Några ord om språket i Husaviksbreven

Abstract

In the present paper is discussed the language of a medieval document, the Húsavík letters (»Húsavíksbróvini«), which is a transcript, dated in Tórshavn in 1407, of six legal documents written in 1403— a 1405 in the Faroes and Shetland. The Húsavík letters concern the {Jj legacy from Guðrun Sigurðardóttir at Húsavík in Sandoy, who was famous for her wealth. The document, which is kept in the University Library in Copenhagen (AM, fasc. 100, 2a), was published by the Faroese philologist; Jakob Jakobsen in Diplomatarium Færoense I in 1907. Jakobsen characsterized the language used in the Húsavík letters and other medieval documents from the Faroes as »01d Norse, sometimes with Faroese features« (e. g. i instead of e in »skilgitin« / true=born / Old Norse skilgetin and »gingin« /gone/ Old Norse gengin; »deydh« / dead / for Old Norse dauð; »toa« and »brier« /three/ for Old Norse tvá and />rír).

In a review of Jakobsen's book Marius Hægstad examined the language of the Húsavík letters. He concluded that the transcript had been written by a Norwegian hand, as he found so many forms that were unknown in the North Germanic dialects west of Norway, above all the considerable number of words without mutation of a to o (or ó) when u follows in the next syllable. (Forms like »annur« and »allum« for onnur and ollum)

Another Norwegian scholar, Mikjel Sorlie, finds it most probable that the writer of the transcript was a Faroese. The author of the present paper discusses the different features in the Húsavík letters, and points out that research work in recent times shows us that forms without mutation of a may be found also in western old colonies of Norway, e. g. in Svabo's 18 th century records of Faroese ballads. Also to other »Norwegian« features in the Húsavík letters we may find Faroese equivalents in the ballads and in the spoken laguage of today. It is important to consider the cultural relations between Norway and the Faroes in the Middle Ages. Since 1035 the Faroes constituted part of the Norwegian kingdom, and Norwegian laws were in force in the islands. We may suppose that the Faroese took Norwegian documents as patterns when writing. Thus Faroese features, though
divergent from Norwegian, may be concealed by traditional spelling. This considered it seems most likely that a Faroese wrote the transcript of the Húsavík letters. The document is of great interest, not only for the vivid picture it shows us of life in the Faroes in the Middle Ages, but also for what it teaches us about the Faroese language of that period.