Hústrúin í Húsavík

Abstract

A record of a tradition from the village of Skálavík, Sandoy, letters and genealogical tables put together by Jens Davidsen and J. H. Schrøter demonstrate clearly, even though written in Danish, that local people have said hústrúin í Húsavík, but nothing of this material has ever been published. V. U. Hammershaimb on the other hand used the form húsfrú(in) in Antiquarisk Tidsskrift and húsfrúgv(in) in Færøsk Anthologi. 

This latter form dr. Jakob Jakobsen made use of in all his books, but in his written records the form hústrúin is often to be found. They were not aware of the fact that in late medieval time in Norway hústrú was title of the wife of an esquire (vápnari) or a man of a simular rank. Mr. Jacob Jacobsen was the first one to point out this special meaning in connection with the Faroese tradition, but as he knew only the forms of Hammershaimb he writes hústrú and húsfrú(gv) at random.

But the broadcast lecture of Mr. Hanus Samuelsen, himself a native of Húsavík, made it clear that the original form has been hústrúin. There is no evidence that hústrú Elin Eiriksdóttir, who lived in the first half of the 15th century, had other connection with the Faroes than hereditary land. But a letter of 1. August 1487 proves that hústrú Ingibjørg has been in the Faroes.