[130] This reminds us of Mela’s statement respecting the Œneans, who lived on fen-fowl’s eggs (see above, pp. 91, 95).

[131] And or Amd was used formerly not only for the island of And (Andö), but for a great part of Vesterålen and Hinnö.

[132] I will mention as yet another possibility a corruption of Ptolemy’s islands, the “Alociæ,” which lay at the extreme north of his map, north of the Cimbrian Chersonese and farther north than the island of Scandia (see above, pp. 119 f.). A Greek capital lambda, Λ, may easily be mistaken for a capital delta, Δ, especially in maps, and in such corrupted form may have been transferred to Roman maps, and thence have been used for the name of a people who were said to live specially far north. Läffler [1894, p. 4] thinks that “Adogit” was a Lappish people, and that the name certainly cannot be of Scandinavian-Germanic origin, but he does not say why.

[133] Cleomedes says that the summer day in Thule lasted a month, while the astronomically ignorant Pliny puts it at six months.

[134] As to these tribal names see especially Läffler [1894, 1907] and Sophus Bugge [1907], besides P. A. Munch [1852], Müllenhoff [1887], and others.

[135] The origin of the word “sappherinas” is uncertain. Lönborg [1897, p. 26] proposes that it may have meant deep sapphire blue, and have been used of the skins of blue foxes. Probably it is rather a northern word, not Germanic, but either Slavonic or Finnish (?).

[136] Müllenhoff, Mommsen, Läffler, and others think that the “mitiores” (milder) of the MSS. may be an error for “minores” (smaller), which gives better sense, in contradistinction to the “Suetidi” who come just after and were taller than all the rest. Sophus Bugge proposes that “mitissimi” and “mitiores” may be errors for “minutissime” and “minutiores,” and that it should therefore be translated “the very small Finns who are smaller than all the other, etc.” [cf. also A. Bugge, 1906, p. 18]; but the necessity for so great a change is doubtful [cf. Läffler, 1907, p. 109].

[137] S. Bugge thought [1907, p. 101] at one time that these might be people of Gond or Gand, i.e., Höiland, south of Stavanger, but afterwards changed this view [cf. 1910, p. 97].

[138] Jordanes, who was a Goth, had even less reason for glorifying the Northmen at the expense of the Germans or Goths.

[139] Cf. Mommsen, 1882, p. 154; A. Bugge, 1906, pp. 21, 33 f.

[140] This is certainly incorrect; probably they came from the north and established themselves near the Danube in the neighbourhood of the Langobards.

[141] Paulus Warnefridi gives a mythical account of the cause of the war and of the battle and death of king Rodulf [Bethmann and Waitz, 1878, pp. 57 ff.]; the fight and king Rodulf are also referred to in the “Origo Gentes Langobardorum” (of about 807). In both these works it is stated that it was the Langobards (and not the Eruli) who had lived in this country (by the Danube ?) in peace for three years.

[142] It is probable that the mention of the tribes in Jordanes is taken from two different sources; for he begins by saying that Ptolemy only has the names of seven, without mentioning any of these, and later on he gives a whole series of others, which may have been added from another author who supplemented the one from whom the mention of Ptolemy is taken.

[143] Jordanes here repeats Ptolemy, from whom the name of Scandza, == Scandia, is taken (and the statement as to the shape of the island ?), while Procopius has nothing about it.

[144] The name appears in the runic inscriptions to be often a designation of the author of the inscription. Sophus Bugge thought that the Eruli had obtained their knowledge of runes from the Goths, and that they kept them a secret (this reappears in the word “run” itself, which means secret), especially in the leading families, who turned them to account. During their centuries of roving life they carried the knowledge of runes with them to various parts of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. In this way the uniformity of language in the inscriptions from widely separated places may also be explained.

[145] It appears to have been a general custom among the Germans to put old people to death (cf. p. 18). Herodotus [i. 216] relates of the Massagetæ, who may have been a Germanic tribe, that “when any one has grown very old all his relatives come together and slaughter him, and with him other small cattle; they then cook the flesh and hold a banquet. This is considered by them the happiest end. But they do not eat one who dies of sickness, but bury him underground, and lament that he did not live to be slaughtered.”

[146] This widespread form of anthropophagy is due to the superstition that by eating something of another, beast or man, or particular parts, e.g., the heart (cf. Sigurd Favnesbane), one acquired the peculiar properties of the other, such as strength, courage, goodness, etc. It is thus a similar idea to that in the Christian sacrament.

[147] They were also called O T maps; O T being the initials of Orbis Terrarum.

[148] Cf. Wuttke, 1854.

[149] The text has “ovium” (== sheep), but this is doubtless a copyist’s error for “ovum” (== egg). This may remind us of the Œonæ of Mela and Pliny, who lived on the eggs of fen-fowl (see above, p. 92).

[150] Cf. the “Origo Gentis Langobardorum” (of the second half of the seventh century), where the “Winnilians,” who were later called Langobards, live originally on an island called “Scadanan,” or in another MS. “Scadan.” The latter name, with the addition of a Germanic word for meadow or island, might become Scadanau, Scadanauge, or Scadanovia. Cf. also Fredegar Scholasticus’s abbreviated history after Gregory of Tours, where it is related that the Langobards originated in “Schatanavia,” or in one MS. “Schatanagia.”

[151] It is difficult to understand how Paulus has managed to transfer the legend to the North. It might be thought that the idea, which already appears in Herodotus, that the people of the North sleep for the six winter months (see p. 20), is connected with it. Plutarch [“De defectu oraculorum,” c. 18] relates that in the ocean beyond Britain there was according to the statement of Demetrius an island “where Cronos was imprisoned and guarded, while he slept, by Briareus. For sleep had been used as a bond, and there were many spirits about him as companions and servants.” According to another passage in Plutarch [“De facie in orbe Lunæ,” 941] this island was north-west of the isle of Ogygia, which was five days’ sail west of Britain. It is possible that this myth of the sleeping Cronos has also helped to locate the legend of the Seven Sleepers on the north-west coast of Europe. Viktor Rydberg [1886, i. pp. 529 ff.] thought that the legend and its localisation in the North might be connected with Mimer’s seven sons, who in the Vǫlospǫ’s description (st. 45) of Ragnarok were to spring up at the sound of the horn Gjallar, after having lain asleep for long ages. But this interpretation of the strophe: “Leika Mims synir” is improbable.

[152] In other MSS. Scridowinni and Scritofinni, etc.

[153] According to the “Grottasǫngr,” Mysing carried off the quern and the two female thralls, Fenja and Menja, on his ship and bade them grind salt, and they ground until the ship sank (according to some MSS. it was in the Pentland Firth), and there was afterwards a whirlpool in the sea, where the water falls into the hole in the quern. Thus the sea became salt. This is the same legend which is repeated in the tale of the mill which grinds at the bottom of the sea.

[154] As will be mentioned later, the islands were possibly inhabited by Celts before the arrival of the monks. In that case the latter must doubtless have visited them with the additional object of spreading Christianity.

[155] It has also been translated: “two rows of oars,” which is improbable.

[156] Some writers have thought that they might be the Shetlands; but this seems less probable.

[157] Cf. A. Bugge, 1905, pp. 55 f. Several names of fishing-banks, which A. Bugge gives from Dr. Jakobsen, are also of interest. Off Sandey is a fishing-bank called “Knokkur” (or “á Knokki”), and one of the same name lies west of Syd-Straumsey. West of Sudrey is a fishing-place called “Knokkarnir.” The fishing-banks are called after the landmarks; “cnoc” is Celtic for hill, and must have been the name of the heights that formed landmarks for the fishing-places in question; on land these names have given way to more modern Norse ones, but have held their own out to sea. A. Bugge thinks that the Celtic place-names may be due to Norwegians who before they came to the Faroes had lived with Irish-speaking people in the Scottish islands or in Ireland; but it nevertheless seems very improbable that they should have used a foreign language to give names to their new home. A more natural explanation is that they had the names from the earlier Celtic inhabitants, whether these were only the Irish monks, or whether there were others. Names of islands and hills are usually among the most ancient of place-names.

[158] Cf. Landnáma, Prologue. Further on in the Landnáma places are frequently mentioned where priests had formerly lived, and where in consequence heathens dared not settle.

[159] It is explicable that places and estates may be called after the personal names of Irish land-takers; but it is more difficult to understand how the Norwegians should have come by Celtic names, derived from appellatives, for mountains, fjords, and rivers—which are everywhere among the earliest of place-names—if the Celts had not been there before they came. Among such place-names of Celtic origin, or which indicate a Celtic population, may be mentioned: “Dímunarvág, Dimunar-klakkar” (an inlet and two rocky islets in Breidifjord); “Dímon,” in many places as the name of a ridge, a mountain, and an islet; “Katanes”; “Katadalr”; “Kúðafljót,” the name of a confluence of several rivers into a large piece of water, in Vester-Skaftarfells district, from Irish “cud” (== head). “Minþakseyrr” is mentioned above. Further, there are many names after Irishmen: a river “Irá,” two places “Iragerði,” a channel into Hvammsfjord “Irska leið,” “Irsku búðir,” a hill “Irski hóll,” besides “Vestmanna-eyjar,” etc.

[160] The “Ost-sæ̂” is the southern and western part of the Baltic with the Cattegat and a part of the Skagerak, as distinguished from the sea to the west of Jutland (the land of the South Danes), which is “the arm of the sea which lies round the country of Britain.” The sea west of Norway he also calls the “West-sæ̂.” As the Ost-sæ̂ is called an arm of the sea, it might be urged that King Alfred therefore regarded Scandinavia as a peninsula; but we see that he also calls the sea round Britain, which he knew better, an arm of the sea.

[161] In another passage somewhat later he says that “no men [i.e., Norsemen, Norwegian chiefs] lived to the north of him.” This may have been somewhere about Malangen or Senjen, which archæological remains show to have formed the approximate northern boundary of fixed Norwegian habitation at that time. Norwegians may have lived here and there farther north to about Loppen [cf. A. Bugge, 1908, pp. 407 ff.]; but Ottar doubtless means that no nobles or people of importance lived to the north of him.

[162] It may be explained that the Lapps are called “Finns,” both in Old Norse and modern Norwegian. As it is not absolutely certain to what race these ancient “Finns” belonged, it has been thought best to retain Ottar’s name for them here.

[163] It is clear Ottar reckoned north and south according to the direction of the land, and not according to the meridian; this is a common habit among coast-dwellers who live on a coast that lies approximately north and south. Ottar’s north is consequently nearly north-east.

[164] This would be, according to the number of days’ sail given, about midway between Malangen and the North Cape, that is, about Loppen.

[165] That is to say, made a bay of the sea into the land. Ottar has now reached the North Cape.

[166] This was at the entrance to the White Sea, near Sviatoi Nos, or a little farther south-east. If Ottar took as much as six days on the voyage from Malangen to the North Cape, but only four from the North Cape to the entrance to the White Sea, which is nearly double the distance, this may possibly be explained by his sailing the first part within the skerries, among islands, thus making the distance longer and stopping oftener, while on the latter part of the voyage, where there are no islands, he may have sailed much faster with open sea and a favourable wind, and have had less temptation to stop.

[167] The most reasonable way of reading this last much-contested statement is to take “of them” as referring to the walruses, which were seven cubits long, and to understand the sentence about the Norwegian whales, which are larger, as an inserted parenthesis [cf. Japetus Steenstrup, 1889]; for it is impossible that six men could kill sixty large whales in two days, and the sobriety of Ottar’s narrative makes it very improbable that he made boasts of this sort. King Alfred evidently did not grasp the essential difference between walrus and whale. Another explanation might be that these sixty were a school of a smaller species of whale, which were caught by nets in a fjord, so that King Alfred has only confused their size with that of the larger whales of which he had also heard Ottar speak. An attempt has been made to save the sense by proposing that instead of “with six others” we should read “with six harpoons” (“syx asum”) or “with six ships” (“syx ascum”); but even if such an emendation were permissible, it does not make the statement more credible. What should Ottar do with sixty large whales, even if he could catch them? It must have been the blubber and the flesh that he wanted, but he and his men could not deal with that quantity of blubber and flesh in weeks, to say nothing of two days. Even a large whaling station at the present time, with machinery and a large staff of workmen, would have all it could do to deal with sixty large whales (“forty-eight” or “fifty” cubits long) before they became putrid, if they were all caught in two days.

[168] Cf. G. Storm, 1894, p. 95. S. E. Lönborg’s reasons [1897, p. 37] for rejecting Storm’s view and maintaining the Dvina as the river in question have little weight. Lönborg examines the statements of direction, south, north, etc., as though King Alfred and Ottar had had a map and a modern compass before them during the description. He has not remarked that Ottar has merely confined himself to the chief points of the compass, north, east, and south, and that he has not even halved them; how otherwise should we explain, for instance, that he sailed “due north along the coast” from Senjen to the North Cape? This course is no less incorrect than his sailing due south, for example, from Sviatoi Nos to the Varzuga. To one sailing along a coast, especially if it is unknown, the circumstance that one is following the land is far more important than the alterations of course that one makes owing to the sinuosities of the coast. The statement that they had the uninhabited land to starboard all the way is consequently not to be got over.

[169] His own words, that he did not know whether the land (at Sviatoi Nos) turned towards the south, or whether the sea made a bay into the land, show also that Ottar cannot have sailed across the White Sea and discovered the land on the other side.

[170] Alfred’s word “Beormas” is perhaps linguistically of the same origin as “Perm” or “Perem,” which the Russians, at any rate in later times, apply to another Finno-Ugrian people, the Permians, of Kama in north Russia [cf. Storm, 1894, p. 96].

[171] “Rosmal” comes from Old Norse “rosm-hvalr”—horse-whale, of the same meaning therefore as “hval-ross.”

[172] Sciringesheal had a king’s house and a well-known temple; it may have been situated on the Viksfjord, east of Larvik, where the name Kaupang (i.e., “kjöpstad” == market town) still preserves its memory [cf. Munch, 1852, pp. 377, 380]. Possibly the name may be connected with the Germanic tribe of “Skirer,” who are mentioned on the shores of the Baltic, near the Ruger (or Ryger). Connected with Sciringesheal was a kingdom in South Jutland, with the port of “Sliesthorp” (mentioned by Einhard about 804), “Sliaswic” [Ansgarii Vita, c. 24] or “Slesvik,” also called “Heidaby.” It is possible that Sciringesheal may have been originally founded by Skirer who had immigrated from South Jutland (?). Another hypothesis has been put forward by S. A. Sörensen, who thinks that Sciringesheal may be a translation into Norse of “baptisterium” (“skíra” == to baptize); and that the place was situated near Sandefjord. In that case we should look for a church rather than a heathen temple, and we should have to suppose that attempts had been made to introduce Christianity even before Ottar’s time.

[173] Dr. Ingram, in 1807, and Rask [1815, p. 48] propose to read “Isaland” (i.e., Iceland, which was discovered by the Norsemen just at this time), but this does not improve the sense. Besides which, the form “Isaland” for Iceland is not known, and it would mean the land of “ices” and not of ice. That the true Ireland should be intended would seem to betray greater geographical ignorance than we are disposed to attribute to Ottar or Alfred. Alfred himself mentions “Ibernia” or “Igbernia” (i.e., Ireland) as lying west of Britain, and says that “we call it Scotland.” He does not use the name Ireland elsewhere; but here he is quoting Ottar, and the latter may possibly have meant Scotland (?) [cf. Langebek, Porthan and Forster], which was colonised by Irishmen, although it would then be difficult to understand the reference which follows to islands lying “between Iraland and this country” (i.e., Britain). Meanwhile it must be remembered that it was not unusual at that time to place Ireland to the north of Britain (cf. later Adam of Bremen), and there may here be a confusion of this sort. The simplest supposition would be to take “Iraland” for Shetland; but it is difficult to understand how the islands could have received such a designation.

[174] So far as I can discover this is the first time this name for Norway occurs in literature. Lönborg [1897, p. 142] is consequently incorrect in saying that the name “Norvegia” first occurs in the eleventh century.

[175] Einhard calls it “Sinlendi,” and it was a part of South Jutland or Sleswick [cf. Munch, 1852, p. 378].

[176] “Dęnemearc” is mentioned by Alfred for the first time in literature.

[177] Professor Alf Torp has kindly given me a [Norwegian] translation of the poem.

[178] It may be of interest in this connection to remind the reader that Plutarch [“De facie in orbe Lunæ,” 941] mentions that the island of Ogygia lay five days’ sail west of Britain, and that upon one of the islands in the north-west lay Cronos imprisoned (cf. above, p. 156), for which reason the sea was called Cronium. According to the statements of the barbarians “the great continent [i.e., that which lies beyond the ocean, cf. above, p. 16] by which the great ocean is enclosed in a circle” lies nearer to these islands, “but from Ogygia it is about five thousand stadia when one travels with rowing-boats; for the sea is heavy to pass through, and muddy on account of the many currents; but the great land sends out the streams and they stir up the mud, and the sea is heavy and earthy, for which reason it is held to be curdled.” These are similar conceptions to those we have already found in Aristotle’s Meteorologica (cf. above, p. 41), and Plutarch is also inclined to place this sluggish sea towards the north-west. Moreover, it seems as though the ancients imagined the stiffened sea (usually in connection with darkness) everywhere on the outer limits of the world. Curtius (of the time of Augustus) in a speech makes Alexander’s soldiers (when they try to force him to turn back) use such expressions as that this leads to nowhere, all was covered with darkness and a motionless sea, and dying Nature disappears. Similar conceptions of a curdled and stinking sea and an ocean of darkness near the outer limits of the world are also found in Arabic literature [cf. Edrisi, 1154 A.D.].

[179] On maps the name possibly appears earlier. On an English map of the world (Cottoniana), possibly of the close of the tenth century (992-994), there is an “Island” (see p. 183); but the possibility is not excluded that the existing copy of this map may be later, and may have taken some names from Adam of Bremen [cf. K. Miller, iii. 1895, p. 37].

[180] This name appears here for the first time in literature (cf. “Balcia” in Pliny, pp. 71, 99, above). It has also been sought to derive it from the Old Prussian (Lettish and Lithuanian) “baltas,” white; it would then mean the white sea, and the name would be due to the sandy coasts of the south-east [cf. Schafarik, Slav. Alt., i. pp. 451 ff.].

[181] We may compare with this the tale of the Arab author Qazwînî, of the thirteenth century [cf. G. Jacob, 1896, pp. 9, 37]: “The City of Women is a great city with a wide territory on an island in the western ocean. At-Tartûshî says: its inhabitants are women, over whom men have no authority. They ride horses, and themselves wage war. They show great bravery in conflict. They have also slaves. Every slave in turn visits his mistress at night, remains with her all night, rises at dawn, and goes out secretly at daybreak. If then one of them gives birth to a boy she kills him on the spot; but if a girl she lets her live. At-Tartûshî says: the City of Women is a fact of which there is no doubt.” This, as we see, is an adaptation of the Greek legend of the Amazons, and of the Scythian women who had children by their slaves [cf. Herodotus, vi. 1]. As a similar story of the City of Women, “west of the Russians,” is attributed to the Jew Ibrâhîm ibn Ja’qûb (of the tenth century), which he says he had from the emperor Otto (the Great), it probably dates from the tenth century. Jacob thinks the legend here was due to the name of Magdeburg, which was translated “civitas virginum”; but as the women lived in an island in the ocean it is more probable that it may be derived from Kvænland. Similar legends seem to have been common in the Middle Ages, and occur in many authors. (Cf. Paulus Warnefridi, above, p. 160). Isidore is said to have made Sweden the original home of the Amazons.

[182] Cf. Plutarch, Thes. 26; Strabo, xi. 504; and others.

[183] Adam’s statement (immediately afterwards in the same section) that the land of the Alani or Wizzi was defended by an army of dogs, must be due to a similar misinterpretation of the name “Huns.”

[184] This passage is undoubtedly taken from Solinus, and we see how Magister Adam confuses together what he has heard and what he finds in classical authors.

[185] It seems very probable, as Mr. F. Schiern [1873, s. 13] suggests, that this conception of even the noblest men (nobilissimi homines) being herdsmen may be due to a misunderstanding of the old Norse word “fehirðir,” which might mean herdsman, but was also the usual word for treasurer, especially the king’s treasurer.

[186] This description refers, probably, to the Lapps and their magic arts.

[187] This must be another misunderstanding of tales about Kvæns, whom Adam took for women.

[188] These skin-clad hunters, who spoke a language unintelligible to the Norwegians, were certainly Lapps.

[189] It might be thought that “uri” was here a corruption for “lutræ” (otters); but as “uri” is found in two passages without making sense in its proper meaning, aurochs, it may also be supposed that it is here used as a name for walrus, as proposed by A. M. Hansen; and then the last sentence will be quite simple, that the white bear lives under water like the walrus. The confusion may have arisen through a belief that the tusks of the walrus were aurochs’ horns. The horns in the picture of the “Urus” on the Ebstorf map (1284) are very like walrus tusks. But it is striking that the common land bear is not mentioned, while the white bear is spoken of. As the latter seldom comes to Finmark, its mention points to the Norwegians having hunted it in the Polar Sea; if it be not due to the connection of Norway with Iceland and Greenland, but as these lands are mentioned separately this seems less probable.

[190] This idea may possibly be due on the one hand to the mist, which may have been regarded as brought about by heat; for in a scholium (possibly by Adam himself, or not much later) we read: “By Iceland is the Ice Sea, and it is boiling and shrouded in mist (‘caligans’).” On the other hand it may be due to statements about volcanoes and boiling springs which have been confused with it. The black colour and dryness of the ice may be due to confusion with lava or with floating pumice-stone in the sea, and statements about the lignite of Iceland (“surtarbrand”) may also have given rise to this idea [cf. Baumgartner, 1902, p. 503]. Lönborg’s suggestion [1897, p. 165] that it may be due to driftwood is less probable. Compare also the idea in the “Meregarto” (above, p. 181) of the ice as hard as crystal, which is heated. In two MSS. of Solinus, of which the oldest is of the twelfth century [cf. Mommsen’s edition of Solinus, 1895, pp. xxxiv., xxxvii., 236; Lappenberg, 1838, pp. 887 f.], there is an addition about the northern islands in which we read of Iceland: “Yslande. The sea-ice on this island ignites itself on collision, and when it is ignited it burns like wood. These people also are good Christians, but in winter they dare not leave their underground holes on account of the terrible cold. For if they go out they are smitten by such severe cold that they lose their colour like lepers and swell up. If by chance they blow their nose, it comes off and they throw it away with what they have blown out.” This passage cannot be derived from Adam of Bremen (nor has it any resemblance to the Meregarto); it may indicate that similar ideas of the ice of Iceland were current at that time. Saxo’s remarkable allusion to this ice (in the introduction to his work) also shows that it was connected with much superstition.

[191] The woods consisted then as now solely of birch-trees, which were however larger at that time.

[192] In a scholium, possibly by Adam himself, there is this correction: “According to what others report, Halagland is the extreme part of Norway, which borders on the Skridfinns and is inaccessible by reason of the forbidding mountains and the harshness of the cold.”

[193] This statement that the summer day and the winter night were of the same length cannot here, any more than in Jordanes and Procopius, be due to direct observation on the part of Northerners, but must be an echo of classical astronomical speculations (cf. above, pp. 134, 144). It is strange, too, that while in Jordanes (and Procopius) the length of the summer day and winter night was forty days (among the “Adogit” in Hálogaland), it is here given as fourteen days in Hálogaland. Possibly the number fourteen may be due to a confusion or a copyist’s error for forty.

[194] Probably Adam has taken this explanation from Bede [cf. Kohlmann, 1908, pp. 45 ff.].

[195] This passage, from “Beyond this island,” is not found in all the MSS., whence Lappenberg [1876, p. xvii.] thinks it is a later addition—but by Adam himself, as the style resembles his. To this latter reason it may be objected that when Adam mentions Harold Hardråde earlier in his work, he is disposed to disparage him, which is not the case here. But since he does not disparage him either in his mention of the Baltic voyage (see p. 185), this is of little importance.

[196] While this sheet is in the press I happen to see that the same opinion has been advanced, almost in the same words, by Sven Lönborg [1897, p. 168].

[197] Adam’s idea of Hálogaland (Halagland) as an island may be due to its similarity of sound to the “Heiligland” (Heligoland) mentioned by him. As one of these lands was an island it must have been easy to suppose that the other was one also. The interpretation of the name as meaning holy may come from the same source. Heiligland was regarded as holy on account of the monastery established there. A corresponding name, “Eyin Helga,” is applied in the sagas to two islands: Helgeö in Mjösen, and the well-known Iona in the Hebrides [Magnus Barfot’s Saga, cap. 10]. The latter was holy on account of Columcille’s church.

[198] See note 2, p. 197.

[199] Adam did not apparently know the name “Finn,” he only mentions Finnédi and Scritefini. It might then seem natural that he should intermix the names Vinland and Finland, and believing that this Fin- or Vin- had something to do with Wine, he may have applied to this land Isidore’s description of the Fortunate Isles, in a similar manner as he applied the Greek story about the Amazons to Kvænland with the Cynocephali, etc.

[200] S. Bugge has since maintained the probability that the name “Skaði” is of Germanic origin.

[201] We shall not here enter into the difficult question of the blond short-skulls, as it has no bearing on our argument.

[202] It might, for instance, be supposed that the Ryger and Horder, who came from north-eastern Germania, were already mixed with short-skulled Slavs before their immigration to western Norway.

[203] Among the known brachycephalic peoples of Europe we have the Celts and the western Slavs, Poles, Czecks, etc. These are linguistically far apart, but it is a question whether the brachycephalic element in both is not originally the same. It must be borne in mind that, at the remote period of which we are now speaking, the linguistic difference between them was certainly small, and for that matter it is of little importance from which of them the first immigration into Scandinavia came.

[204] As Professor Alf Torp has pointed out to me, the word “Fin” must, on account of the Germanic mutation of sounds, be expected to have sounded something like “Pen” at that remote time. “Pen” in Celtic means head, and it is not altogether impossible that such a word might have been transformed into a national name.

[205] Cf. O. Solberg, 1909. The particulars here given of this remarkable find are for the most part taken from Solberg’s interesting paper, the proofs of which he has allowed me to see. He has also been kind enough to give me an opportunity of examining the objects.

[206] Lapps belonging to the Greek Church, who live in a Russian enclave on the Pasvik, Varanger Fjord. (Tr.)

[207] Curiously enough, no bones of the great bearded seal (Phoca barbata) are mentioned; but its absence may perhaps be accidental.

[208] In a grave in North Varanger some fragments were found, probably of walrus-tusk [cf. Solberg, 1909, p. 93].

[209] Professor G. Storm [1894, s. 97] and others have thought that the Karelian-Finnish name “Kantalaksi” (“Kandalaks”) and “Kantalahti” for the north-western bay of the White Sea, and the town at its inner end, may be a corrupted translation of the Norwegian name “Gandvik” for the White Sea, as “kanta” (“kanda”) might be the Finnish-Karelian pronunciation of the Norwegian “gand,” and the Finnish-Karelian “lahti” or “laksi” has the same meaning as the Norwegian “vik” (bay). Dr. Hansen, considering this explanation probable, takes it as proof that the Karelians must have come to the region later than the Norwegians, and later than the Beormas of Ottar’s time. But if the Karelians had immigrated thither after the Norwegians had given it this name, it would be equally incomprehensible that they should not have taken their place-names from the settled Beormas instead of from the casually visiting Norwegians. Storm’s explanation of the name “Kandalaks” is, however, in my opinion highly improbable; the casually visiting Norwegians cannot possibly have given the settled Beormas or Karelians the name of their own home. It is then, according to my view, much more probable that the Norwegian “Gandvik” is some kind of “popular etymological” translation of “Kantalaksi,” which must then be a name of Finnish-Karelian origin. I have asked Professor Konrad Nielsen, of Christiania, about this, and he has also discussed the question with Professor E. Setälä, and Professor Wichmann, of Helsingfors. All three are of my opinion. The meaning of “Kantalaksi” (or “Kannanlaksi,” from an older word “Kanðanlaksi,” where the first part is genitive) seems to Nielsen to be quite certain: “kanta” (genitive, “kannan”) is heel, basis. The name should, according to Setälä, be translated, “the broad bay.” The Norwegians must consequently have corrupted the first part of the name in a “popular etymological” manner to their “gand” (which means sorcery), and the latter part of the name they have translated by “vik” (bay). The name “Gandvik” may already have been known in Norway in the tenth century, as it is mentioned by the heathen skald, Eilif Gudrunsson, in Thorsdrápa. This seems to prove that the Beormas of the tenth century (and then evidently also of Ottar’s time) were Karelians, using the Karelian name “Kantalaksi” for the White Sea. This name consequently leads to conclusions contrary to those of Dr. Hansen, and it goes against the correctness of his views.

[210] Dr. Hansen seeks to explain the difficulty that the Beormas near the Dvina, according to the name of the goddess “Jomale” in the tale of Tore Hund’s journey to Beormaland, must have spoken Karelian, by supposing that the Beormas on the Dvina and those on the Gulf of Kandalaks were two entirely different peoples, although in the old narratives no support for such an assertion is to be found. Besides, we have above found evidence that the Beormas at Kandalaks also spoke Karelian, because this name is a Karelian word, which was used already in the tenth century.

[211] Cf. Björnbo and Petersen, 1904, p. 178. In Michel Beheim’s travels in Norway in 1450 “Wild lapen” are also mentioned, cf. Vangensten, 1908, pp. 17, 30 f.

[212] Hakluyt: “The Principal Navigations, etc.” (1903), iii. p. 404.

[213] Gustav Storm [1881, p. 407] altered “some” to “none,” evidently thinking it would make better sense of this obscure passage; following him therefore Magnus Olsen, J. Qvigstad and A. M. Hansen have recently discussed the passage as though it read: “which none can understand.” It appears to me that “which some [i.e., a few] can understand” gives clearer sense.

[214] This passage seems somewhat confused and it is difficult to find a logical connection in it. The first part is simple; most of the Sea Finns (Fishing Lapps) speak Norwegian, but badly. Among themselves and with the Mountain Finns (Reindeer Lapps) they do not use this, but their own language. The language of the latter people must consequently have been the same, unless we are to make the improbable assumption that the Fishing Lapps had a language different from that of the Reindeer Lapps, which the latter however had learned, although they are still in our time very bad linguists, and speak imperfect Norwegian. So far there cannot be much doubt of the meaning, but it is different when we come to the statement that they had more languages than one, and that of “their languages they have however another to use among themselves.” It seems to me that the certain examples mentioned by Qvigstad [1909] of the Lapps having been in the habit of inventing jargons at the beginning of the eighteenth century give a natural explanation of this passage [cf. also Magnus Olsen, 1909]. A. M. Hansen’s interpretation [1907 and 1909], that the original mother-tongue of the Fishing Lapps (called by him “Skridfinnish”), which was quite different from that which they spoke with the Reindeer Lapps, is here meant, cannot be reconciled with the words of the text, for in that case they must have had two mother-tongues; it is expressly said that the second language was “their own,” which they spoke among themselves; if it was only the language of the Reindeer Lapps, then it was precisely not their own, nor would they have any reason to speak it among themselves. I understand the passage thus: “of their [own] language they have also another [i.e., another form, variant, or jargon] to use among themselves, which [only] some [of them] can understand.” But how it should result from this that “it is certain that they have nine languages” is difficult to explain; for even if we assume with Hansen that nine is an error for three, it does not improve matters; for in any case they did not use all three languages, including Norwegian, “among themselves.” It is probable enough, as indeed both Hansen and Magnus Olsen have assumed, that there is a reference here to the magic arts of the Lapps; and we must then suppose that this mention of the nine languages was an expression commonly understood at the time, which did not require further explanation, to be compared with the nine tongue-roots of the poisonous serpent [cf. M. Olsen, 1909, p. 91]. Nine was a sacred number in heathen times, cf. Adam of Bremen’s tale of the festivals of the gods every ninth year at Upsala, where nine males of every living thing were offered, etc. Thietmar of Merseburg mentions the sacrificial festival which was held every ninth year at midwinter at Leire, etc.

[215] Remark the resemblance between this passage and the mention of the Lapps in the “Historia Norvegiæ” (above, p. 204).

[216] Ottar’s statement that he owned 600 reindeer is, as pointed out by O. Solberg [1909, p. 127], evidence against the correctness of A. M. Hansen’s assumption that the Finns mentioned by Ottar had learned to keep reindeer by imitating the Norwegian’s cattle-keeping, and that they kept their reindeer on the mountain pastures in summer, but collected them together for driving home in winter; it would have been a difficult matter to manage several hundred reindeer in this fashion, unless they were divided up into so many small herds that we cannot suppose them all to have been the property of one man. Large herds of many deer must have been half wild and have been kept in a similar way to the Reindeer Lapps’ reindeer now.

[217] Gregory of Tours; “Gesta Francorum”; the Anglo-Saxon poems “Beowulf” and “Wîdsîð,” etc.

[218] Zeuss, 1837, p. 501; Müllenhoff, 1889, pp. 18 f., 95 f.; A. Bugge, 1905, pp. 10 f.

[219] Cf. H. Zimmer [1891, 1893, p. 223] and A. Bugge [1905, pp. 11 f.]. In a life of St. Gildas, on an island off the Welsh coast [“Vita Gildæ, auctore Carodoco Lancarbanensi,” p. 109], we read that he was plundered by pirates from the Orcades islands, who must be supposed to have been Norwegian Vikings. This is said to have taken place in the sixth century, but the MS. dates from the twelfth. The island of Sark, east of Guernsey, was laid waste by the Normans, according to the “Miracula Sancti Maglorii,” cap. 5. [A. de la Borderie, “Histoire de Bretagne,” Critique des Sources, iii. 13, p. 236.] This part of the “Miracula” was composed, according to Borderie, before 851; but even in the saint’s lifetime (sixth century) the “Miracula” places an attack by the “Normans” (cap. 2). It has been suggested [cf. Vogel, “Die Normannen und das Fränkische Reich,” 1896, p. 353] that this might refer to Saxon pirates; but doubtless incorrectly.

[220] Cf. Zeuss, 1837, pp. 477 f.; Müllenhoff, 1889, p. 19.

[221] What an enormous time such a development requires is demonstrated by the history of the rudder. The most ancient Egyptian boats were evidently steered by two big oars aft, one on each side. These oars were later, in Egyptian and Greek ships, transformed into two rudders or rudder oars, one on each side aft (see illustrations, pp. 7, 23, 35, 48). On the Viking ships we find only one of these rudders on the starboard side, but fixed exactly in the same way. Then at last, towards the end of the Middle Ages, the rudder was moved to the stern-post. But the rudder of the boats of Northern Norway has still a “styrvold” (instead of an ordinary tiller), which is a remnant of the rudder of the Viking ships.

[222] The types of Scandinavian craft it most reminds one of are the fjord and Nordland “jagt,” in western and northern Norway, and the “pram,” which is now in use in south-eastern Norway. It is conceivable that it represents an ancient boat type resembling the form of the “jagt.”

[223] Professor Gustafson informed me that in the summer of 1909 he saw in a megalithic grave in Ireland a representation of a ship, which might have some resemblance to a Scandinavian rock-carving; but he regarded this as very uncertain.

[224] Professor G. Gustafson has in recent years examined and figured many Norwegian rock-carvings for the University of Christiania. The illustration reproduced here (p. 237) is from a photograph which he has kindly communicated to me.

[225] The Viking ships had, however, only one rudder on the starboard side, while the ancient Egyptian, Phœnician and Greek ships had two rudders, one on each side.

[226] But “Viking” is also explained as derived from a Celtic word, and is said to mean warrior [cf. A. Bugge].

[227] Cf. P. A. Munch, i., 1852; Müllenhoff, ii., 1887, p. 66; iv., 1900, pp. 121, 467, 493, etc.; Much, 1905, pp. 124, 135; Magnus Olsen, 1905, p. 22; A. Bugge, 1906, p. 20.

[228] H. Koht [1908] has suggested the possibility that the name “Hålöiger” (Háleygir) from Hålogaland (Northern Norway) may be the same as the Vandal tribe Lugii, which about the year 100 inhabited the region between the upper course of the Elbe and Oder. With the prefix “há” they are distinguished as the high Lugii. Moltke Moe thinks that “Hallinger” or “Haddingjar” may come from another Vandal tribe, the “Hasdingi” (Gothic “Hazdiggôs”), which had its name from the Gothic “*hazds,” long hair [cf. Müllenhoff, iv., 1900, p. 487; Much, 1905, p. 127]. It may also be possible that the name of Skiringssal in Vestfold was connected with the Sciri in eastern Germany [cf. Munch, 1852].

[229] O. Irgens [1904] thinks the Norwegians may have had the compass very early (lodestone on a straw or a strip of wood floating on water in a bowl), perhaps even in the eleventh century; indeed, he considers it not impossible that the lodestone may have been brought to the North even much earlier than this by Arab traders. But the expression often used in the sagas that they drifted about the sea in thick and hazy weather (without seeing the heavenly bodies), and did not know where they were, seems to contradict this.

[230] O. Irgens [1904] has suggested the possibility that they might measure the length of the shadow of the gunwale by marks on the thwart, and determine when the boat lay on an even keel by a bowl of water, and that thus they might obtain a not untrustworthy measurement of the sun’s altitude even at sea. He further supposed that the Norwegians might have become acquainted with the hour-glass from Southern Europe or from the plundering of monasteries, and that thus they were able to measure the length of the day approximately at sea. But no statements are known that could prove this.

[231] Presuming that King Alfred’s “Iraland” is not an error for “Isaland” and does not mean Iceland (see p. 179).

[232] The priest Ari Thorgilsson, commonly called Ari hinn Fróði or Are Frode (i.e., the learned), lived from 1068 to 1148.

[233] G. Storm, “Monumenta Historica Norvegiæ,” 1880, pp. 8 f.

[234] R. Meissner [1902, pp. 43 f.] thinks it was written between 1260 and 1264.

[235] The original Landnámabók, which was the source of both Styrmir’s and Sturle’s versions, must have been written at the beginning of the thirteenth century.

[236] Cf. Vigfússon, 1856, i. p. 186; P. A. Munch, 1860; J. E. Sars, 1877, i. p. 213; A. Bugge 1905, pp. 377 ff. Finnur Jónsson, 1894, ii. p. 188, is against this view.

[237] Thus the Norsemen settled in Greenland are always described in the Icelandic sagas, while the Eskimo are called Skrælings.

[238] Opinions have been divided as to the origin of this name; but there can be no doubt that the word is Germanic, and is the same as the modern Norwegian word “skrælling,” which denotes a poor, weak, puny creature.

[239] This took place, according to Are Frode’s own statements, in the year 1000.

[240] It seems possible that this note may refer to an island which appeared in 1422 south-west of Reykjarnes, and later again disappeared [cf. Th. Thoroddsen, 1897, i. pp. 89 f.].

[241] See “Grönlands historiske Mindesmærker,” iii. p. 250; F. Jónsson, 1899, p. 322.

[242] Instead of the words “very slightly ...” some MSS. have: “but then steer south-west.”

[243] Both Snæbjörn and Rolf had to fly from Iceland for homicide. Rolf and Styrbjörn fell in blood-feud when they returned.

[244] Goe began about February 21. What is here related would thus show that it was not till after that time that mild weather began, so that the snow melted and there was water on the stick that stuck out through the aperture.

[245] It was, perhaps, not altogether by chance that Eric was supposed to have sailed west from this point, as Gunnbjörn’s brother, Grimkell, lived on the outer side of Snæfellsnes; and it may have been on a voyage thither that Gunnbjörn was thought to have been driven westward [cf. Reeves, 1895, p. 166].

[246] Snæfell lay far north on the west coast of Greenland. A Snæfell far north is also mentioned in connection with the Nordrsetu voyages (see later); it lay north of Króksfjardarheidr; but whether it is the same as that here mentioned is uncertain.

[247] In the Eastern Settlement there was a Ravnsfjord (Hrafnsfjörðr), which is probably the same as that intended here, as it is compared with Eiriksfjord.

[248] The above is for the most part a translation from Hauk’s Landnámabók.

[249] We know little of how the ancient Scandinavians were able to provide themselves on their long voyages with food that would keep; they used salt meat, and it is probable that when they were laid up for the winter they often died of scurvy, as indeed is indicated by the narratives. Meat and fish they could doubtless often obtain fresh by hunting and fishing; for grain products they were in a worse position; these can never have been abundant in Iceland, and they certainly had no opportunity of carrying a large provision with them; but as a rule they can scarcely have got on altogether without hydro-carbons, which are considered necessary for the healthy nourishment of a European. Milk may have afforded a sufficient compensation, and in fact we see that they usually took cattle with them. In the narrative of Ravna-Floki’s voyage to Iceland it is expressly said that the cattle died during the winter (see above, p. 257), and it must have been for this reason that they thought they must go home again the next summer, which shows how important it was. Probably Eric also took cattle with him on his first voyage to Greenland, and thus he was obliged before all to find a more permanent place of abode on the shores of the fjords where there was grazing for the cattle; but it is likely that he lived principally by sealing and fishing. In that case he must have been a very capable fisherman.

[250] Edda Snorra Sturlusonar, i. pp. 686, 688, Hafniæ, 1848.

[251] If the Gunnbjörnskerries lay on the east coast, then Gunnbjörn Ulfsson was the first to reach it; but, as has been pointed out above (p. 261), they are more likely to have been near Cape Farewell, assuming the voyage to be historical.

[252] This incident is obviously connected with Irish legends, with which that same saga shows other points of resemblance. We read in the Floamanna-saga [cf. “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” ii. p. 118]: “They were then much exhausted by thirst; but water was nowhere in the neighbourhood. Then said Starkad: I have heard it said that when their lives were at stake men have mingled sea-water and urine. They then took the baler, ... made this mixture, and asked Thorgils for leave to drink it. He said it might indeed be excused, but would not either forbid it or permit it. But as they were about to drink, Thorgils ordered them to give him the baler, saying that he wished to say a spell over their drink [or: speak over the bowl]. He received it and said: Thou most foul beast, that delayest our voyage, thou shalt not be the cause that I or others drink our own evacuation! At that moment a bird, resembling a young auk, flew away from the boat, screaming. Thorgils thereupon emptied the baler overboard. They then row on and see running water, and take of it what they want; and it was late in the day. This bird flew northwards from the boat. Thorgils said: Late has this bird left us, and I would that it may take all the devilry with it; but we must rejoice that it did not accomplish its desire.”

In Brandan’s first voyage, in the Irish tale, “Betha Brenainn,” etc., or “Imram Brenaind” (of about the twelfth century; cf. Zimmer, 1889, pp. 137, 319), the seafarers one day suffered such thirst that they were near to death. They then saw glorious jets of water falling from a cliff. His companions asked Brandan whether they might drink of the water. He advised them first to say a blessing over it; but when this was done, the jets stopped running, and they saw the devil, who was letting the water out of himself, and killing those who drank of it. The sea closed over the devil, in order that thenceforth he might do no more evil to any one. The similarities are striking: both are perishing of thirst and about to drink urine, the Icelanders their own, the Irish the devil’s. They ask their leaders—the Icelanders Thorgils, the Irish Brandan—whether they may drink it. In both cases the leaders require a prayer to be said over it. Thereupon in both cases they see the devil: the Icelanders in the form of a bird that screams and finally leaves them to trouble them no more, and the Irish in the form of the devil himself, who is passing water, and disappears into the sea to do no more evil. The Icelandic tale is to some extent disconnected and incomprehensible, but is explained by being compared with the Irish; one thus sees how there may originally have been a connection between the bird (the Evil One) and the drink, which is otherwise obscure. The Icelandic account may have arisen by a distortion and adaptation, due to oral transmission, of the Irish legend.

[253] Cf. “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” ii. p. 656.

[254] Cf. “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” ii. p. 662.

[255] Ibid. pp. 684 ff.

[256] According to the “Islandske Annaler” [pp. 121, 181, 477] it was in 1200, therefore eleven years later, not fourteen; it is there related merely that Ingimund the priest was found uncorrupted in the uninhabited region, but the other six are not mentioned.

[257] I.e., wax tablets to write on.

[258] The Arab Qazwînî (thirteenth century) tells a story, after Omar al ’Udhri (eleventh century), of a cave in the west where lie four dead men uncorrupted [cf. G. Jacob, 1892, p. 168].

[259] Cf. “Islandske Annaler,” edited by G. Storm, 1888, pp. 50, 70, 142, 196, 337, 383.

[260] Cf. G. Storm’s arguments to this effect, 1888a, pp. 263 ff.; 1887, pp. 71 f.

[261] It is true that in Bishop Gissur Einarsson’s (bishop from 1541 to 1548) copy-book there is an addition to the ancient sailing directions for Greenland that “experienced men have said that one must sail south-west to New Land (Nyaland) from the Krysuvik mountains” (on the Reykjanes peninsula) [see “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. p. 215; and G. Storm, “Hist. Tidskr.,” 1888, p. 264]; but it is impossible to attach much weight to a statement of direction in a tradition 260 years old; it may easily have been altered or “improved” by later misconceptions.

[262] “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. pp. 222-224.

[263] As we have said, they can scarcely have known anything of the coast to the north of this, which runs in a more northerly direction.

[264] Cf. G. Storm, 1891, p. 71; “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” i. p. 361.

[265] The mathematician and cosmographer Jacob Ziegler (ob. 1549) in his work “Scondia” (printed at Strasburg, 1536) placed the promontory of Hvítserk (“Hvetsarg promontorium”) in 67° N. lat. [cf. “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. pp. 500, 503]. This may be the usual confusion with Bláserk. It happens to be by no means ill suited to Ingolf’s Fjeld, which lies in 66° 25′ N. lat.

[266] In the Walkendorff additions to Ivar Bárdsson’s description of Greenland it is called Hvítserk, which may be a confusion with Bláserk; the passage continues: “And it is credibly reported that it is not thirty sea-leagues to land, in whichever direction one would go, whether to Greenland or to Iceland” [see “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. p. 491]. The distance here given is remarkably correct. In Björn Jónsson’s “Grönlands Annaler” (written before 1646) it is related that “Sira Einar Snorrason,” priest of Stadarstad, near Snæfellsnes (he became priest there in 1502), owned a large twelve-oared boat, which, with a cargo of dried cod, was carried away from Öndverdarnes (the western point of Snæfellsnes) “and drifted out to sea, so that they saw both the glaciers, as Gunnbjörn had done formerly, both Snæfells glacier and Bláserk in Greenland; they had thus come near to Eric’s course (‘Eiriksstefnu’)” [“Grönl. hist. Mind.,” i. p. 123]. Here, then, we have the same idea that both glaciers can be seen simultaneously, as is also found in Björn’s work with reference to Gunnbjörn Ulfsson’s voyage (see above, p. 263).

[267] Cf. “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” iii. p. 843. Captain Graah brought the stone to Denmark in 1824.

[268] In a paper read before the Archæological Society at Stockholm, March 13, 1905. Cf. “Svenska Dagbladet,” March 14, 1905. I owe this reference to Professor Magnus Olsen.

[269] Cf. A. Bugge, 1898, p. 506. By a printer’s error, seventeenth century is given instead of fourteenth.

[270] See also the 5th and 6th cantos of the same poem, “Grönl. hist. Mind.,” ii. pp. 522 ff., for the voyage to Greipar and its being the resort of outlaws.

[271] Captain Isachsen [1907] has attached much weight to this expression (which he translates from “Grönl. hist. Mind.” by “long and dangerous sea-route”; but the original is “mikit og lángt sjóleiði”) in order to prove that the Nordrsetur must lie far north. But it is seen from the text itself that this idea of a long sea voyage is taken from the Skáld-Helga lay (where also similar expressions are used), which is of late origin, and consequently an untrustworthy base for such conclusions. Moreover, according to the lay itself, Skald-Helge belonged probably to the Eastern Settlement, and thence to Holstensborg, 67° N. lat., was a long voyage.