A description of the Feroe Islands, containing an account of their situation, climate and productions; together with the manners, and customs, of the inhabitants, their trade, &c / By G. Landt. Translated from the Danish.

  • Jørgen Landt
Date:
1810
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A description of the Feroe Islands, containing an account of their situation, climate and productions; together with the manners, and customs, of the inhabitants, their trade, &c / By G. Landt. Translated from the Danish. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    to the Norwegian dominion by king Hagen Adelsteen, but they soon shook ofT that yoke, and maintained themselves in a state of freedom, till they were again reduced to obedience by king Magnus the Good; after which period these islands always belonged to Norway, till they became a part of Denmark by the union of the two crowns. . It is generally believed that the Norwegians who first established themselves in these islands gave them the name of Faaroe, from the number of sheep which they found in them ;* and that this name by a little change in the pronunciation was altered to Feroe. I should readily subscribe to this opinion, were it certain that the Norwe- gians employed the word faar to express a sheep. But the term Fero is derived, perhaps, from fier, feathers; an article which, in consequence of the great number of sea fowl caught in these islands, is very abundant; or from freer or freern, far distant: the last derivation is the more pro- bable, as the people in the north of Scotland give the name of Feroe to an island not far distant from these: and to distinguish it from the Feroe islands belonging to Denmark, they call the lat- ter North Feroe.y But these are merely con- * Faar, in Danish, signifies a sheep, and oe an island. T. t Called commonly Weir. Terfeus gives it the name of Foeroe. Barry's History of the Orkneys,
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