Note 87 — Chapter XI · TO HEKLA AND THE GEYSIR IN HAUKADALR.[87]

I know no reason why we should conserve such veteran blunders as “Hecla” and “Geyser.” The latter has already been explained. The former, whose full form is Heklu-fjall, derives from Hekla (akin to Hökull, a priest’s cope), meaning a cowled or hooded frock, knitted of various colours, and applied to the “Vesuvius of the North,” from its cap and body vest of snow. Icelanders usually translate it a chasuble, because its rounded black shoulders bear stripes of white, supposed to resemble the cross carried to Calvary.