Note 155 — SECTION IV. POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY OF ICELAND.
Reading edition
The Icel. Stipti (Dan. Stift, and old Low Germ. Stigt) means a bishopric or ecclesiastical bailiwick. Hence Uno Von Troil translates Stiftamtmand by “bailiff of episcopal diocese,” and it gradually came to mean a civil governor. Cleasby informs us (sub voce) that both name and office are quite modern in Iceland.