Føroyski leypurin: Leypamál — Leypurin sum amboð

Abstract

The above is the concluding account of the Faroese leypur — previous article in Fróðskaparrit 19557) — and contains the following: 1. Measurements of the leypur in connection with other raeasures (kannubæri, fimtingur etc), 2. The leypur in actual use. 1. The material available for this section is not so plentiful as could be wished and it seems that some of the tradition has been forgotten. The fcyráarfeypur is first dealt with because in spite of variations in size as between the various villages it is often used as a measure, e. g. for peat, manure, corn (for drying), whalemeat, hay. Otherwise the volume of the leypur has been reckoned as a proportion of the tunna («barrel»), the skeppa (8 skeppur = 1 f.), the kannubæri (48 fcannubærar = 1 f.) and th? fimtingur (16 fimtingar = 1 f.) to which so many /eypur«names bear witness. The fimtingur is only in use in Suðuroy and as a Zeypur»measure only in the villages of Hov and Sandvík. 2. To the question «What is the leypur used for?» one is tempted to answer «What is the leypur not used for?» The leypur has, indeed, followed the Faroeman in all his work on hill and shore, in the cliffs and out at sea. The leypur is borne on the back. It can also be carried by a pony; in the case a leypur hangs from each side of the animal.

A man bearing a leypur uses a head band (see Figs. 3 and 4). The band is described, including the materials used, the various modes of fixing it, of tying the knot in it and of fastening it to the leypur (see Figs. 1 and 2).

The use of the leypur is described in connection with the following: peat, manure and seaweed, fish offal, corn, hay, wool, fish, whalemeat and in connection with work on the land incl. planting, in connection with fishing whether by line or net, when fowling in the cliffs, for carrying ice and snow, conveyance of goods and other articles of every sort, e. g. the belongings of priest, doctor or bailiff. But not only men, women and children have also borne the leypur. Peat and manure have in addition been carried on horseback. The chief use of the leypur will have been for peat, manure and seaweed, and fish.

A small number of tools are referred to which are used in making leypar and which are called after it. In some villages carpenters made most of the leypar, but on the whole every Faroeman knew how to make himself a leypur. Even those who carry the leypur a great deal do not suffer from any special «occupational complaints», other than that a man can get a depression across his head from the band and prominences on the back, corresponding to the spines on his back from the leypur itself, but these are not dangerous. — The body does not become bent through carrying a leypur.

It is odd that the many tales relating to the huldumenn (invisible beings of human size) never — as far as the author knows — mention the leypur, especially since superstition had it that the huldumenn worked just like ordinary mortals, they had sheep and cattle, they fished from their boats etc, but had no leypur.