Steinblóð og skyndilifur

Abstract

In the article are discussed some modern Icelandic terms for a now obsolete method of preparing food from the blood of slaughtered animals. The blood was not mixed with meal but at least sometimes with tallow; it was allowed to coagulate, cut into pieces and brought to boil. This method was in use until late in the 19th century. The Icelandic terms for this are steinblóð, augn(a)blóð and skyndilifur; their meaning and local distribution is discussed. A parallel method is known in the Faroes (at doya sveita); this fact seems to indicate that the method is very old in both countries, probably from the age of
settlement. It is suggested that the word blóðmor ('blood-tallow'), still in use for black pudding in Icelandic and Faroese, is the original term, but after it became common to mix the blood with meal it was still called blóðmor, while other terms were coined for the old method.