as to the origin of this name; but there can be no doubt that the word is Germanic, and is the same as the modern Norwegian word “skrælling,” which denotes a poor, weak, puny creature.

[239] This took place, according to Are Frode’s own statements, in the year 1000.

[240] It seems possible that this note may refer to an island which appeared in 1422 south-west of Reykjarnes, and later again disappeared [cf. Th. Thoroddsen, 1897, i. pp. 89 f.].

[241] See “Grönlands historiske Mindesmærker,” iii. p. 250; F. Jónsson, 1899, p. 322.

[242] Instead of the words “very slightly ...” some MSS. have: “but then steer south-west.”

[243] Both Snæbjörn and Rolf had to fly from Iceland for homicide. Rolf and Styrbjörn fell in blood-feud when they returned.

[244] Goe began about February 21. What is here related would thus show that it was not till after that time that mild weather began, so that the snow melted and there was water on the stick that stuck out through the aperture.

[245] It was, perhaps, not altogether by chance that Eric was supposed to have sailed west from this point, as Gunnbjörn’s brother, Grimkell, lived on the outer side of Snæfellsnes; and it may have been on a voyage thither that Gunnbjörn was thought to have been driven westward [cf. Reeves, 1895, p. 166].

[246] Snæfell lay far north on the west coast of Greenland. A Snæfell far north is also mentioned in connection with the Nordrsetu voyages (see later); it lay north of Króksfjardarheidr; but whether it is the same as that here mentioned is uncertain.

[247] In the Eastern Settlement there was a Ravnsfjord (Hrafnsfjörðr), which is probably the same as that intended here, as it is compared with Eiriksfjord.

[248] The above is for the most part a translation from Hauk’s Landnámabók.

[249] We know little of how the ancient Scandinavians were able to provide themselves on their long voyages with food that would keep; they used salt meat, and it is probable that when they were laid up for the winter they often died of scurvy, as indeed is indicated by the narratives. Meat and fish they could doubtless often obtain fresh by hunting and fishing; for grain products they were in a worse position; these can never have been abundant in Iceland, and they certainly had no opportunity of carrying a large provision with them; but as a rule they can scarcely have got on altogether without hydro-carbons, which are considered necessary for the healthy nourishment of a European. Milk may have afforded a sufficient compensation, and in fact we see that they usually took cattle with them. In the narrative of Ravna-Floki’s voyage to Iceland it is expressly said that the cattle died during the winter (see above, p. 257), and it must have been for this reason that they thought they must go home again the next summer, which shows how important it was. Probably Eric also took cattle with him on his first voyage to Greenland, and thus he was obliged before all to find a more permanent place of abode on the shores of the fjords where there was grazing for the cattle; but it is likely that he lived principally by sealing and fishing. In that case he must have been a very capable fisherman.

[250] Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, i. pp. 686, 688, Hafniæ, 1848.

[251] If the Gunnbjörnskerries lay on the east coast, then Gunnbjörn Ulfsson was the first to reach it; but, as has been pointed out above (p. 261), they are more likely to have been near Cape Farewell, assuming the voyage to be historical.

[252] This incident is obviously connected with Irish legends, with which that same saga shows other points of resemblance. We read in the Floamanna-saga [cf. “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” ii. p. 118]: “They were then much exhausted by thirst; but water was nowhere in the neighbourhood. Then said Starkad: I have heard it said that when their lives were at stake men have mingled sea-water and urine. They then took the baler, ... made this mixture, and asked Thorgils for leave to drink it. He said it might indeed be excused, but would not either forbid it or permit it. But as they were about to drink, Thorgils ordered them to give him the baler, saying that he wished to say a spell over their drink [or: speak over the bowl]. He received it and said: Thou most foul beast, that delayest our voyage, thou shalt not be the cause that I or others drink our own evacuation! At that moment a bird, resembling a young auk, flew away from the boat, screaming. Thorgils thereupon emptied the baler overboard. They then row on and see running water, and take of it what they want; and it was late in the day. This bird flew northwards from the boat. Thorgils said: Late has this bird left us, and I would that it may take all the devilry with it; but we must rejoice that it did not accomplish its desire.”

In Brandan’s first voyage, in the Irish tale, “Betha Brenainn,” etc., or “Imram Brenaind” (of about the twelfth century; cf. Zimmer, 1889, pp. 137, 319), the seafarers one day suffered such thirst that they were near to death. They then saw glorious jets of water falling from a cliff. His companions asked Brandan whether they might drink of the water. He advised them first to say a blessing over it; but when this was done, the jets stopped running, and they saw the devil, who was letting the water out of himself, and killing those who drank of it. The sea closed over the devil, in order that thenceforth he might do no more evil to any one. The similarities are striking: both are perishing of thirst and about to drink urine, the Icelanders their own, the Irish the devil’s. They ask their leaders—the Icelanders Thorgils, the Irish Brandan—whether they may drink it. In both cases the leaders require a prayer to be said over it. Thereupon in both cases they see the devil: the Icelanders in the form of a bird that screams and finally leaves them to trouble them no more, and the Irish in the form of the devil himself, who is passing water, and disappears into the sea to do no more evil. The Icelandic tale is to some extent disconnected and incomprehensible, but is explained by being compared with the Irish; one thus sees how there may originally have been a connection between the bird (the Evil One) and the drink, which is otherwise obscure. The Icelandic account may have arisen by a distortion and adaptation, due to oral transmission, of the Irish legend.

[253] Cf. “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” ii. p. 656.

[254] Cf. “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” ii. p. 662.

[255] Ibid. pp. 684 ff.

[256] According to the “Islandske Annaler” [pp. 121, 181, 477] it was in 1200, therefore eleven years later, not fourteen; it is there related merely that Ingimund the priest was found uncorrupted in the uninhabited region, but the other six are not mentioned.

[257] I.e., wax tablets to write on.

[258] The Arab Qazwînî (thirteenth century) tells a story, after Omar al ’Udhri (eleventh century), of a cave in the west where lie four dead men uncorrupted [cf. G. Jacob, 1892, p. 168].

[259] Cf. “Islandske Annaler,” edited by G. Storm, 1888, pp. 50, 70, 142, 196, 337, 383.

[260] Cf. G. Storm’s arguments to this effect, 1888a, pp. 263 ff.; 1887, pp. 71 f.

[261] It is true that in Bishop Gissur Einarsson’s (bishop from 1541 to 1548) copy-book there is an addition to the ancient sailing directions for Greenland that “experienced men have said that one must sail south-west to New Land (Nyaland) from the Krysuvik mountains” (on the Reykjanes peninsula) [see “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. p. 215; and G. Storm, “Hist. Tidskr.,” 1888, p. 264]; but it is impossible to attach much weight to a statement of direction in a tradition 260 years old; it may easily have been altered or “improved” by later misconceptions.

[262] “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. pp. 222-224.

[263] As we have said, they can scarcely have known anything of the coast to the north of this, which runs in a more northerly direction.

[264] Cf. G. Storm, 1891, p. 71; “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” i. p. 361.

[265] The mathematician and cosmographer Jacob Ziegler (ob. 1549) in his work “Scondia” (printed at Strasburg, 1536) placed the promontory of Hvítserk (“Hvetsarg promontorium”) in 67° N. lat. [cf. “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. pp. 500, 503]. This may be the usual confusion with Bláserk. It happens to be by no means ill suited to Ingolf’s Fjeld, which lies in 66° 25′ N. lat.

[266] In the Walkendorff additions to Ivar Bárdsson’s description of Greenland it is called Hvítserk, which may be a confusion with Bláserk; the passage continues: “And it is credibly reported that it is not thirty sea-leagues to land, in whichever direction one would go, whether to Greenland or to Iceland” [see “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. p. 491]. The distance here given is remarkably correct. In Björn Jónsson’s “Grönlands Annaler” (written before 1646) it is related that “Sira Einar Snorrason,” priest of Stadarstad, near Snæfellsnes (he became priest there in 1502), owned a large twelve-oared boat, which, with a cargo of dried cod, was carried away from Öndverdarnes (the western point of Snæfellsnes) “and drifted out to sea, so that they saw both the glaciers, as Gunnbjörn had done formerly, both Snæfells glacier and Bláserk in Greenland; they had thus come near to Eric’s course (‘Eiriksstefnu’)” [“Grönl. hist. Mind.,” i. p. 123]. Here, then, we have the same idea that both glaciers can be seen simultaneously, as is also found in Björn’s work with reference to Gunnbjörn Ulfsson’s voyage (see above, p. 263).

[267] Cf. “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. p. 843. Captain Graah brought the stone to Denmark in 1824.

[268] In a paper read before the Archæological Society at Stockholm, March 13, 1905. Cf. “Svenska Dagbladet,” March 14, 1905. I owe this reference to Professor Magnus Olsen.

[269] Cf. A. Bugge, 1898, p. 506. By a printer’s error, seventeenth century is given instead of fourteenth.

[270] See also the 5th and 6th cantos of the same poem, “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” ii. pp. 522 ff., for the voyage to Greipar and its being the resort of outlaws.

[271] Captain Isachsen [1907] has attached much weight to this expression (which he translates from “Grönl. hist. Mind.” by “long and dangerous sea-route”; but the original is “mikit og lángt sjóleiði”) in order to prove that the Nordrsetur must lie far north. But it is seen from the text itself that this idea of a long sea voyage is taken from the Skáld-Helga lay (where also similar expressions are used), which is of late origin, and consequently an untrustworthy base for such conclusions. Moreover, according to the lay itself, Skald-Helge belonged probably to the Eastern Settlement, and thence to Holstensborg, 67° N. lat., was a long voyage.

[272] This is obviously an error for “bygðar sporðr” (end of the inhabited country), as in the “Skáld-Helga Rimur” (see above, p. 298).

[273] “Greipar,” plural of “Greip,” would mean literally the grip or interval between the fingers, but it may also be used of mountain ravines. The name seems to point to a particularly rugged or fjord-indented coast, and would be appropriate to the whole country north of Straumsfjord, for instance about Holstensborg, in about 67°.

[274] “Króksfjarðar-heiðr” would literally mean the flat, waste mountain tract (“heiðr”) by the crooked fjord, Kroksfjord. The latter name would be very appropriate to Disco Bay and Vaigat. The flat plateaux of basalt, which form Disco on one side, and the Nugsuak Peninsula on the other side of Vaigat, might be called “heiðr.”

[275] Cf. “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. p. 226; F. Jónsson, 1899, p. 319.

[276] Perhaps these names of fjords were so indistinct in the original MS. that Björn Jónsson could not read them, and therefore inserted these words (cf. “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. p. 233).

[277] The name of this island is left blank, and was doubtless illegible in the original.

[278] So the mountain is called in an Icelandic translation, and this form may be nearest to the name in the original Norwegian text. In the various Danish MSS. the mountain is called “Hemeuell Radszfielt” (oldest MS.), “Hammelrads Fjeld,” “Himmelradsfjeld,” etc. In a MS. which is otherwise considered trustworthy, it is called “Hemelrachs Fjeld,” and this has been frequently supposed to mean the heaven-reaching mountain [cf. “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. p. 259]. As will be mentioned later, the real name of the mountain was possibly “Himinroð” (flushing of the sky), or perhaps “Himinrǫð” (wall of heaven, i.e., wall reaching towards heaven).

[279] The words in parenthesis are in German, and are certainly an explanation added later. XIII. is evidently an error for XIIII.

[280] It is also possible that it means whales from which “tauer” or ropes are obtained, i.e., the walrus; the ropes of walrus-hide being so very valuable.

[281] One might then suppose that “Hunenrioth” was connected with the Norwegian word “hun” for a giant (sometimes used in our day for the Evil One). The name might then be applied to the mythical Risaland or Jotunheim, in the Polar Sea, north-east of Greenland; but it would then be difficult to explain the meaning of the latter part of the name, -rioth.

[282] Professor Moltke Moe has suggested to me this explanation of the name. One might also suppose it to mean the western land of sunset, that is, America, but it would be unlike the Scandinavians to use such a name for a country. There is a possibility that it was connected with “rǫð” (gen. “raðar,” a ridge of land) and meant the ridge or wall of heaven, i.e., reaching toward heaven. It is, perhaps, less probable that “-rioth” or “-rað” came from a word of two syllables like “roða” (a rod, later a cross, Anglo-Saxon “rod,” modern English “rood”) or the poetical word “róði” (wind, storm). In O. Rygh: “Norske Gaardnavne,” xvi. Nordlands Amt [ed. K. Rygh, 1905, p. 334], there is the name of an estate “Himmelstein” (in Busknes), which in 1567 was written “Himmelstand,” “Himmelstaa” [from 1610 on == “sten”]. K. Rygh remarks of this: “Himmel occurs occasionally in names of mountains: thus, a little farther north we have the lofty Himmeltinder on the border of Busknes and Borge. One is disposed to regard this name as similar to the Danish Himmelbjerg, meaning a very high mountain....” Professor Torp has mentioned to me the similarity of name with the giant Hymer’s ox “Himinhrjotr” in the Snorra-Edda; but it is difficult to think that a mountain should have been called after the proper name of an animal.

[283] Rafn, in “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. pp. 881-885, commits the absurdity of separating these two places by the whole of Baffin’s Bay, in spite of their being mentioned together in the old accounts under the common designation of “Nordrsetur.” He puts “Greipar” in about 67° N. lat., but makes Króksfjardarheidr into Lancaster Sound, 74° N. lat., on the other side of the ice-blocked Baffin’s Bay.

[284] Cf. “Islandske Annaler,” ed. Storm, p. 120, etc.; “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” ii. pp. 754, 762. As is pointed out by Finnur Jónsson [1893, p. 539], most of the coffins found in graves in Greenland are fastened together with wooden nails. We are also told how all the iron spikes and nails were carefully taken out of a stranded Norwegian ship (about 1129).

[285] Since this chapter was written a few years ago, an excellent treatise by O. Solberg on the Greenland Eskimo in prehistoric times has appeared [1907]. The author has here reached conclusions similar to the above as regards the northward extension of the Nordrsetu voyages; but he proposes to place Kroksfjord south of Disco Bay, since he does not think the Greenlanders came across the Eskimo who lived there. I do not consider this view justified; on the contrary, it seems to me probable (as will be mentioned later) that the Greenlanders had intercourse with the Eskimo.

[286] Otto Sverdrup found on two small islands in Jones Sound several groups of three stones, evidently set up by human hands as shelters for sitting eider-ducks, similar to those with which he was acquainted in the north of Norway. Whether these stone shelters were very ancient could not be determined. Captain Isachsen [1907] thinks they may be due to the ancient Scandinavians of the Greenland settlements, and sees in them possible evidence of Jones Sound having been Kroksfjord. But too much importance must not be attached to this: no other sign of Europeans having stayed in Jones Sound was discovered, whereas there were many signs of Eskimo. Unless we are to believe that the latter set up the stones for some purpose or other, it is just as likely that they may have been placed there by chance hunters in recent times as that they were due to the ancient Norsemen.

[287] As these pieces of driftwood must have been carried by the East Greenland Polar Current, this seems to show that there were already Eskimo on the east coast of Greenland at that time. As they are spoken of as something remarkable, the pieces, with wedges of tusk and bone, cannot have been due to Norsemen, either in Greenland or Iceland. Their being shaped with “hatchets” or “adzes” (i.e., Eskimo tools) was looked upon as strange.

[288] This passage seems obscure, and there may be some error or misunderstanding on the part of the various copyists. But as it now stands, it may be best taken to mean that all known land and all the known glaciers had disappeared beneath the horizon; but that the “jökull” (i.e., snow-field or inland ice) which they saw to landward extended southward along the coast as far as they could see. The expression “to the south of them” is not, of course, to be interpreted as meaning due south of the spot where they were, but rather as southward along the coast, from the part off which they lay; this is confirmed by the addition “as far as they could see,” which can only refer to a coast along which they were looking southward.

[289] The text has three “dœgr” (and one long day’s rowing), that is, three times twelve hours; but in this case it seems most natural to suppose that days are meant, and that they put in to shore at night.

[290] The text says that these islands were to the south of “Snæfell”; but where this was we do not know. In the Saga of Eric the Red we read that in the third summer Eric (see above, p. 267) “went as far north as ‘Snæfell’ and into ‘Hrafns-fjord.’” Whether this was the same Snæfell is uncertain, but quite possible; while Hrafns-fjord (Ravnsfjord) is most probably to be regarded as the Hrafnsfjord that lay in the Eastern Settlement, near Hvarf.

[291] Cf. “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. p. 885.

[292] Finnur Jónsson [1901, ii. p. 648] thinks it was written about 1200.

[293] Gudbrand Vigfusson [1878, i. pp. lix. f.] thinks that Eric the Red’s Saga and the Flateyjarbók’s “Grönlendinga-þáttr” are derived, in complete independence of one another, from oral traditions, which were different in the west, at Breidafjord, where the former was written, and in the north, from whence the latter is derived.

[294] We cannot here take any account of Rolf Raudesand’s having come to Norway on his return from Greenland (see p. 264); for even if this were historical, which is doubtful, and even if it be referred to a date anterior to Leif’s voyage, which is not certain either, he was driven there accidentally instead of to Iceland.

[295] “M surr” (properly “valbirch”) was probably a veined tree, like “valbjerk,” which was regarded as valuable material. “Valbjerk” is birch grown in a special way so that it becomes twisted and gnarled in structure. It is still much used in Norway, e.g., for knife-handles.

[296] I do not mention here the fourteenth-century tale (in the Flateyjarbók) of Bjarne Herjulfsson’s discovery of Wineland as early as 985, since, as G. Storm has shown, this account hardly represents the tradition which in earlier times was most current in Iceland.

[297] Thorbjörn Vivilsson came from Iceland to Greenland in 999, the same summer that Leif sailed to Norway. His daughter was Gudrid, afterwards married to Thorstein Ericson. The exact statement as to which ship was used on this occasion, and as to those which were used later on Thorfinn Karlsevne’s expedition, shows how few ships there were in Greenland (and Iceland), and in what esteem the men were held who owned them. The Saga of Eric the Red seems to assume that Leif’s ship was no longer very fit for sea after his last voyage, as we hear no more about it. This may perhaps be regarded as the reason for his not going again, if indeed there be any other reason than the patchwork character of the saga. In the Flateyjarbók, on the other hand, we are told that it was Leif’s ship, and not Thorbjörn Vivilsson’s, that was used first by Thorvald and afterwards by Thorstein.

[298] If the “great hundred” is meant, this will be 160 men.

[299] From the context it would seem probable that these islands, or this island (?), lay in the Western Settlement. If they had been near Lysefjord, Karlsevne, as Storm points out, might be supposed to go there first because his wife, Gudrid, had inherited property there from Thorstein, and there might be much to fetch thence. But the name Bjarneyjar itself points rather to some place farther north, since the southern part of the Western Settlement (the Godthaab district) must have been then, as now, that part of the coast where bears were scarcest. In Björn Jónsson’s “Gronlandiæ vetus Chorographia” a “Biarney” (or “-eyiar”) is mentioned, to which it was twelve days’ rowing from Lysefjord [cf. above, p. 301], and as they are the only islands (or island ?) of this name mentioned on the west coast of Greenland, there is much in favour of their being the place here alluded to.

[300] “Dœgr” was half a twenty-four hours’ day [cf. Rymbegla]; but whether twelve hours or twenty-four, the distance, like those given later, is impossible. They cannot have sailed from Greenland to Labrador, or even if it was Baffin Land they made, in two days of twelve hours, and scarcely in two of twenty-four. According to the MS. in the Hauksbók “they sailed thence [i.e., from Bjarneyjar] two half-days [i.e., twenty-four hours in all] to the south. Then they sighted land.” It might be supposed that this should be taken to mean that the difference in latitude between this land and their starting-point was equivalent to two half-days’ sail. It is true that we read in the “Rymbegla” [1780, p. 482] there are two dozen sea-leagues, or two degrees of latitude, in a “‘dœgr’s’ sailing,” and two “dœgr” would therefore be four degrees; but when we see later that from this first land they found to Markland (Newfoundland ?) was also only two half-days’ sail, then these distances become altogether impossible [cf. G. Storm, 1888, pp. 32-34; Reeves, 1895, p. 173]. Reeves proposes that “tvau” might be an error for “siau” (i.e., seven; but in the MS. of the Hauksbók we have “two” in numerals: II). It is probable that this repetition of the same distance, two “dœgr’s” sail, in the case of each of the three new countries, has nothing to do with reality; it reminds us so much of the stereotyped legendary style that we are inclined to believe it to be borrowed from this. Storm thinks that as Iceland was supposed to lie in the same latitude as the Western Settlement, and Wineland in the same latitude as Ireland, there would naturally be the same distance between the Western Settlement and Wineland as between Iceland and Ireland, and the latter was put at five (or three ?) “dœgr.” However, it is not five, but six “dœgr” between Bjarneyjar and Furðustrandir, according to the Saga of Eric the Red [cf. Storm’s ed., 1891, p. 32]. In the copy in the Hauksbók, it is true, the distance is given as two “dœgr” between Bjarneyjar and Helluland, two “dœgr” between this and Markland, and “thence they sailed south along the coast a long way and came to a promontory ...”; but this circumstance, that the distance is not given the third time, again inclines one to think of the fairy-tale, and here again there is no statement that the distance was five “dœgr” from the Western Settlement to Kjalarnes.

[301] The arctic fox is common in Labrador, but also in the northern peninsula of Newfoundland.

[302] Polar bears come on the drift-ice to the north and east coasts of Newfoundland, but not farther south.

[303] The name comes from “furða.” (warning, marvel, terror); “furðu” (gen. sing.) placed before adjectives and adverbs has the meaning of extremely (“furðu góðr” == extremely good). As “Furðustjarna” (the wonder-star) surpassed the others in size and brilliance, these strands may be supposed to surpass others in length, and thus to be endless; but it is doubtless more likely that it means marvel-strands, where there were marvels and wonderful things. In Örskog, Sunnmöre, Norway, there is a place-name “Fúrstranda” (with long, closed “u”). K. Rygh [Norske Gaardnavne, xiii., 1908, p. 155] remarks: “The first syllable must be the tree-name “fura” [fir], though the pronunciation with a long, closed ‘u’ is strange....”

[304] In the Faroes (Kodlafjord in Straumsey) there is a “Kjal(ar)nes,” the origin of which is attributed to a man’s name: “Kjölur á Nesi” [J. Jakobsen, 1898, p. 147]; but it is more probable that the name of the ness is the original one, and that the legend of Kjölur is later. As to place-names ending in “-nes,” O. Rygh [Norske Gaardnavne, Forord og Indledning, 1898, p. 68] says: “Frequently the first part of the name is a word signifying natural conditions on or about the promontory.... Very often the first part has reference to the form of the promontory, its outline, greater or less height, length, etc.... Personal names are not usual in these combinations.” In Norway names beginning with “Kjöl-” (“-nes,” “-berg,” “-stad,” “-set,” etc.) are very common; they may either come from the man’s name “Þjóðlfr” (which now often has the sound of “Kjölv,” “Kjöl,” or “Kjöle”), or from the Old Norse poetical word “kjóll,” m., “ship,” or from “kjǫlr” (gen. “kjalar”), “keel of a vessel, and hence, mountain-ridge” [cf. O. Rygh, Norske Gaardnavne, i., 1897, p. 269; iv. 2, ed. A. Kjær, 1902, p. 57; vi. ed. A. Kjær, p. 237; xiii. ed. K. Rygh, 1908, p. 344]. Our Kjalarnes above must undoubtedly be derived from the last. In Tanen, east of Berlevåg, there is a “Kjölnes”; in Iceland, just north of Reykjavik, outside Faxafjord, there is a “Kjalarnes.”

[305] This idea, that the land became broader towards the south, and the coast there turned eastward, must be the same that we meet with again in Icelandic geographies of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, where Wineland is thought to be connected with Africa (see later).

[306] “Svart” (i.e., black-haired and black-eyed) is the reading of Hauksbók, but the other MS. has “small.”

[307] The word “Skrælingar” here occurs for the first time in this saga, and seems to be used as a familiar designation for the natives, which did not require further explanation; of this more later.

[308] Blue (blá) perhaps means rather dark or black in colour (cf. “Blue-men” for negroes), and is often used of something uncanny or troll-like.

[309] Nothing of the kind is related in the “Grönlendinga-þáttr”; where, however, we are told of the first winter of Karlsevne’s voyage that the cattle pastured upon the land, “but the males (‘graðfe’) soon became difficult to manage and troublesome.”

[310] Ed. by P. Munch and C. R. Unger, Christiania, 1853, p. 75.

[311] E. H. Lind: Norsk-Isländska dopnamn, p. 283. I owe it to Moltke Moe that my attention was drawn to this feature of the numerous heathen names.

[312] His wife is called “Sigríðr,” which is thus an exception; but in the Grönlendinga-þáttr she is called “Grímhildr,” so that her name is uncertain. There is also mentioned a thrall “Garði,” but being a thrall perhaps he could not have the name of a god.

[313] It is very curious that in the chapter-heading in the Hauksbók she is called “Þuriðr,” but in the text “Guðriðr” [cf. Storm, 1891, p. 23; “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” i. p. 392].

[314] It is perhaps more than a coincidence that in the classical legends there were three groups of islands, the Gorgades, the Hesperides and the Insulæ Fortunatæ, to the west of Africa. Marcianus Capella says that it was two days’ sail to the Gorgades, then came the Hesperides, and besides the Insulæ Fortunatæ. Pliny also has two days to the Gorgades; beyond them there were two Hesperides; he mentions also that it was two days’ sail to the Hesperian Æthiopians, etc. In the Flateyjarbók’s description of Bjarne Herjolfsson’s voyage, which is still more purely fairy-tale, he sails for two days from the first land he found (== Wineland) to the second (== Markland), then three days to the third (== Helluland) and finally four days to Greenland.

[315] If we assume that a “dœgr’s” sailing is equal to two degrees of latitude or 120 nautical miles (twenty-four ancient sea-leagues), then, as shown on the map above, it will be about four dœgr’s sail from Greenland to the nearest part of Labrador (not two). From Bjarneyjar to Markland should be four dœgr according to the saga; but the map shows that it is between eight and ten dœgr from the Western Settlement along the coast of Labrador to Newfoundland. On the other hand, between Newfoundland and Cape Breton two dœgr’s sail will suit better.

[316] One must, of course, be cautious of seeing myth in all such trilogies. As warning examples may be mentioned, that the Norwegians settled in Hjaltland (Shetland), Orkney, and the Suderöer (Hebrides); they discover the Faroes, thence Iceland, and then Greenland, in the same way as they are said from the last-named to have discovered Helluland, Markland and Wineland. On the east coast of Greenland there were three glaciers, etc. But in Eric’s Saga the triads are so numerous and sometimes so peculiar, and the saga proves to be made up to such an extent of loans, that one is disposed to regard the number three as derived from mythical poetry.

[317] Cf. Unger’s edition, Christiania, 1862, p. 292.

[318] Cf. also Joshua’s two spies, who by the advice of Rahab the harlot concealed themselves in the mountains for three days, after which they descended and came to Joshua.

[319] Cf. Andreas Austlid: “Sinklar-soga,” p. 21 (Oslo, 1899). H. P. S. Krag: “Sagn samlede i Gudbrandsdalen on slaget ved Kringlen den 26de august 1612,” p. 19 (Kristiania, 1838).

[320] Ivar Kleiven: “I gamle Daagaa, Forteljingo og Bygda-Minne fraa Vaagaa,” p. 63 (Kristiania, 1907).

[321] We are told that he talked in “þýrsku.” Similarity of sound may here raise the question whether he was not originally supposed to be a Turk (cf. the Wild Turks above), to which the name itself would point.

[322] It is noteworthy that we are told of this Tyrker that he was “brattleitr” (i.e. with a flat, abrupt face); this is the only passage in Old Norse literature where this rare expression is used. The only context in which Moltke Moe has found it used in our time is in connection with the tale of the youngest son (Askeladden) in Sætersdal [cf. also H. Ross], where it is said that “Oskefis was also brasslaitte” (Ross thinks it means here “stiff in his bearing, full of self-esteem, self-sufficient”). Can it be merely a coincidence that this rare word is used of none other than the fairy-tale hero who is favoured by fortune, and of the lucky finder of the wild grapes, by eating which he intoxicates himself?

[323] Professor Moltke Moe has called my attention to resemblances to these runners in the Welsh tale of “Kulhwch and Olwen.” In this there occur two swift-footed knights, and Queen Gwenhwyvar’s two servants (Yskyrdav and Yscudydd) “as swift as thought,” and finally Arthur’s wonderfully swift hound “Cavall” (in older MSS. “Cabal”) [cf. Heyman, “Mabinogion,” 1906, pp. 80, 82, 101, 103; J. Loth, “Les Mabinogion,” i. and ii.]. Of Tjalve it is related in the Snorra-Edda that he was “fóthvatastr” (the swiftest), and in Utgard he ran a race with thought (Hugi). This trait is Irish, as will be shown by Von Sydow [1910]. It resembles the two servants (“swift as thought”) in the Welsh legend. The runners in the Saga of Eric the Red are also Celtic, and this in itself points to a connection.

[324] In the “Grönlendinga-þáttr” the whale they found was both large and good; they cut it in pieces, and “they had no lack of food.”

[325] According to information given by Professor R. Collett, the Larus argentatus is the only species of gull that occurs in Nova Scotia in sufficiently large numbers to make it seem probable that it might breed extensively on an island. Can it be possible that these close-lying eggs are derived from the white and red “scaltæ” (?) which covered the Anchorites’ Isle in the Navigatio Brandani (see below, p. 360)?

[326] Cf. Karlsevne’s people, who on arrival rested for half a month and amused themselves.

[327] W. Brede Kristensen: “Een of twe boomen in het Paradijsverhaal.” Theologisch Tijdschrift, 1908, p. 218.

[328] Of less importance in this connection is the question how far these names of islands in the Odyssey were originally connected with islands in the Mediterranean [cf. V. Bérard, 1902, i.]; in the description in the poem they have in any case become wholly mythical.

[329] C. Sallusti Crispi Historiarum Reliquiæ. Ed. Bertoldus Maurenbrecher, Lipsiæ, 1891, pp. 43 f.

[330] L. Annæus Florus, Epitome rerum Romanum, ex editione J. Fr. Fischeri Londini, 1822. Vol. i. pp. 278 f.

[331] Lytton: The Odes and Epodes of Horace. London, 1869.

[332] Cf. Johannes Peschel, 1878. Moltke Moe has called my attention to this essay, but, as he says, Peschel is certainly wrong in assuming that ancient notions like that of Schlaraffenland are the originals from which the ideas of the happy abodes of the departed, the Isles of the Blest (the Elysian Fields), have been developed. The reverse is, of course, the case.

[333] Cf. J. N. Wilse: “Beskrivelse over Spydeberg Præstegjæld.” Christiania, 1779-1780. In the appended Norwegian vocabulary, p. xiii.: Fyldeholmen == Schlarafenland. I. Aasen [1873] has “Fylleholm” in the phrase “go to Fylleholm” (== go on a drinking bout), from Sogn, and other places. This may be derived from the same mythical country. H. Ross [1895] gives “Fylleholm” from Smålenene. From this it looks as if the idea was widely spread in Norway.

[334] In Hauk’s Landnámabók Vin(d)land is mentioned in one other passage [cap. 175], in connection with Karlsevne, who is said to have discovered it; but nothing is said about this in the Sturlubók, and it may be a later addition (cf. p. 331).

[335] Ravn told the story to Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney (ob. circa 1064), who in turn told it to some Icelanders, and from them it reached Thorkel Gellisson, Are Frode’s uncle.

[336] Cf. Zimmer, 1889, pp. 257, 261; Kuno Meyer, 1895, i.

[337] This is evidently the land that in the Christian Breton legend of St. Machutus (ninth century) has become the paradisiacal island of “Yma,” inhabited by heavenly angels.

[338] In the Christian Irish legend “Imram Maelduin,” the voyagers arrive at two islands, that of the lamenting people with complaining voices, and that of the laughing people. The same two islands are mentioned in the Navigation of the Sons of O’Corry, “Imram Curaig Ua Corra” [cf. Zimmer, 1889, pp. 160, 171, 188, 189]. They are evidently connected with Greek conceptions, as we find them in Theopompus, of the rivers Hedone and Lype in the distant land of Meropis (see above, p. 17; cf. also the springs of voluptuousness and laughter in Lucian’s Isle of Bliss in the Vera Historia). There may further be a connection with the island of the lamenting people in the statement of Saxo Grammaticus, in the introduction to his Danish history, that it was thought that in the noise of the drift-ice against the coast of Iceland the lamenting voices of lost souls could be heard, condemned to expiate their sins in that bitter cold.

[339] These Irish ideas of a happy land of women have, it may be remarked, many points of resemblance with our Norwegian belief in fairies (“hulder”) and with the German Venusberg myth, since the “hulder,” like Frau Venus, originally Frau Holle or Holda [cf. J. Grimm, 1876, ii. p. 780], kidnaps and seduces men, and keeps them with her for a long time; but the sensual element is more subdued and less prominent in the Germanic myths. It may seem probable that the Irish land of women also has some connection with the amorous, beautiful-haired nymph Calypso’s island of Ogygia, far off in the sea, in the Odyssey [v. 135 ff.; vii. 254 ff.]. Just as the men in the Irish legends neither grow older nor die when they come to the land of women, and as the queen of the country will not let the men go again (cf. Maelduin), so Calypso wished to keep her Odysseus, and to make him “an immortal man, ever young to eternity.” In a similar way the men who come to the “hulder” in the mountain do not grow old, and they seem to have even greater difficulty in getting out again than kidnapped women. (It is a common feature that they do not grow older, or that a long time passes without their noticing it in the intoxication of pleasure. Lucian also relates that those who come to his Isle of Bliss grow no older than they are when they come.) Odysseus longs for his home, like one of Bran’s men (and like Maelduin’s men, the kidnapped men in the German myths, etc.), and at last receives permission to go, like Bran. Calypso means “the hidden one” (from καλύπτω == hide by enveloping) and thus answers to our “hulder” (== the hidden one, cf. “hulda,” something which covers, conceals, envelops), and the German Frau Holle or Holda (== “hulder”). They are precisely the same beings as the Irish “síd”—people, who are also invisible, and the women in “Tír na-m-Ban,” the island in or under the sea precisely like our “huldreland” (see later).

It may further be supposed that there is some connection between the ideas which appear in certain Irish legends of the land of virgins—where there are no men, and the virgins have to go to the neighbouring land of men (“Tír na-Fer”) to be married [cf. Zimmer, 1889, p. 269]—and the conceptions of Sena, the Celtic island of priestesses or women, off the coast of Brittany, where according to Dionysius Periegetes there were Bacchantes who held nightly orgies, but where no men might come, and the women therefore (like the Amazons) had to visit the men on the neighbouring coast, and return after having had intercourse with them. Similar ideas of islands with women and men separated occur already in old Indian legends.

[340] Cf. Zimmer, 1889, p. 287; Whitley Stokes, Revue Celtique, xv. Paris 1894, pp. 437 f.; F. Lot, Romania, xxvii. 1898, p. 559.

[341] Cf. “Lageniensis,” 1870, p. 116; Zimmer, 1889, pp. 263, 279.

[342] It is stated in an Irish legend that the hero Ciaban went as an exile to “Trág in-Chairn” (the strand of cairns) [cf. Zimmer, 1889, p. 271]. This might remind us of Helluland (?).

[343] In the tale of Maelduin’s voyage, which is older than the “Navigatio” (see above, p. 336), there occurs a similar mighty bird bringing a branch with fruit like grapes, possessing marvellous properties; but there is no grape-island [cf. Zimmer, 1889, p. 169].

[344] In the Latin translation of the Bible in use at that time, the Vulgate [Num. xiii. 24 f.], the passage runs: “And they came to the valley of grapes, cut a branch with its cluster of grapes, and two men carried it upon a staff. They also took away pomegranates and figs from this place, which is called Nehel-escol, that is, the valley of grapes, because the children of Israel brought grapes from thence.”

[345] In France a poem on Brandan of as early as 1125, founded on the “Navigatio,” is known, dedicated to Queen Aélis of Louvain; cf. Gaston Paris: La Littérature Française en Moyen Age, Paris, 1888, p. 214.

[346] The Irish made a distinction in their tales of voyages between “Imram,” which was a voluntary journey, and “Longes,” which was an involuntary one, usually due to banishment. In Icelandic literature there seems to be no such distinction, but the voyages are often due to outlawry for manslaughter or some other reason; cf. Ganger-Rolf’s voyage, Ingolf’s and Hjorleif’s voyage to Iceland, Snæbjörn Galti’s and Rolf of Raudesand’s voyage to the Gunnbjörnskerries, Eric the Red’s voyage with his father from Norway, and afterwards from Iceland, etc. Björn Breidvikingekjæmpe was also obliged to leave Iceland on account of his illicit love for Snorre Gode’s sister. This agreement may, of course, be accidental, but together with the many other resemblances between Irish and Icelandic literature, it may nevertheless be worth mentioning.

[347] Cf. Zimmer, 1889, p. 168; Joyce, 1879, p. 156.

[348] To these wine-fruits in the “Imram Maelduin” correspond, perhaps, the white and purple-red “scaltæ,” which in the “Navigatio Brandani” cover the low island, bare of trees, called the “Strong Men’s Island” [Schröder, 1871, p. 24]. Brandan pressed one of the red ones, “as large as a ball,” and got a pound of juice, on which he and his brethren lived for twelve days. It might be supposed that these white and red “scaltæ” from the flat ocean-island were connected with Lucian’s water-fishes (which seem to have been white) and wine-fishes (which had the purple colour of wine) (see above). The meaning of “scaltæ” (“scaltis”) is uncertain. Schröder says “sea-snails”; Professor Alf Torp thinks it may be a Celtic word, and mentions as a possibility “scalt” (== “cleft”). In that case it might be a mussel, which is “cleft” in two shells.

[349] D’Avezac’s hypothesis [1845, p. 9] that it might be an echo of Teneriffe [cf. also De Goeje, 1891, p. 61], which in mediæval maps was called “Isola dell’ Inferno,” is untenable, since the Phœnicians’ knowledge of the Canaries had long been forgotten at that time, and it was only after their rediscovery by the Italians, about 1300, that Teneriffe was called on the Medici map of 1351 “Isola dell’ Inferno.” In classical literature there is no indication that any of the Canaries was regarded as volcanic; on the contrary, Pliny’s “Nivaria” (i.e., the snow-island) seems to be Teneriffe with snow on the summit.

[350] Jens Lauritzön Wolf’s Norrigia Illustrata, 1651.

[351] Cf. John M. Kemble: The Dialogue of Salomon and Saturnus, London, 1448, p. 198. Moltke Moe also called my attention to this remarkable passage.

[352] W. Mannhardt: Germanische Mythen, Berlin, 1858, pp. 460 f. Cf. “Vita Merlini,” the verses on the “Insula pomorum, qvæ Fortunata vocatur” (the apple-island which is called Fortunate) [San-Marte, 1853, pp. 299, 329]. “Avallon” has a remarkable resemblance in sound to Pytheas’s amber-island “Abalus” (p. 70).

[353] Since the above was printed in the Norwegian edition of this book, Professor Moltke Moe has called my attention to the fact that, according to Icelandic sources, the Icelandic chief Gellir Thorkelsson, grandfather of Are Frode, died at Roskilde, in Denmark, in 1073, after having been prostrated there for a long time. He was then on his way home from a pilgrimage to Rome. Adam’s book was written between 1072 and 1075, and he had received the statements about Wineland from Danes of rank. The coincidence here is so remarkable that there must probably be a connection. It is Gellir Thorkelsson’s son, Thorkel Gellisson, who is given as the authority for the first mention of Wineland in Icelandic literature, and according to Landnámabók he seems to have got his information from Ireland through other Icelanders.

[354] It is not, however, quite certain that “Vínland” (with a long “í”) was the original form of the name, though this is probable, as it occurs thus in the MSS. that have come down to us of the two oldest authorities: Adam of Bremen (“Winland”) and Are Frode’s Íslendingabók (“Vinland”). But it cannot be entirely ignored that in the oldest Icelandic MSS.—and the oldest authorities after Are and Adam—it is called: in Hauk’s Landnámabók “Vindland hit goða” (in the two passages where it is mentioned), in the Sturlubók “Irland et goda,” in the Kristni-saga (before 1245) probably “Vindland hit goða” [cf. F. Jónsson, Hauksbók, 1892, p. 141], and in the Grettis-saga (about 1290, but the MS. dates from the fifteenth century) Thorhall Gamlason, who sailed with Karlsevne, is called in one place a “Vindlendingr” and in another a “Viðlendingr.” It is striking that the name should so often be written incorrectly; there must have been some uncertainty in its interpretation. Another thing is that in none of these oldest sources is there any mention of wine, except in Adam of Bremen, who repeats Isidore, and after him it is only when we come to the Saga of Eric the Red that “Vinland” with its wine is met with. It might therefore be supposed that the name was originally something different. The Greenlanders might, for instance, have discovered a land with trees in the west and called it “Viðland” (== tree-land). Influenced by myths of the Irish “Great Land” (“Tír Mór”), this might become “Viðland” (== the great land, p. 357): but this again through the ideas of wine (from the Fortunate Isles), as in Adam of Bremen, might become “Vínland.” We have a parallel to such a change of sound in the conversion of “viðbein” (== collar-bone) into “vinbein.” A form like “Vindland” may have arisen through confusion of the two forms we have given, or again with the name of Vendland. A name compounded of the ancient word “vin” (== pasture) is scarcely credible, since the word went out of use before the eleventh century; besides, one would then have to expect the form “Vinjarland.” In Are Frode’s work, which we only know from late copies (of the seventeenth century), the original name might easily have been altered in agreement with later interpretation. But it is nevertheless most probable that “Vinland” was the original form, and that the variants are due to uncertainty. It may, however, well be supposed that there were two forms of the name, in the same way as, for instance, the “Draumkvæde” is also called the “Draug-kvæde”; or that several names may have fused to become one, similarity of sound and character being the deciding factor.

[355] Cf. Peder Claussön Friis, Storm’s edition, 1881, p. 298; A. Helland, Nordlands Amt, 1907, i. p. 59, ii. pp. 467 f. Yngvar Nielsen [1905] has remarked the resemblance between the epithet “hit Góða,” applied to Wineland, and the name Landegode in Norway; but following Peder Claussön he regards this as a tabu-name. K. Rygh [Norske Gaardnavne, xvi. Nordl. Amt, 1905, p. 201] thinks that P. Claussön’s explanation of the name of Jomfruland is right in all three cases, that “Norwegian seamen ‘from some superstition and fear’ did not call it by the name of Jomfruland, which was already common at that time, while under sail, until they had passed it.” “It is, or at any rate has been, a common superstition among sailors and fishermen that various things were not to be called by their usual names while they were at sea, presumably a relic of heathen belief in evil spirits, whose power it was hoped to avoid by not calling their attention by mentioning themselves or objects with which their evil designs were connected, while it was hoped to be able to conciliate them by using flattering names instead of the proper ones. The three islands are all so situated in the fairway that they must have been unusually dangerous for coasting traffic in former times.” Hans Ström in his Description of Söndmör [Sorö, 1766, ii. p. 441] thought, however, that “Landegod” in Sunnmör was so called because it was the first land one made after passing Stad; and “Svinö” he thought was so called because pigs were turned out there to feed, especially in former times (see below, p. 378); he gives in addition the name Storskjær for the island.

[356] V. Bérard’s explanation [1902, i. p. 579] that Phæacians (Φαιάκες) means Leucadians, the white people, and comes from the Semitic “Beakim” (from “b.e.q.” “to be white”) does not seem convincing. Professor A. Torp finds the explanation given above more probable.

[357] Cf. J. Grimm, D. M., ii. 1876, pp. 692 ff., iii. 1878, pp. 248 f.

[358] Cf. J. A. Friis: Ordbog for det lappiske Sprog, Christiania, 1887, p. 254; J. Qvigstad, 1893, p. 182; Moltke Moe’s communications in A. Helland: Finmarkens Amt, 1905, vol. ii. p. 261.

[359] Cf. Moltke Moe’s communications in A. Helland: Nordlands Amt, 1907, vol. ii. p. 430.

[360] Cf. W. Grimm, Kleinere Schriften, i. p. 468.

[361] Rietz: Svensk Dialekt-Lexikon, 1867.

[362] It may also be worth mentioning that just as there is a Björnö (Björnö Lighthouse) near Landegode off Bodö, so is there mention of a Bjarn-ey near Markland on the way to “Vinland hit Góða.” This may, of course, be purely a coincidence; but on the other hand there may be some connection.

[363] Cf. P. A. Säve: Hafvets och Fiskarens Sagor, spridda drag ur Gotlands Odlingssaga och Strandallmogens Lif. Visby, 1880.

[364] Norske Gaardnavne. Forord og Indledning. 1898, p. 39.

[365] O. Nicolayssen: Fra Nordlands Fortid. Kristiania, 1889, pp. 30 ff.

[366] Remark that thus in the Faroes Svinöi is also a fairy island, as in Sunnmör and at Brönöi in Norway.

[367] This astonishing etymological explanation of the ancient Phœnician legendary islands of the Hesperides is evidently due to a confusion of Brandan’s sheep-island with Pliny’s statements [Nat. Hist., vi. 36] about the purple islands off Africa (near the Hesperides) which King Juba was said to have discovered, and where he learned dyeing with Gætulian purple. The idea that the sunken land Atlantis was where the “Concretum Mare” now is may be connected with the Greek myth which appears in Plutarch (see above, pp. 156 and 182) of Cronos lying imprisoned in sleep on an island in the north-west in the Cronian Sea (== “Mare Concretum”), where also the great continent was, and where the sea was heavy and thick.

[368] This is the same myth as that of Hvítramanna-land in the Eyrbyggja Saga; see later.

[369] Cf. A. Guichot y Sierra, 1884, i. p. 296; Dumont d’Urville: Voyage autour du monde, i. p. 27. The same idea that the island withdraws when one tries to approach it appears also in Lucian’s description (in the Vera Historia) of the Isle of Dreams.

[370] Cf. P. Sébillot, 1886, p. 348.

[371] Cf. Harriet Maxwell Converse: Iroquois Myths and Legends. Education Department Bulletin, No. 437, Albany, N.Y., December 1908, pp. 31 f.

[372] My attention has been drawn to this by Mr. Gunnar Olsen. Similar myths are found in Japan [cf. D. Brauns, Japanische Märchen und Sagen, 1885, pp. 146 ff.].

[373] Grönl. hist. Mind., i. pp. 144 f., 157 ff.

[374] This belongs to the same cycle of ideas as that of the dead rising from their graves or from the lower regions at night, but being obliged to go down again at dawn, or of trolls having to conceal themselves before the sun rises. In the same way, too, the fallen Helge Hundingsbane comes to Sigrun and sleeps with her in the mound; but when the flush of day comes he has to ride back to the west of “Vindhjelms” bridge, before Salgovne awakes. It has been pointed out above (p. 371) that the Phæacians of the Odyssey sail at night.

[375] According to the “Guta-saga” of the thirteenth century.

[376] Cf. Moltke Moe’s communications in A. Helland, Nordlands Amt, 1907, ii. pp. 512 ff. In Brinck’s Descriptio Loufodiæ [1676, p. ii] it is stated that the mythical land of Utröst in Nordland was called “Huldeland.”

[377] Cf. F. Lot, “Romania,” 1898, p. 530. Moltke Moe has also communicated to me this curious tale.

[378] Cf. P. Crofton Croker, 1828, ii. p. 259 f.

[379] Cf. “Lageniensis,” 1870, pp. 114 ff., 294; Joyce, 1879, p. 408. V. Bérard [1902, i. p. 286] explains the Roman name “Ispania” (Spain) as coming from a Semitic (Phœnician) root “sapan” (== hide, cover) denoting “the isle of the hidden one,” which he thinks originally meant Calypso’s isle; this he seeks to locate on the African coast near Gibraltar. The explanation seems very doubtful; but if there be anything in it, it is remarkable that Spain, the land rich in silver and gold, should have a name that recalls the huldre-lands (lands of the hidden ones).

[380] Cf. E. B. Tylor: Primitive Culture, 1891, ii. pp. 63 ff.

[381] Asbjörnsen: Huldre-Eventyr og Folke-Sagn, 3rd ed., pp. 343 ff.; “Tufte-folket på Sandflæsen.” Cf. also Moltke Moe’s note in A. Helland: Nordlands Amt, i. pp. 519 f.

[382] The name of “Lycko-Pär” in Sweden for one who “has luck” [Th. Hielmqvist, Fornamn och Familjenamn med sekundär användning i Nysvenskan, Lund, 1903, p. 267] has come from the Danish “Lykke-Per,” which is a purely literary production, and does not concern us here.

[383] In Norway the “nisse” brings luck. “Lycko-nisse” in Småland (Sweden) is a “luck-bringing brownie. Also used occasionally of little friendly children” [Th. Hielmqvist, 1903, p. 224].

[384] Cf. Moltke Moe’s communications in A. Helland: Nordlands Amt, 1907, ii. pp. 596 f.

[385] Conceptions of a somewhat similar nature appear in the legends of Arthur, where only the pure, or innocent, are permitted to see the Holy Grail.

[386] The names Finmark (the land of the Finns or Lapps) and Finland were often confused in the Middle Ages (cf. Geographia Universalis, Eulogium, Polychronicon, Edrisi), and the latter again with Wineland (cf. Ordericus Vitalis, Polychronicon). It should be remarked that Adam does not know the name “Finn,” but only “Finnédi” and “Scritefini.”

[387] It must be remembered that Kvænland (Woman-land), like Norway and “the island of Halagland” (!), were neighbouring countries to Sweden, where King Svein had lived for twelve years, the same who is supposed to have told Adam so much about the countries of the North; and between Sweden and Russia (Gardarike) there was also active communication at that time.