Faroese language

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Faroese (Føroyskt)

Spoken in

FaroeseFaroe Islands Faroe Islands , Denmark
DenmarkDenmark 
speaker 60,000 to 100,000 (native speakers)
Linguistic
classification
Official status
Official language in FaroeseFaroe Islands Faroe Islands
Other official status in DenmarkDenmark Denmark
Language codes
ISO 639 -1

fo

ISO 639 -2

fao

ISO 639-3

fao

Faroese [ fɛːʁø.ɪʃ ] (Faroese føroyskt [ føːɹɪst ], Danish færøsk ; derived from the German name Faroese next to [rarer] Faeroese ), together with the Icelandic island-Nordic languages as opposed to the Scandinavian languages Norwegian , Swedish and Danish . An older classification speaks of West North Germanic and places Faroese, Icelandic, West Norwegian dialects and the extinct Norn there . Faroese is spoken by at least 44,000 people in the Faroe Islands, which are politically part of Denmark and have extensive autonomy rights, as well as other Faroese abroad.

The total number of native speakers in the world is unclear. Older estimates range from 60,000 to 100,000, depending on how well the descendants of native speakers outside the Faroe Islands still have a command of the language. By far the largest number of Faroese-speaking people outside the Faroe Islands live in Denmark, especially in Copenhagen. In 2007 the North Atlantic Group determined in the Folketing for the first time the total number of Faroese of the first generation, i. H. with Faroese place of birth and residence in Denmark. 7737 people were found. However, since 2008 there has been a steady increase in the number of this group. At the end of 2013, according to Danmarks Statistics, a total of 11,696 people, 4877 men and 6819 women, lived in Denmark whose place of birth is in the Faroe Islands. It can be assumed that this group of people (the first generation) mastered the Faroese language as their mother tongue. In addition, there are people who were born in Denmark and grew up with Faroese-speaking parents or parents, the second generation and, in some cases, the third generation. More recent estimates even assume a total of 30,000 Faroers in Denmark, of which half, i.e. 15,000 people, live in the greater Copenhagen area. However, it is unclear here how many of them can still actively speak the language.

Faroese is one of the smaller Germanic languages ( Indo-European language family ).

Many books are published in the Faroese language. From 1822 to 2002 4,306 titles were published, with the year 2000 being the previous record with 170 titles (including 66 translations from other languages), one book title for around 325 inhabitants.

Not least because of its status as the official language in the Faroe Islands and the rich Faroese literature , it is no longer considered to be in danger of the dominance of Danish into the 20th century.

The oldest text in Faroese, Seyðabrævið from the 14th century, is in the library of Lund University .

Mutual intelligibility of Faroese-Icelandic-Norwegian

The Faroese keyboard layout is almost identical to the Danish one, but has an additional ð .
Móðurmálið ("The mother tongue") by Janus Kamban 1948, is a memorial in Tórshavn for the introduction of the Faroese written language by VU Hammershaimb .

Faroese and Icelandic are mutually in the written language course. Both modern forms of language are grammatically close to Old West Norse . The mutual intelligibility of the spoken languages ​​Faroese and Icelandic is limited. Hammershaimb (1891) speaks of mutual intelligibility between Faroese and Western Norwegian dialects, with which it shows greater similarities in vocabulary. How far this is still the case today is questionable, because bilingualism also plays an important role for the Faroese, they learn Danish to an almost native level and can therefore understand Norwegian well.

The Nordic dialect continuum is now only accepted for the mainland Scandinavian dialects in Norway, Sweden and Denmark, but the Faroese written language should appear relatively easy to understand for many Norwegians.

The old colonial language Danish, on the other hand, is mutually understandable with Faroese, neither in writing nor pronunciation, although it comes from the common Ur-Norse predecessor language. Without any knowledge of Faroese, Danes can usually only decipher part of the written text and can only guess at individual words of the spoken language. Faroese, on the other hand, learn Danish in school from the 3rd grade and often master it (in the written language) at a native level. The Faroese accent - called gøtudanskt - can usually be heard.

Although Icelandic and Faroese are the closest to Old West Norse phonologically and grammatically of any Scandinavian language , Icelanders and Faroese alike need to practice to understand it. In general, it can be said that Faroese has moved further away from its origins than Icelandic. This is particularly evident in the inflection of nouns and verbs, which are simpler than in Old Norse, but far more complex than in Danish.

Dialects

The main isoglosses and dialects of the Faroe Islands. The isogloss marked in red divides Faroese into a north and a south dialect and is considered the main isogloss. The main dialects are colored flat:
  • North Island dialect
  • Tórshavn dialect
  • South Island dialect
  • Despite the relatively small population and area of ​​the Faroe Islands, there are large dialect differences due to the geographical situation (in contrast to the much more extensive Iceland). The most important isogloss runs along the Skopunarfjørður as a waterway between Sandoy and Streymoy (marked in red on the picture: "short ó"). It divides Faroese into the main groups:

    • Norddialekt (Nordfjordsdialekt)
    • Süddialekt (Südfjordsdialect)

    The separation of the two main dialects took place in the 15th century. Typical features are:

    Main dialects since the 15th century
    Old Norse Faroese
      North south
    O [ɛu] [ɔu]
    egg [ɔi] [ai]
    æ [ɛː] -> [ɛa] [eː]

    The dialect group nordfjord is divided into:

    These can also be summarized in two groups: Tórshavn-Vágar and Eysturoy-North Islands (separated by the green isogloss on the picture).

    The dialect group Südfjord breaks down into:

    The dialects of Vágar or Tórshavn are considered "standard language". Speakers of both the North Island and the Suðuroy dialect can be most clearly distinguished from it. It therefore makes sense to speak of three main groups:

    1. North Island Eysturoy dialect (colored blue on the map)
    2. Südfjordsdialect (red)
    3. Tórshavn-Südstreymoy-Vágar dialect (green)

    1. and 2. again form a group that can be clearly distinguished from 3.. The Skopunarfjørður therefore has a similar meaning for Faroese as the Benrath line has for German.

    Jens Christian Svabo already reported on these three main dialects in his foreword to the Dictionarium Færoense at the end of the 18th century . He saw the North Island dialect and the South Island dialect as the "purest" Faroese, while he described the Tórshavnerisch as "spoiled". The "corruption" of the Tórshavner dialect is believed to be due to the influence of the colonial language Danish.

    Even if there is still no standard pronunciation of Faroese, pronunciation information is based on the dialect of Tórshavn / Südstreymoy, which also has the highest number of speakers.

    history

    Spoken language Written language
    900-1400 Old West Norse (norrønt)
    1400-1600 Old Faroese (miðaldarføroyskt)
    1600-1770 Late Old Faroese or New Faroese (føroyskt) - (Danish)
    1770-1846 New Faroese (føroyskt) New Faroese phonetic transcription (Svabo)
    1846 – today Etymologizing spelling (Hammershaimb)

    Today's Faroese is outwardly similar in writing to Old Norse, but there were radical sound developments that divided the language area into two main varieties (north and south).

    Sound developments Old Norse → Faroese
    9th century
    (Old Norse)
    14th century
    (Early Faroese)
    16th century
    (Old Faroese)
    17th century
    (Late Old Faroese)
    20th century
    (New Faroese)
     
        North south North south North south  
        long long long short long short long short long short  
    i / i / / iː / / iː / / ɪ / / iː / / ɪ / [iː] [ɪ] [iː] [ɪ] i
    y / y / / iː / / iː / / ɪ / / iː / / ɪ / [iː] [ɪ] [iː] - y
    e / e / / eː / / eː / / ɛ / / e / / ɛ / [eː] [ɛ] [eː] [ɛ] e
    O /O/ /O/ /O/ /O/ / œ / /O/ / œ / [O] [œ] [O] [ʏ] O
    u / u / / uː / / uː / / ʊ / / uː / / ʊ / [uː] [ʊ] [uː] [ʊ] u
    O /O/ /O/ /O/ /O/ / ɔ / /O/ / ɔ / [O] [ɔ] [O] [ɔ] O
    ǫ / ɔ / /O/ /O/ / œ / /O/ / œ / [O] [œ] [O] [ʏ] O
    a / a / / ɛː / / ɛː / / ɛ / / ɛː / / ɛ / [ɛa] [a] [ɛa] [a] a
    Long vowel -> diphthong
    í / iː / / ʊɪ / / ʊɪ / / ʊɪ̯ / / ʊɪ / / ʊɪ̯ / [ui] [ʊɪ̯] [ui] [ʊɪ̯] í
    ý / yː / / ʊɪ / / ʊɪ / / ʊɪ̯ / / ʊɪ / / ʊɪ̯ / [ui] [ʊɪ̯] [ui] [ʊɪ̯] ý
    æ / ɛː / / ɛː / / eː / / ɛː / / ɛ / / eː / / ɛ / [ɛa] [a] [eː] [ɛ] æ
    ǿ /O/ /O/ /O/ / œ / /O/ / œ / [O] [œ] [O] [ʏ] O
    ú / uː / / ʉu / / ʉu / / ʉʏ / / ʉu / / ʉʏ̯ / [ʉu] [ʏ] [ʉu] [ʏ] ú
    O /O/ / ɔu / / ɛu / / ɜ / / ɔu / / ɔ / [ɛu] [ɜ] [ɔu] [ɔ] O
    ǭ and á / aː / / aː / / ɔː / / ɔ / / ɔː / / ɔ / [ɔa] [ɔ] [ɔa] [ɔ] á
    Real diphthongs
    ouch / au / / ɛɪ / / ɛɪ / / ɛɪ̯ / / ɛɪ / / ɛɪ̯ / [ɛi] [ɛ] [ɛi] [ɛ] ey
    øy / øʏ / / ɔɪ / / ɔɪ / / ɔɪ̯ / / ɔɪ / / ɔɪ̯ / [ɔi] [ɔ] [ɔi] [ɔ] oy
    egg / ɛi / / aɪ / / aɪ / / aɪ̯ / / aɪ / / aɪ̯ / [ɔi] [ɔ] [ai] [aɪ̯] egg

    Old West Norse

    The Sandavágsstein from the 12th century attests to: Þorkell Önondarsonr, austmaðr af Rogalandi, bygði þenna stað fyrst. ("Torkil Önundarson, Ostmann from Rogaland, lived in this place first.")
    The sheep letter from 1298 is the oldest Old Norse document in the library of Lund University in Sweden. At the same time it is the oldest document in the Faroe Islands. This is where the first Faroese deviations from Old Norse appear.
    The Faroese chain dance preserved the tens of thousands of verses of the old Faroese dance ballads and through this oral tradition ultimately the Faroese language until it was finally recorded by Jens Christian Svabo at the end of the 18th century .

    The Altwestnordische (Old Norse) came in the 9th century in the Viking Age to the Faroe Islands . Most of the settlers came from southwestern Norway . Remnants of Gaelic language show that some of the Nordic immigrants came via the British Isles.

    By the Christianization of the Faroe Islands by 1000 the islands fell to Norway, which further solidified the linguistic influence. The sound level, mold construction, vocabulary and sentence formation of Norwegian can also be found in Faroese.

    The oldest known rune stone found in the Faroe Islands is the Kirkjubø stone from around 1000. The Sandavágs stone dates from the 12th century and the Fámjins stone from the 16th century. The latter documents the (partial) use of runic script until the time after the Reformation.

    Until the 13th century, the West Norse language in the Faroe Islands hardly differed from the language forms in Iceland and Norway.

    The first Faroese document in Latin script is the sheep letter ("Seyðabrævið") from 1289. Here, there are already isolated deviations from Norwegian (Old Norse), e.g. B. girða instead of gærda ("to fence in").

    The Black Death around 1350 halved the Faroese population , so that new immigrants came from Norway and the Þ sound gradually disappeared, as it still appeared in the Húsavík letters.

    In 1380, the Faroe Islands, together with Iceland, came under the Danish-Norwegian personal union and thus in fact came under Danish rule, although the North Atlantic islands were regarded as Norwegian colonies.

    Old Faroese

    It was not until the 15th century that an independent Faroese variety of the Nordic language emerged, Old Faroese as opposed to Old Norse, Icelandic or Norwegian. In the Faroese standard textbook Mállæra 1997, this language level is also called "Middle Ages Faroese " (miðaldarføroyskt) .

    The Húsavík letters ("Húsavíkarbrøvini"), which date from 1403 to 1405, are linguistically decisive . On the basis of spelling errors in Old Norse, it can be demonstrated to what extent the Faroese pronunciation differed from it. In one place there is hrentadi instead of the correct rentaði (“ rentierte ”), which, according to Jakobsen and Matras, is an indication that in Faroese there was no / h / before / r /, whereby the insecure writer put it before a word placed where it shouldn't have belonged in Old Norse. Another example is huast instead of kvask ("said it yourself"). Here / kv / would be the etymologically correct pronunciation, but since / hv / became / kv / in Faroese, the writer could no longer differentiate here either.

    Example with the spelling mistake "hrentadi". What is striking is the great similarity between the Old Norse / Old Faroese text and today's grammar:

    • Old Faroese: en so mykid j Hiatlande ad segs skillingar ok xl hrentadi leigan a huerium tolf manadum ...
    • New Faroese : og so mikið í Hetlandi, at seks og fjøruti skillingar rentaði leigan á hvørjum tólf mánaðum ...
    • Translation: "and so much in Shetland that forty-six shillings interest accrued on the loan every twelve months ..."

    Older New Faroese

    The Reformation in the Faroe Islands in 1538 meant that Danish became the only written language and finally prevailed. From around 1600 people speak of the New Faroese language , which is divided into three main dialects. The period up to 1750 is also known as the older New Faroese .

    After the Reformation, Faroese shared a fate similar to that of Norwegian: Danish as a church language, legal language and language of instruction, Danish textbooks and Danish entertainment literature. The Icelanders, on the other hand, watched over their old language and continued to develop it on the basis of Old Norse during this time (until today). Icelandic continued to exist as a literary language and could unite the whole people under one standard language, while Faroese and Norwegian split into many dialects.

    A Faroese written language no longer existed after the Reformation. But - unlike in Norway - it was able to survive in the old ballads and the everyday language spoken everywhere. Until the end of the 18th century, only sporadic written documents were available. For example, there is a document from 1532 containing a collection of Norwegian legal texts and belonging to Jógvan Heinason (1541–1602).

    Most of the documents relating to the Faroe Islands were written in Danish after the Reformation, but there are also individual Faroese words, especially place names and personal names. The most important sources for this are the jarðabøkur ( land registers preserved since 1584) and tingbøkur (court records preserved since 1615). Here z. B. prove that the Ð sound was no longer pronounced.

    In the first book on the Faroe Islands, Færoæ & Færoa Reserata , Lucas Debes wrote in 1673:

    “Your language is Norwegian; but anitzo they mostly speak Danish. However, you have retained many old Norwegian words, and you can find a big difference in their pronunciation between those living on the northern islands and those living on the southern islands. "

    - Lucas Debes : Færoæ & Færoa Reserata 1673 (Natural and Political History of the Faroe Islands, 1757)

    In other words, in Debes' time the Faroese language was often still felt to be a kind of Norwegian. Hammershaimb shows in his Færøsk Anthologi 1891 that Debes quotes a celebratory speech in which, despite the Danish style, Old Norse expressions are recognizable. Debes also uses typical Faroese terms elsewhere in his travelogue.

    In the old dance ballads, some outdated words and inflections survived, but it is usually impossible to determine the time. These words and forms are recorded in today's Føroysk orðabók and marked accordingly, which makes the old ballad material easier to understand.

    The first written fragments of Faroese ballads can be found in 1639 by the Danish archaeologist Ole Worm .

    Phonetic writing of New Faroese

    Svabo

    The first pioneer of written Faroese was the scholar Jens Christian Svabo (1746–1824). As part of his Indberetninger fra en Reise i Færø 1781–82 , he collected old Faroese ballads and was the first to write them down. However, they were not printed until long after his death. Svabo's orthography was based on the dialect of Vágar , but tried to standardize it. His Dictionarium Færoense (around 1773) is the first Faroese dictionary. It exists in seven well-known manuscripts and was published in 1966. It is a Faroese-Danish-Latin dictionary. Svabo wrote the dictionary on the assumption that Faroese would become extinct but should still be documented for posterity.

    An example of Svabo's sound-related and remarkably consistent spelling:

    Svabo IPA phonetic transcription Modern Faroese translation
    Aarla vear um Morgunin
    Seulin roär uj Fjødl
    Tajr seuü ajn so miklan man
    rujä eav Garsiä Hødl.
    ɔaɹla vɛaɹ ʊm mɔɹgunɪn
    sɔulɪn ɹoːaɹ ʊi fjœdl
    taiɹ sɔuwʊ ain so miːklan manː
    ɹʊija ɛav garsia hœdl
    Árla var um morgunin
    sólin roðar í
    fjøll teir sóu such a miklan man
    ríða av Garsia høll
    It was early in the morning
    the sun was reddening the mountains and
    they saw a great man
    ride from Garsia's palace.

    Svabo's spelling of the Vágar dialect at the end of the 18th century shows that Faroese has hardly changed in pronunciation since then. The fact that he writes / ó / as / eu / reflects the dialectal pronunciation north of the Suðuroy-Tórshavn line (purple isogloss on the map above) as [œu] instead of [ɔu].

    Schrøter's Sigurdlieder

    The first printed book in Faroese bears the Danish title Færøiske Qvæder om Sigurd Fofnersbane og hans Æt and was written in 1822 by the Danish pastor Hans Christian Lyngbye (1782-1837), documented the Sigurdlieder , which was written by his Faroese colleague Johan Henrik Schrøter (1771-1851 ) were collected.

    An example of Schrøter's orthography in the 1822 book, which is very similar to Svabo's. Here, too, the spelling is much closer to the actual (standard) pronunciation than today's orthography:

    Schrøter IPA phonetic transcription Modern Faroese translation
    Brinild situr uj gjiltan Stouli,
    Teâ hit veâna Vujv,
    Drevur hoon Sjúra eâv Nordlondun
    Uj Hildarhaj tiil sujn.
    bɹiːn (h) ɪld siːtʊɹ ʊi ʤɪltʊn stɔulɪ
    tɛa hɪtː vɛana vʊiv
    dɹevʊɹ hoːn ʃʉuɹa ɛav noːɹlɔndʊn
    ʊi hɪldaɹhai tiːl sʊin
    Brynhild situr í gyltum stóli,
    tað hitt væna vív,
    dregur hon Sjúrða av Norðlondum
    í Hildarheið til sín.
    Brunhild is sitting on a golden chair,
    the beautiful woman
    draws Sigurd from the north to
    come to Hildes Heide.

    Jóannes í Krókis Sandoyarbók

    Another pioneer of those years was Jóannes í Króki (Johannes Clemensen or Klemensen, 1794–1869), who also collected Faroese ballads in the well-known Sandoyarbók (1821–1831). With 93 Faroese ballads, it is the most extensive work of its kind that has ever been compiled by an individual. Its spelling reflected the dialect of Sandoy . Its orthography also shows remarkable similarities with today's pronunciation. However, it is not a phonetic transcription in the sense of Svabo's orthography.

    Jóannes í Króki IPA phonetic transcription Modern Faroese translation
    Gjevi liou u lujie aa
    meni e man kvøa
    Bondin fist uj hajmi bigdi
    har um viil e røa.
    ʤeːvɪ ljɔu ɔ lʊijɪ ɔa
    meːnɪ eː man kvøːa
    bœndɪn fɪst ʊi haimɪ bɪgdɪ
    haɹ ʊm viːl eː ɹøːa
    Gevið ljóð og lýðið á
    meðni eg man kvøða:
    Bóndin fyrst í heimi bygdi
    har um vil eg røða.
    Be quiet and listen
    while I tell
    the farmer only home lived
    I want to talk about it.

    Schrøter's Gospel of Matthew

    Johan Henrik Schrøter also got the first translation of the Gospel of Matthew ( Evangelium Sankta Matthæussa aa Førisk o Dansk 1823) from Danish.

    Although the book found its way into each of the 1200 or so Faroese households, it did not gain acceptance in the church, where Danish was still preached. At that time the majority of the people believed that the word of God and the Danish language belong together. There were also complaints about certain word forms. Søren Sørensen, a pastor from the North Islands, even added a translation of a short passage into the North Island dialect in a letter to the Danish Bible Society to illustrate this.

    Schrøter wrote the Gospel of Matthew in the Suðuroy dialect . Essentially, Schrøter used the same orthography as in the previous Sigurd songs. However, he weakened the consonants / p, t, k / after long vowels to / b, d, g /, as is typical of the South Island dialect , for example leiba instead of leypa (“to run”), foudur instead of fótur (“foot “) And ruigje [ ɹʊiʤɪ ] instead of ríki [ ɹʊiʧɪ ] (“ empire ”).

    Schrøter's Faroese saga

    The compilation of the Färingersaga (Færeyínga saga eller Færøboernes Historie) from old Icelandic sources by the Danish antiquarian Carl Christian Rafn (1795–1864) was another milestone. When it was published in 1833, a Faroese translation was included, which also came from Schrøter, but this time it was written in the dialect of Südstreymoy . Schrøter got help from his compatriots Jákup Nolsøe (1775–1869) and Jens Davidson (1803–1878), who were students of Svabo. Incidentally, Nolsøe was the first Faroese to prefer an etymological spelling based on Old Norse. He also wrote the first Faroese grammar in 1829, but it was never published.

    In the Faroese saga, the influence of the Danish philologist Rasmus Rask (1787–1832) made itself felt, who was able to move Schrøter to an improved orthography. Apparently Rask had been consulted by Rafn, presumably to avoid the criticism that Schrøter's Gospel of Matthew had previously received and to achieve a certain standardization of Faroese.

    Adjusted for some inconsistencies, the vowel signs in the first New Faroese scriptures look like this:

    today IPA Svabo Schrøter I í Króki Schrøter / Rask
    a, æ [ ɛaː ] ea eâ, ea ea, aa, a Ä
    á [ ɔa ] aa aa, aaa aa, a å
    e [ ] ee, e ee, e e e, è
    i, y [ ] ii, i ii ii, iij i, ì
    í, ý [ ʊi ] uj uj uj uj
    O [ ] oo, o oo, o oo o, ò
    O [ ɔu ] eu ou ou ow
    u [ ] u u u u
    ú [ ʉu ] û û, u uu, u ú
    O [ øː ] øø, ø ö O O
    egg [ ai ] aj aj, ai aj, ai aj
    ey [ ɛi ] ej ej, ei ej, ei ej
    oy [ ɔi ] oj oj, oi, öj oj, oi oj

    Standardization of the New Faroese orthography

    NM Petersen's etymologizing approach

    The Danish Scandinavian Niels Matthias Petersen (1791-1862) polemicized against the phonetic orthography in 1845 in the article Det færøske Sprog , which appeared in Færdrelandet . He argued that so far there can be no question of a Faroese written language, as all material published so far only ever reproduced a certain dialect. A written language must, however, be "the dialectal harmony, based on the simple, noble and original form of the language". At the same time, he considered the previous attempts at orthography to be ugly, especially with regard to the spelling of the vowels. In addition, he lacked consonants as “pillars” of language. As an example, he named from Schröter's Färinger saga : E haldi t råvuliast , which has no meaning for him from the point of view of Scandinavian studies, but has to be written eg haldi täd råduligast so that the reader can even recognize the words. Today's spelling is similar: eg haldi tað ráðuligast (“I think that's the most advisable”) and is pronounced [ eː haldɪ tɛa rɔavʊlijast ], something like Schrøter wrote.

    Petersen's approach was similar to that of Svabo, namely "to save from ruin what can still be saved from the Old Faroese and give it to the world in a form that is accommodating and understandable". But his method was different because Petersen was not interested in spoken Faroese, which would only be of interest to linguists. Petersen's criticism turned out to be groundbreaking for the further development that was close to his heart: "In other words: A Faroese written language must be created!"

    We owe Petersen the demand that Faroese should be based on the Icelandic written language and be readable for everyone who understands Icelandic or Old Norse. Even if that meant that the Faroese would first have to learn to read their own language, the situation in Denmark is no different, where one cannot easily infer the written language from any spoken dialect.

    VU Hammershaimb (1819–1909) and Svend Grundtvig (1824–1883) actually wanted to write a replica, and Schrøter did the same in Berlingske Tidende , but the Norwegian historian Peter Andreas Munch (1810–1863, uncle of Edvard Munch) Petersens Argued in an article about a future Norwegian written language, Hammershaimb and Grundtvig decided not to.

    In the summer of 1845, the Danish governor of the Faroe Islands, Christian Pløyen (1803–1867), sent the spells that the teacher Ole Jespersen had collected to CC Rafn. They were written according to Svabo's orthography. In addition to the original Faroese text, he provided a Danish translation, which Schrøter and Jens Davidsen probably helped him with. Rafn did not consider this spelling to be suitable for publication, and commissioned the Icelandic philologist and nationalist Jón Sigurðsson (1811–1879) with a revision, an "Icelandification". He sent the result to NM Petersen with a request for comments. When Rafn had Petersen's comments, the whole thing was sent to Hammershaimb, because Petersen said the final decision would have to be made by a Faroese.

    Hammershaimb's standard spelling

    VU Hammershaimb (1819–1909) pursued the morphophonemic concept in the creation of the New Faroese written language, which in its version from 1891 is valid almost unchanged.
    Hammershaimb's young colleague Jakob Jakobsen (1864–1918) wanted a phonetic orthography, then accepted a mediation proposal (Broyting change) by the “Faroese Society”, which was not generally implemented.
    Volume 2 of the Færøsk Anthologi from 1891 contains a glossary of 10,000 Faroese-Danish headwords with pronunciation information obtained from Jakob Jakobsen (1864–1918). The current unchanged edition is from 1991 and is still unique as a Faroese pronunciation dictionary.

    VU Hammershaimb (1819–1909) is considered to be the real father of the modern Faroese written language. At first he was, like Svabo and Schrøter, a fan of a phonetic spelling. It was only through Petersen's and Sigurðsson's influence that there was a rethink here.

    In 1844 he wrote an article in the Danish newspaper Københavnsposten , where he criticized a government proposal on the school system in the Faroe Islands, in which Faroese was called a "dialect". Hammershaimb cited the old ballads and Schrøter's translation of the Faroese saga as evidence that Faroese is a single language that "has retained characteristics of Old Norse".

    In 1845 Svend Grundtvig (1824–1883) jumped at his side with the polemic Dansken paa Færøerne, et Sidestykke til Tysken i Slesvig . He argued that the relationship between Faroese and Danish was comparable to that between Danish and German in the Duchy of Schleswig , where the Danes were fighting for the right to their language. Grundtvig called on the government to recognize Faroese as the national language and to introduce it accordingly in schools, churches, etc.

    In 1846 Hammershaimb's first folk tales appeared in Rafn's scientific journal Annaler for nordisk Oldkyndighed together with the above. Spells and some pronunciation comments.

    The original manuscript from 1845 was based on the last version of Schrøter's orthography:

    Hammershaimb 1845 Modern Faroese translation
    Sjódrejil hèvur fólkaskäpilsi, stendur å skjèrun ettir sólasèting og bìjur útirórabåtnanar lòva sär vi; fiskar väl, men vegrast burtur tåi sól rùvar y hävi, tekur til at minka jú meiri lyjur ymoti dèji; ty sìist: "minkar sum sjódrèjil". Sjódregil hevur fólkaskapilsi, stendur á skerum eftir sólarseting og biður útiróðrarbátarnar lova sær við; fiskar væl, men veðrast burtur tá ið sól roðar í havi, tekur til at minka jú meiri liður ímóti degi; tí sigist: "minkar sum sjódregil". The Sjódregil is human, stands on the archipelago after sunset and asks the fishing boats to come along; fishes well, but gradually disappears when the sun rises over the sea, getting smaller the more day it gets; hence it is said: “Shrink like a Sjódregil”.

    Matches are for example:

    • the long / e / is a "è"
    • the long / o / a "ò"
    • the long / a / a "ä"
    • the old / á / is a "å"
    • the dative ending is written "-un"

    However, innovations are:

    • the old Norse / ó / is written again "ó" instead of "ou" or "ow"
    • the old Norse / í / is now represented by "y" and no longer by "uj"

    What went to press in 1846 looked like this after the influence of Sigurðsson and Petersen:

    Hammershaimb 1846 Hammershaimb 1891 Translation (1846)
    Norðan firi bigdina Eiði í Esturoi standa framman firi landi tveir stórir drengar sum líkjast manni og konu. Um hesar drengarnar gengur sögnin í Førjun: at ausinni atlaði Ísland at flita Føroiar norður til sín, and sendi tí a stóran risa við konu síni eftir teimun. Tey bæði komu àt tí itsta berginun àf Esturoi, sum er nevnt Eiðis kolli, og liggut longst ímóti útnorðingi. Norðan fyri bygðina á Eiði, ytst á flógvanum, sum er millum Eysturoyar og Streymoyar, standa framman fyri landi tveir stórir drangar, sum kallast Risi og Kelling, hin ytri og hon innariy landinum, og har er rillum iund ð sundá . To hesar drangarnar he sögnin, at einusinni ætlaði Ísland at flytja Føroyar norður til sín and sendi tí a stóran risa and konu hansara at fáa tær fluttar har norður. Tey komu bæði at tí ytsta berginum, sum kallast Eiðiskollur og longst móti útnyrðingi. North of the village of Eiði on Eysturoy, there are two large cliffs in front of the coast that resemble man and woman. The following legend goes about these cliffs in the Faroe Islands: that one day Iceland planned to move the Faroe Islands to the north and therefore sent a large giant with his wife there. The two came to the outermost mountain of Eysturoy, called Eiðiskollur, which is furthest to the northwest. ( for the further content of the legend see: Risin and Kellingin )

    This laid the foundation for today's Faroese written language. Only little things were changed:

    • In 1891, Old Norse / y / was used again where it belonged etymologically, although the pronunciation is identical to Faroese / i /. The same procedure is used with / ý /, which is otherwise spoken like / í /.
    • The dative ending "-um" is again written as in Old Norse, although it is always spoken "-un".
    • Long and short variants of vowels are always represented in the same way: a t , m a nni instead of à t , m a nni ; b æ ði , æ tlaði instead of b æ ði , a tlaði ; t ey , ey sturoy instead of t ey , E sturoy .

    In 1854 Hammershaimbs Færøsk sproglære (Faroese Linguistics) also appeared in this magazine.

    He writes about this:

    “When I was asked [...] to write a Faroese language lesson, I felt very embarrassed because none of the dialects used seemed suitable to be used as a common written language and means of communication for all islands. [...] I decided on the etymologizing spelling, as it seemed to me to offer the greatest advantages for the language, provided that it should have something future ahead of it: Not only that Faroese texts are easier to read for strangers and look neater , but also that the Faroese get closer to the related languages ​​Icelandic and Danish, could more easily acquire their similarities instead of isolating themselves by expressing the often difficult pronunciation in the written language. "

    - VU Hammershaimb : Færøsk Anthologi , 1891

    As an example, Hammershaimb cites the Old Norse letter ó, which was written in the various dialects as ou or ow (Suðuroy), eu or öv ( North Islands ), or shortly before two consonants ö (in the north before e or æ (see Faroese tightening )). He made a letter out of it and instead defined the special pronunciation rules for it. This made the Old Norse words easier to recognize in the typeface.

    In 1891 Hammershaimb's language teaching was completely revised in his Færøsk Anthologi and has lost little of its validity to this day. Hammershaimb's younger colleague Jakob Jakobsen made a significant contribution to this. His contribution to this standard work was not only the phonetically exact transcription and comparison of the dialects on the basis of detailed reading samples, but above all a dictionary of Faroese-Danish with 10,000 headwords and consistent pronunciation information. It forms the second volume of the anthology . Apart from the distinction between the letters ø and ö and the use of the x , it largely corresponds to today's spelling.

    Jakobsen was also the first Faroese scholar who created new terms and thus expanded Faroese into a modern educational language. His reformed, near-sound Broyting spelling did not prevail, however, which is why Faroese is still very similar to the Icelandic and Old Norse script today. An example is the letter ð , which is silent or a sliding vowel in Faroese and therefore repeatedly leads to spelling errors.

    Hammershaimb's friend Svend Grundtvig traveled to the Faroe Islands with Jørgen Bloch to help collect many ancient linguistic monuments. Grundtvig and Bloch consequently used Hammershaimb's orthography in his collection Føroyja kvæði . They also wrote the dictionary Lexicon Færoense (1887–1888), which remained unpublished, but formed the basis for all other Faroese dictionaries. It has 15,000 headwords and rendered & a. Svabos Dictionarium Færoense into normal spelling.

    It was Hammershaimb's merit to have cast the Faroese language in a written form that does not favor any of the Faroese dialects and at the same time guarantees the highest level of legibility for those familiar with Old Norse - but at the expense of proximity to pronunciation.

    Development to the national language

    Christian Matras (1900–1988) was the first professor of Faroese and not only an important linguist and lexicographer, but also a poet.

    At the Christmas meeting of the Faroe Islands in 1888, New Faroese was proclaimed as the future main language by the emerging national movement. But it was not until the independence party Sjálvstýrisflokkurin was founded in 1906 that the written Faroese appeared as a “serious competitor” of Danish.

    The Faroese language dispute in the first half of the 20th century was a particularly clear expression of the culture war for one's own national language. The protagonists were educators such as Símun av Skarði (1872–1942), Jákup Dahl (1878–1944) and AC Evensen (1874–1917). The first grammar, the Føroysk Mállæra, comes from Dahl . His friend AC Evensen could not complete the work on Føroysk orðabók ("Faroese Dictionary"), so it only covers A – F.

    In 1927–1928 the first “correct” Faroese dictionary was published by Christian Matras (1900–1988) and Mads Andreas Jacobsen (1891–1944). It was the Føroysk-donsk orðabók a Faroese-Danish dictionary, which appeared in a revised edition in 1961 and is authoritative to this day (2007) with a supplementary volume.

    Faroese was only recognized as a school language in 1937, as a church language in 1938, and since the Faroe Islands' autonomy in 1948 it has been the main language (høvuðsmál) on the archipelago.

    In 1961 Jákup Dahl published the first official Faroese Bible (there was already a Baptist edition before that); but Faroese had already been preached from the pulpit beforehand.

    The establishment of the University of the Faroe Islands in 1965 underscored the claim to establish Faroese as a scientific language. Christian Matras was the first professor of Faroese. He was responsible for the publication of the Faroese ballads ( Føroya kvæði: corpus carminum Færoensium in 7 volumes 1941-96) as the most important national language monument. With the Føroyamálsdeildin there is also the only Faroistik institute worldwide.

    It was not until 1998 that the Faroese got their first native language dictionary, the Føroysk orðabók by Jóhan Hendrik Winther Poulsen (* 1934) and others. Poulsen shaped today's Faroese language policy , which is based on Icelandic in its purism (avoidance of foreign words). This ensures that Faroese still has a rather peculiar Nordic vocabulary today. For example, a helikoptari became a tyrla , and a komputari is now only called telda .

    Danish is the official second language in the Faroe Islands, but in the 21st century it is increasingly losing its practical importance compared to English as a business language. For example, the website and letterhead of the Provincial Government of the Faroe Islands are only in Faroese and English, not Danish, while Faroese legal texts still need to be translated into Danish.

    Most of the signs in the Faroe Islands today are monolingual in Faroese. English is generally used where bilingualism seems necessary. Danish signs can only be seen on Danish facilities.

    Foreign influences

    Genetic research has shown that 80% of Faroese male genes are of Scandinavian (Norwegian) origin and 20% of British origin. This ratio is exactly the opposite for women. 90% of their genes come from the Celts and only 10% from the Vikings. This can be explained by the fact that the Vikings had Celt women as women and slaves. It has not been conclusively clarified whether they had a direct linguistic influence. But there are some typical Celtic words in Faroese, such as dunna (“duck”), drunnur (“trunk” for sheep and cattle), korki (a lichen dominating the Faroe Islands, from which a purple dye and litmus is made) and place names like Dímun . Phrases like tað er ótti á mær (“I'm afraid”, literally “there is fear on me”) have a Celtic, but not a Scandinavian equivalent.

    Due to the Danish colonial language, especially since the Reformation, many Danish or actually Low German loan words found their way into Faroese. This can still be found today more in spoken than in written language.

    There are also characteristic old English loan words, such as trupulleiki (<trouble) "problem" and fittur (<fit) "fit; nice, sweet; pretty much or good ”. Although today's Faroese language policy is very puristic, Anglicisms repeatedly invade Faroese, especially the spoken language.

    The Faroese alphabet and phoneme inventory

    alphabet

    The Faroese alphabet has 29 letters, which can sound like this:

    grapheme Surname phoneme Pronunciation (long, short)
    A , a fyrra a [ˈfɪɹːa ˈɛaː] ("front a") / a, æ / [ɛaː], (In foreign words also: [aː]), [a]
    Á , á á [ɔaː] / å / [ɔaː], [ɔ]
    B , b be [beː] / b / [b], [b̥] (voiceless)
    D , d de [deː] / d / [d], [d̥] (voiceless)
    Ð , ð edd [ɛdː] (no) silent or sliding vowel [j], [v], [w] between certain vowels; realized at ðr as [gɹ].
    E , e e [eː] / e / [eː], [ɛ]
    F , f eff [efː] / f / [f], -ft- usually becomes [tː]
    G , g ge [geː] /G/ [g], [g̊]; initially before i, y, e, ø and before all other vowels as gj-: [ʤ̥]; between vowels like ð, i.e. silent to sliding
    H , h [hɔa] /H/ [h], in the combination hj [ʧ] and as hv [kʰv]
    I , i fyrra i [ˈfɪɹːa ˈiː] ("front i") / i / [iː], [ɪ]
    Í , í fyrra í [ˈfɪɹːa ˈʊi] ("front í") / ui / [ʊiː], [ʊi], in the tightening [ɪ]
    J , j jodd [jɔdː] / y / [j], gj form a [ʤ̥], kj and hj form a [ʧ] and sj form a [ʃ]
    K , k [kɔa] / k / [k], [kʰ] aspirated, [ʰk] pre-aspirated, before light vowels mostly [ʧ] (before all other vowels kj is realized as [ʧ]).
    L , l ell [ɛlː] / l / [l], [l̥] [ɭ] ˌ [ʎ], [ʎ̥], as ll mostly [d̥l] between two vowels and at the end of a word.
    M , m emm [ɛmː] / m / [m], [m̥] (voiceless). In the dative ending -um always [ʊn], before k as [ŋ̊], and before n as [u].
    N , n enn [ɛnː] / n / [n], [n̥] (voiceless), nn becomes [d̥n] according to diphthongs.
    O , o o [oː] /O/ [oː], [ɔ]
    Ó , ó ó [ɔuː] / ou / [ɔuː], [œ]; on Nólsoy [auː]; in the tightening [ɛ] on Suðuroy but then [ɔ]
    P , p pe [peː] / p / [p], [pʰ] aspirated, [ʰp] pre-aspirated
    R , r err [ɛɹː] / r / [ɹ], [ɹ̥] (tendency towards British r), rn usually becomes [dn], rs to [ɻ̊ʂ], rt to [ɻ̊t], rd to [ɻɖ̥]
    S , s ess [ɛsː] / s / [s] always voiceless, together as sj [ʃ], often also as sk (j)
    T , t te [teː] / t / [t], [tʰ] aspirated, [ʰt] pre-aspirated, together as tj [ʧ]
    U , u u [uː] / u / [uː], [ʊ]
    Ú , ú ú [ʉuː] / uu / [ʉuː], [ʏ], in the tightening [ɪ]
    V , v ve [veː] / v / [v]
    Y , y seinna i [ˈsaiːdna ˈiː] ("rear i") / i, y / [iː], [ɪ]; in foreign words also: [yː], [ʏ]
    Ý , ý seinna í [ˈsaiːdna ˈʊiː] ("back í") / ui / (identical to í) identical to í: [ʊiː], [ʊi]
    Æ , æ seinna a [ˈsaiːdna ˈɛaː] ("rear a") / æ / [ɛaː], [a]
    Ø , Ø ø [øː] /O/ [øː], [œ]
    More diphthongs
    ey - /egg/ [ɛiː], [ɛ] (as in "hej"), also in the tightening [ɛ]
    egg - / ai / [aiː], [ai] (as in German "ei"), in the tightening [a]
    oy - / oi / [ɔi:], [ɔi] (as in German "eu"), in the tightening [ɔ]

    Remarks:

    Sendistova Föroya - "Embassy of the Faroe Islands". Heraldic shield at the Faroese representation in Copenhagen. Here an Ö is used instead of Ø and forms an orthographic rarity, which can also be found in the beer brand Föroya Bjór .
    • “Anterior and posterior a, i and í” only refer to the alphabetical order, by no means a place of articulation on the palate. The corresponding pairs behave largely identically in the case of the a and sound exactly the same in the case of i, y or í, ý. The latter two pairs in particular make it difficult for the student to dictate.
    • Ø, ø is sometimes also written Ö, ö (historicizing, solemn).
    • The capital letter Ð is only used when a word is set entirely in capital letters, for example on maps or in company logos, because ð only occurs within or at the end of a word. In contrast to Icelandic, it is always a silent gliding sound (few exceptions), and never the voiced dental sound that is preserved in Icelandic and English: as in English mother or in Icelandic Seyðisfjörður . Etymologically it is also related to the soft Danish d . Where the Danish speaker would speak a soft d in related words in their own language , the ð usually occurs in the Faroese counterpart . This is due to the "etymologically oriented" morphophonemic standard spelling , which was introduced by Hammershaimb in 1846/91 , and which prevailed over the phonetic orthography models (by Jens Christian Svabo (1746-1824) and later Jakob Jakobsen (1864-1918)) .
    • All vowels and diphthongs can be both short and long, although the short form is often realized differently (see phonetic transcription). Unstressed short vowels only appear as a, i or u, which is particularly noticeable in the many inflected endings. This means that words like the island name Mykines [ ˈmiːʧɪ.neːs ], akker [ ˈaʧeːɹ ] ("anchor"), korter [ kɔɻʂˈteːɹ ] ("quarter of an hour") have a long / e / at the end, contrary to expectations. And the conjunction áðrenn (“before”) is pronounced [ ˈɔaɹɪn ].
    • Certain long diphthongs are monophthongized in their short form, so that, for example, a short / ó / does not differ from / ø /.
    • The diphthong reproduced with ú is based on a darkened ü (high, unrounded non-front vowel, similar to Russian Ы) and becomes the light u, with a sliding vowel [w] at the end. The latter can also be said about the other “u-diphthong” ó, which was also represented as “ow” in earlier orthographic models.

    Ð and G as floating vowels

    The letters <ð> and <g> behave identically between vowels. They become a sliding vowel / j, v, w, / depending on the environment or are mute. These rules also apply when two vowels meet in writing.

    • / j / always appears after <i / y, í / ý, ei, ey, oy>, i.e. on an i-sound
    • / j / also appears before <i>, but not after a u-sound <ó, u, ú>
    • / v / appears between <a/æ, á, e, o, ø> and <u>, i.e. whenever there is no i-sound in front of it
    • / w / appears after the u-sounds <ó, u, ú>
    • <ð> and <g> are mute if they stand between two vowels other than those mentioned, namely <a/æ, á, e, o, ø> before <a> and always at the end of a word

    The Faroese grammar Mállæra 1997 does not distinguish between / v / and / w /.

    Floating vowels
    Stressed first vowel Final second vowel Examples
    i [⁠ ɪ ⁠] u [⁠ ʊ ⁠] a [⁠ a ⁠]
    grapheme phoneme Sliding vowel
    I-environment 1 + 2
    i, y [ ] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ j ⁠] sigið [ siːjɪ ] "descended", siður [ siːjʊr ] "custom", siga [ siːja ] "to say"
    í, ý [ ʊiː ] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ j ⁠] mígi [ mʊiːjɪ ] "(I) pee", mígur [ mʊiːjʊr ] "bed wetter", míga [ mʊiːja ] "pee"
    ey [ ɛiː ] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ j ⁠] reyði [ rɛiːjɪ ] "(the) red", reyður [ rɛiːjʊr ] "(a) red", reyða [ rɛiːja ] "(the) red"
    egg [ aiː ] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ j ⁠] reiði [ raiːjɪ ] "anger", reiður [ raiːjʊr ] "nest"; "Angry", reiða [ raiːja ] "equip"; "Manufacture"; "pay"
    oy [ ɔiː ] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ j ⁠] noyði [ nɔiːjɪ ] "(I) force", royður [ rɔiːjʊr ] "blue whale", royða [ rɔiːja ] "tuff"
    Underground environment 1
    u [ ] [⁠ w ⁠] [⁠ w ⁠] [⁠ w ⁠] suði [ suːwɪ ] "(I) whisper", mugu [ muːwʊ ] "(we, they) must, (you) must", suða [ suːwa ] "whisper"
    O [ ɔuː ] [⁠ w ⁠] [⁠ w ⁠] [⁠ w ⁠] róði [ rɔuːwɪ ] "(I, he, she, it) rowed, (you) rowed", róðu [ rɔuːwʊ ] "(we, you, she) rowed", Nóa [ nɔuːwa ] "Noah"
    ú [ ʉuː ] [⁠ w ⁠] [⁠ w ⁠] [⁠ w ⁠] búði [ bʉuːwɪ ] "(I, he, she, it) lived, (you) lived", búðu [ bʉuːwʊ ] "(we, you, they)" lived, túa [ tʉuːwa ] "(unsolicited) duzen"
    I-environment 2, U-environment 2, A-environment 1 (regular)
    a, æ [ ɛaː ] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ v ⁠] - ræði [ rɛaːjɪ ] "power, violence", æðu [ ɛaːvʊ ] "eider" (acc., dat., Gen.Sg.), glaða [ glɛːa ] "blinking light"
    á [ ɔaː ] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ v ⁠] - ráði [ rɔaːjɪ ] "(I) guess ", fáur [ fɔaːvʊr ] "little", ráða [ rɔaː ] "guess"
    e [ ] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ v ⁠] - gleði [ gleːjɪ ] "joy", legu [ leːvʊ ] "lying down; Brood "(acc., Dat., Gen.Sg.), gleða [ gleːa ]" delight "
    O [ ] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ v ⁠] - togið [ toːjɪ ] "the rope", smogu [ smoːvʊ ] "narrow alley" (acc., Dat., Gen.Sg.), roða [ roːa ] "redden"
    O [ øː ] [⁠ j ⁠] [⁠ v ⁠] - løgin [ løːjɪn ] "strange", røðu [ røːvʊ ] "speech" (acc., Dat., Gen.Sg.), høgan [ høːan ] "(the) high"
    Source: Faroese: An Overview and Reference Grammar , 2004 (p. 38)

    Inflection of parts of speech

    Nominal inflected words

    In contrast to other Germanic languages ​​such as Danish or English, Faroese is richer in forms. For example, the gender system is very similar to German, so a distinction is made between three genders in nouns , pronouns , adjectives, etc. Striking - and among the Germanic languages standing alone - is in Faroese, the plural form of the number word and the indefinite article one , which just written, spoken and is used (in the singular) as in English, but otherwise is diffracted. In addition, there are the distributive numerals of the Faroese language for two and three (see there) .

    Characteristic for the nominally inflected words in Faroese is their frequent ending -ur . This (taken out of context) is by no means an indicator for a certain part of speech, nor for a gender or a number or case . It is the same with the typical endings -ir and -ar . As mentioned above, unstressed syllables (and these are the final syllables in Faroese in general) cannot have any other vowels than these three vowels a, i, u. This is of course more complicated than in German (and other languages), where in this case the e is usually used if an inflected ending has a vowel. This system is sometimes difficult to understand even for native speakers, especially since the spoken language realizes certain ending vowels differently and sometimes two variants of a form are allowed in the spelling.

    On the other hand, it can be said that certain paradigms in the spoken language have hardly or not at all moved away from the Old Norse origin and that even irregular forms in certain cases show parallels to German.

    Nouns

    The Faroese nouns ( nouns ) are divided into three groups according to gender , as in German:

    • kallkyn (k.) - masculine (masculine) with 5 declensions and 53 subclasses. These subclasses combine all conceivable exceptions into one system;
    • kvennkyn (kv.) - female (feminine) with 7 declensions and 34 subclasses;
    • hvørkiskyn (h.) - neuter (neutral) with 5 declinations and 34 subclasses.

    Representing the three genders, three common classes are mentioned here, the stem vowels of which do not change.

      masculine feminine neutral
    Singular
    Nominative træl- ur oyggj horn
    accusative træl oyggj horn
    dative træl- i oyggj horn- i
    ( Genitive ) træl- s oyggj- ar horn- s
    Plural
    Nominative træl- ir oyggj- ar horn
    accusative træl- ir oyggj- ar horn
    dative træl- um oyggj- um horn- um
    ( Genitive ) træl- a oyggj- a horn- a
    meaning slave island horn

    Remarks:

    • The masculine nominative ending -ur dominates in Faroese (at first glance), but -ur can just as well indicate a feminine plural ( genta - gentur = girl, sg. And pl.), Or follow verbs ( koma - kemur = to come - comes). There are also masculine nouns in which -ur belongs to the root of the word , like fingur = finger.
    • Basically, the endings <-a (r), -i (r)> and <-u (r)> have comparable and differentiating functions through all word classes and inflections. Even native speakers often find it difficult to use these ending vowels correctly. Other Germanic languages ​​like German only know the <e> here, as in <-en, -er> etc. At the same time, the rule in Faroese is that unstressed short ending vowels always only <a, i, u> ([a], [ɪ], [ʊ]), but never <á, e, í, ó, ú, y, ý, æ, ø> or the actual diphthongs. Some geographical and personal names end in <á>, but these are compositions with the word á (stream, river, cf. Danish å ).
    • The dative ending -um of the plural can be found in all classes (not just the noun) and is pronounced as [ʊn] in all Faroese dialects. General donkey bridge for this form: í Føroyum [ʊi 'fœɹjʊ n ] ("in Faroe Islands n " = on the Faroe Islands).
    • The genitive form is usually put in brackets because it rarely occurs in the spoken language (but also in the written language), certain genitive forms are considered "non-existent" for certain words and the genitive is usually paraphrased together with prepositions in the dative. Nevertheless:
    1. The genitive form of the singular determines the affiliation of all noun classes and is mentioned in the dictionary alongside the basic form and the plural.
    2. The genitive appears in fixed expressions, for example with the preposition vegna (“because of”) and thus behaves like in the standard German language. Likewise with til ("towards, towards something"): til Føroya - to the Faroe Islands.
    3. In compound words, the first component is often in the genitive, as is the case in German words such as “Sonntagsfahrer” - although native speakers (in both languages) do not always recognize this as a genitive form.
      See for example: grindaboð , markatal , where the first component is in the genitive.
    4. The names of institutions such as Postverk Føroya (“Postal Administration of the Faroe Islands”) also prove that this form is part of the living language. * Postverk Føroya r would be perceived as "ungrammatic". The -oy in the country name of the Faroe Islands is by the way an old form of today's oyggj and behaves exactly as described in the paradigm above.

    items

    In general, the Scandinavian languages differ from the other Germanic languages ​​in that the specific article is attached to the noun, i.e. is a suffix . This is no different in Faroese, and in this respect it has something in common with Norwegian and Swedish in that there is a double determination in attributive positions - in contrast to Danish and Icelandic . That means: If a determinate noun is described in more detail by an adjective, not only does the article appear in the sentence as a single lexeme , but also as a suffix for the noun in question.

    Example:

    Wikipedia, down frælsa alfrøði n
    Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia -the

    Annotation:

    • The Faroese language policy is aimed very much like those in Iceland and therefore the term ensyklopedi as (from Danish borrowed) internationalism while not uncommon, but usually by the word alfrøði - which gives about the idea that this "all sciences" ( -frøði = -science) are compiled - replaced.
    Attached specific article

    Basically, the nominative form of the attached specific article is always - (i) n for masculine and feminine nouns and - (i) ð for neuter nouns , although this is different in the other cases . As a rule of thumb, the nominal inflections listed above also behave in the neuter (as in the other two genera ) in such a way that an n occurs between the stem and the inflectional ending, and that the dative ending -um in this case is not only in the plural, but also occurs in the singular (as -num ).

    Indefinite article

    The indefinite article a behaves as follows (identical to the numeral):

    masculine feminine neutral
    Singular
    Nominative a a eitt
    accusative a one a eitt
    dative one to one i / one ari one to
    ( Genitive ) one s one ar one s
    Plural
    Nominative one ir one ar one i
    accusative one ar one ar one i
    dative one to one to one to
    ( Genitive ) one a one a one a

    Remarks:

    • The pronunciation behaves as expected in German - with the exception of the already known dative ending -um , which is also implemented here as [un].
    • As mentioned above, the plural form of this word does not exist in any other Germanic language. This differentiates, for example, that one buys “a pair of shoes” and not “some shoes”, whereby this construction is not represented as a dual , which still existed in Old Norse .
      Example: eg keypti einar skógvar = "I bought * a pair of shoes" (a pair) opposite: eg keypti skógvar = "I bought shoes" (regardless of how many and whether pairs).
    See: Distributive numerals in the Faroese language

    Adjectives

    As in German, there is a strong and a weak inflection in adjectives ( adjectives ). The former is used for indefinite articles (one, none, some, etc.), or when the noun stands alone. In this case, the noun does not have a specific article attached. Adjectives are inflected according to gender, case and number. The dictionary always uses the masculine nominative form of strong inflection (recognizable by the ending -ur, which in some cases can also belong to the root of the word).

    Strong flexion

    The corresponding question words are also given in this table (hvør? = Who ?, hvat? = What? Etc.).

    case ? Masculine ? Feminine ? neuter
    Nominative hvør? a stór ur bát ur hvør? a vøkur gent a hvat? eitt god barn
    accusative hvønn? a stór an bát hvørja? eina vakr a gent u hvat? eitt god barn
    dative hvørjum? aum stór um bát i hvørj (ar) i? einari vak ari gent u hvørjum? um góð um barn i
    Genitive hvørs? one stór s bát s hvørjar? einar vakr ar gent u hvørs? one góð s barn s
    Plural:   (2 large boats)   (2 beautiful girls)   (2 good kids)
    Nominative hvørjir? tveir stór ir bát ar hvørjar? tvær vakr ar gent ur hvørji? tvey góð børn
    accusative hvørjar? tveir stór ar bát ar hvørjar? tvær vakr ar gent ur hvørji? tvey góð børn
    dative hvørjum? tveimum stór um bát um hvørjum? tveimum vøkr um gent um hvørjum? tveimum góð um børn um
    Genitive hvørja? tveggja stór a bát a hvørja? tveggja vakr a gent a hvørja? tveggja góð a barn a
    Weak flexion
    • tann stóri báturin (m) = the big boat
    • tann vakra gentan (f) = the pretty girl
    • tað góða barnið (n) = the good child
    case Masculine Feminine neuter
    Nominative tann stór i bátur in tann vakr a gent an tað góð a barn
    accusative tann stór a bát in ta vøkr u gentu na tað góð a barn
    dative tí stór a báti num tí vøkr u gentu ni tí góð a barni num
    Genitive tess stór a báts ins teirrar vøkr u gentu nnar tess góð a barns ins
    Plural
    Nominative teir stór u bátar nir tær vøkr u gentur nar tey góð u børn ini
    accusative teir stór u bátar nar tær vøkr u gentur nar tey góð u børn ini
    dative teimum stór u bátu num teimum vøkr u gentu num teimum góð u børnu num
    Genitive teirra stór u báta nna teirra vøkr u gentu nna teirra góð u barna nna

    Numerals

    number Surname pronunciation
    0 zero [ nʊlː ]
    1 a
    one
    eitt
    [ ain ]
    [ ain ]
    [ aiʰtː ]
    2 tveir
    tvær
    tvey
    [ tvaiɹ ]
    [ tvɛaɹ ]
    [ tvɛi ]
    3 tríggir
    tríggjar
    trý
    [ ˈTɹʊdʒːɪɹ ]
    [ ˈtɹʊdʒːaɹ ]
    [ trʊi ]
    4th fýra [ ˈFʊiɹa ]
    5 fimm [ fɪmː ]
    6th sec [ sɛks ]
    7th sjey [ ʃɛi ]
    8th átta [ ˈƆtːa ]
    9 níggju [ ˈNʊdʒːʊ ]
    10 tíggju [ ˈTʊdʒːʊ ]
    11 ellivu [ ˈƐdlʊ ]
    12 tólv [ tœl ]
    13 step on [ 'tɹɛtːan ]
    14th fjúrtan [ 'fjʏɹʂtan ]
    15th fimtan [ fɪmtan ]
    16 sekstan [ sɛkstan ]
    17th seytjan [ 'sɛitʃan ]
    18th átjan [ 'ɔtʃan ]
    19th nítjan [ 'nʊitʃan ]
    20th tjúgu [ ˈTʃʉuvʊ ]
    21st einogtjúgu [ ˈAinoˌtʃʉuvʊ ]
    30th tretivu [ ˈTɹɛdːvʊ ]
    40 fjøruti [ ˈFjœɹtɪ ]
    50 hálvtrýss [ ˈHɔltɹʊʃ ]
    60 trýss [ tɹʊʃ ]
    70 hálvfjerðs [ ˈHɔlfjɛʃ ]
    80 fýrs [ fʊʃ ]
    90 hálvfems [ ˈHɔlfɛms ]
    100 (eitt) hundrað [ aitʰ ˈhʊndɹa ]
    101 hundrað og a [ ˈHʊndɹa ɔ ain ]
    1000 (eitt) túsund [ aitʰ ˈtʉusɪn ]
    1100 ellivuhundrað [ ˈƐdːlʊˌhʊndɹa ]
    2000 tvey túsund [ tvɛi tʉusɪn ]
    1,000,000 (a) miljón [ ain miljɔun ]
    2,000,000 tvær mɪljónir [ tvɛaɹ ˈmɪljɔunɪɹ ]

    Faroese as a foreign language

    Faroese as a foreign language is only spoken by foreigners in the Faroe Islands and some Scandinavians and friends of the Faroe Islands abroad.

    Outside the Faroe Islands, it is only taught at the University of Copenhagen and, since January 2011, also at the Nordkolleg Rendsburg . The University of the Faroe Islands is the only educational institution with Faroese as a major within Scandinavian Studies .

    This also means that Faroese children abroad cannot get Faroese school lessons anywhere, except from their parents and the Faroe Islands ' adult education center , which has been offering summer courses for these children since 2007.

    The University of the Faroe Islands also offers an intensive summer course in Faroese for adult foreigners. This usually takes place every year and lasts one week.

    Scholars in the German-speaking area for Faroese were Ernst Krenn (1897–1954) at the University of Vienna and Otmar Werner († 1997) at the University of Freiburg.

    Text samples

    Faroese Phonetic spelling Literally (concordant) translation
    Sigmundur for at boða kristni í Føroyum. [ ˈSɪgmʊndʊɹ fɔuɹ a ˈboːa ˈkrɪstnɪ ɪ ˈfœɹjʊn. ] Sigmundur drove to embassies Christianity in Faroe Islands . Sigmundur was supposed to proclaim Christianity in the Faroe Islands.
    Tá ið nú tók at vára, kom kongur a dag upp á mál við Sigmund og segði, at hann vildi senda hann vestur til Føroya at kristna tað fólk, sum har búði. [ tɔaj nʉu tɔuk a ˈvɔaɹa, koːm ˈkɔŋgʊɹ ai̯n dɛa ʊʰpaˈmɔal vɪ ˈsɪgmʊnd̥ oː sɛijɪ, ɛat han vɪldɪ ˈsɛnda han ˈvɛstʊɹ tɪl̥ fœœbna ta ˈkˈw. ] As it was now about to be spring, King got up to speak to Sigmund one day and said that he wanted to send him west to Faroe Islands to Christianize the people who lived there. As spring approached, the king came to Sigmund to talk to him and said that he wanted to send him to the Faroe Islands to Christianize the people who lived there.
    Sigmundur bar seg undan hesum starvi, men játtaði tá umsíður kongi tað, ið hann vildi. [ ˈSɪgmʊndʊɹ bɛa ʂe ˈʊndan heːsʊn ˈstaɹvɪ, mɛn ˈjɔʰtːajɪ tɔa ʊm̥ˈsʊijɪɹ ˈkɔŋgɪ tɛa, ʊi han ˈvɪldɪ. ] Sigmundur carried himself away from this work, but then promised the king what he wanted on the overleaf. Sigmund excused himself from the task, but later he promised the king what he wanted.
    Kongur setti hann tá til at vera valdsmaður yvir øllum oyggjunum og fekk honum prestar til at skíra fólkið og kenna teim tað Fremdsta í teirri kristnu trúnni. [ ˈKɔŋgʊɹ ˈsɛʰtːɪ han ˈtɔa tɪl a vɛːɹa ˈval̥smɛavʊɹ iːvɪɹ ˈœdlʊn ˈɔʤʊnʊn oː ˈfɛʰkː hɔnʊn ˈpɹɛstaɹ tɪl a ˈskʊiɹa ˈfœl̥ʧɪn ˈɪtraiɹɛːɪ taim taim. ] The king then added him to his man of violence over all the islands - which and got him to baptize priests - people - that and know - make them the foremost thing in the Christian faith. The king then made him ruler of all the islands and found priests for him to baptize the people and teach them the basics of the Christian faith.
    Sigmundur sigldi nú, tá ið hann var ferðabúgvin, og ferðin gekkst honum væl. [ ˈSɪgmʊndʊɹ ˈsɪldɪ ˈnʉu, tɔaj han var ˈfɛɹabɪgvɪn, oː ˈfɛrɪn ʤɛʰkst honʊn ˈvɛal. ] Sigmundur was sailing now that he was ready to sail, and the journey was fine with him. When Sigmundur was ready to go, he set sail and the journey went well for him.
    Tá ið hann kom to Føroya, stevndi hann bóndunum to tings í Streymoy, and har kom stór mannfjøld saman. [ tɔaj han kom tɪl ˈfœɹja, ˈstɛundɪ han ˈbœndʊnʊn tɪl ˈtɪŋ̊s ɪ ˈstɹɛimɔi, oː hɛaɹ kom ˈstɔuɹ ˈmanfjœld̥ ˈsɛaman. ] When he came to the Faroe Islands, he gathered peasants-those at Tings in Streymoy , and there a great variety came together. When he reached the Faroe Islands, he gathered the peasants for the ting on Streymoy, and there a great crowd gathered.

    Example from: WB Lockwood, An Introduction to Modern Faroese . Lockwood uses a New Faroese version of the Faroe Islands saga and cites the passage where Sigmundur Brestisson is commissioned by the Norwegian king to Christianize the Faroe Islands. The research assumes that the corresponding Ting met in 999 on Tinganes.

    Faroese Phonetic spelling Literally (concordant) translation
    Leygardagin varð nýggi Smyril doyptur í San Fernando í Suðurspania. Anita Eidesgaard, løgmansfrúa, bar fram hesa yrking, tá hon doypti skipið: [ 'lɛijaɹˌdɛajɪn vaɹ nʊʤːɪ ˈsmiːɹɪl dɔiʰptʊɹ ɪ san fɛrnando ɪ ˌsuwuɹˈspaːnja. aˈniːta ˈaidɛsgɔaɹd, ˈlœgmansfɹʏa, bɛaɹ fɹam heːsa iɻʧɪŋg, tɔa hoːn dɔiʰptɪ ʃiːpɪ ] On Saturday the new Smyril was baptized in San Fernando in southern Spain. Anita Eidesgaard , Løgmannsfrau , carried this poem in front of her as she christened Schiff-das. On Saturday the new Smyril was baptized in San Fernando in southern Spain. Anita Eidesgaard, the Prime Minister's wife, recited this poem when she christened the ship.
    Tú boðar um ljósar tíðir
    tú álit suðuroyinga ver
    ein knørrur so snøggur og fríður
    sum framburð til oynna ber
    [ tʉu boːaɹ ʊm ljɔusaɹ tʊijɪɹ
    tʉu ɔalɪt ˈsuwʊɹɪŋga veːɹ
    ain knœɹːʊɹ soː snœgːʊɹ oː frʊijʊɹ
    sʊm fɹambʊɹ tɪl ɔidna beːɹ
    ]
    In the light of day
    you sent you the hope of the Suðuringians.
    A knur so neat and beautiful
    that the progress to the island that carries
    You herald of bright times
    You hope the Southuroyer
    A ship so proud and beautiful
    That brings progress to the island.
    Má Harrin signa verkið
    og føra teg trygt í havn
    tað veri títt stavnamerki
    and Smyril verður títt navn
    [ mɔa haɹːɪn sɪgna vɛɻʧɪ
    oː føɹa teː wears ɪ haun
    tɛa veːɹɪ tʊiʰtː staunamɛɻʧɪ
    oː smiːɹɪl vɛɹʊɹ tʊiʰtː naun
    ]
    May the Lord bless the work that
    And lead you safely to port
    That be your stern brand
    And Smyril will be your name.
    The Lord bless the work
    And lead you safely into the harbor
    That is your writing on the ship's side
    and Smyril is your name.

    Source: Press release of the Faroese state government of September 26th, 2005. The new Smyril is a state-of-the-art car ferry that significantly shortens the journey time from Suðuroy to Tórshavn and is of immense importance, especially for the inhabitants of the South Island.

    More examples in the articles
    On the Internet

    Faroese terms and loan words

    Individual Faroese terms are explained in the following articles:

    There are two real loan words from Faroese in the German language: pilot whale and skua ( skua ).

    Trivia

    • While a word like “ tendonitis ” in German consists of 24 letters (the Danish seneskedehindebetændelse also has 24 letters), this disease is simply called in Faroese .
    • Jakob Jakobsen found that there are more than forty words in Faroese for “more or less swell ”, including terms like kjak (also: “discussion, dispute, Internet forum”), ódn (also: “hurricane”) or tvætl (also : "Nonsense").

    literature

    Introductions

    Give a concentrated overview in German or English:

    • Michael P. Barnes, Eivind Weyhe: Faroese. In: The Germanic Languages. Edited by Ekkehard König and Johan van der Auwera. Routledge, London / New York 1994, ISBN 0-415-05768-X , pp. 190-218.
    • Kurt Braunmüller: An overview of the Scandinavian languages . A. Francke, Tübingen 2007, UTB 1635. ISBN 978-3-8252-1635-1 (3rd updated and expanded edition), pp. 275 ff.
    • Michael Schäfer: Faroese. In: Janet Duke (Ed.): EuroComGerm. Learn to read Germanic languages. Volume 2: Less commonly learned Germanic languages. Afrikaans, Faroese, Frisian, Yenish, Yiddish, Limburgish, Luxembourgish, Low German, Nynorsk. Shaker, Düren 2019, ISBN 978-3-8440-6412-4 , pp. 55-80.

    An older introduction to the Faroese Sigurdlieder for historical-comparative study:

    • W. B. Lockwood: The Faroese Sigurdlieder after the Sandoyarbók. With grammar and glossary . Føroya Fróðskaparfelag, Tórshavn 1983

    Grammars and textbooks

    • W. B. Lockwood: An Introduction to Modern Faroese . Føroya Skúlabókagrunnur, 4th edition Tórshavn 2002 [1] (first from Munksgaard, Copenhagen 1955, further unchanged editions 1964 and 1977)
    • Höskuldur Thráinsson, Hjalmar P. Petersen, Jógvan í Lon, Zakaris Svabo Hansen: Faroese. An Overview and Reference Grammar . Føroya Fróðskaparfelag, Tórshavn 2004, ISBN 99918-41-85-7 (501 pages, 380, - DKK )
    • Richard H. Kölbl: Faroese. Word for word (=  gibberish . Volume 171 ). 1st edition. Reise-Know-How-Verlag Rump, Bielefeld 2004, ISBN 978-3-89416-350-1 .
    • H. P. Petersen & J. Adams: Faroese. A Language Course for Beginners. Textbook / Grammar . Stiðin, Tórshavn 2009.

    Only in Faroese are z. B .:

    • Paulivar Andreasen, Árni Dahl: Mállæra . Føroya Skúlabókagrunnur, Tórshavn 1997, ISBN 99918-0-122-7 (3rd edition 2004, 282 pp. Grammar for teachers in native Faroese lessons)
    • Jeffrei Henriksen: Bendingarlæra . Sprotin, Vestmanna 2004, ISBN 99918-44-72-4 (105 pp. Flexion theory)
    • Kári Davidsen, Jonhard Mikkelsen: Ein ferð inní føroyskt . Føroya Skúlabókagrunnur, Tórshavn 1993 (285 p. Faroese textbook for secondary school)

    Dictionaries

    The standard dictionary since 1998 has been the monolingual Føroysk orðabók , which has also been available on the Internet since 2007 (see web links). It was created under the direction of Prof. Jóhan Hendrik Winther Poulsen .

    Faroese-German

    The first Faroese-German dictionary was due to appear in 2008, but so far it has remained with the announcement of this title:

    • Ulf Timmermann: Føroysk-týsk orðabók . Føroya Fróðskaparfelag, Tórshavn 2008

    Faroese-Danish-Faroese

    The two titles listed here are Faroese-Danish and Danish-Faroese dictionaries. The Føroysk-Donsk Orðabók opens up a large part of the Faroese vocabulary, while the Donsk-Føroysk Orðabók allows important conclusions to be drawn about the Faroese handling of internationalisms, Anglicisms and Low German loanwords, which are common in Danish and are usually avoided in the Faroese written language.

    • M. A. Jacobsen and Christian Matras: Føroysk-Donsk Orðabók . Føroya Fróðskaparfelag, Tórshavn 1961 (first 1927–1928 published by Varðin, Tórshavn and J. H. Schultz, København)
    • Jóhannes av Skarði: Donsk-Føroysk Orðabók . Føroya Fróðskaparfelag, 2nd edition Tórshavn 1977
    • Hjalmar P. Petersen (main author): Donsk-føroysk orðabók: við stødi í Donsku-føroysku orðabókini / eftir Jóhannes av Skarði . Føroya Fróðskaparfelag, 3rd edition Tórshavn, ISBN 99918-41-51-2

    English-Faroese-English

    The two-volume dictionary Faroese-English / English-Faroese from 2008 is the largest Faroese dictionary to date:

    • Annfinnur í Skála / Jonhard Mikkelsen: Føroyskt / enskt - enskt / føroyskt . Vestmanna: Sprotin 2008. 2 volumes.

    Language history and language politics

    • Christian Gebel: Die Färöer - history and linguistic history , series of publications of the German-Faroese Circle of Friends - Issue 1, Düsseldorf 1988 (18 pages, images. A lecture given on the occasion of the establishment of the German-Faroese Circle of Friends in Düsseldorf on October 9, 1988)
    • Tórður Jóansson: English loanwords in Faroese . Fannir, Tórshavn 1997, ISBN 99918-49-14-9 (doctoral thesis on English loanwords in Faroese)
    • Christer Lindqvist : "Language ideological influences on Faroese orthography (research)" In: North-Western European Language Evolution (NOWELE) , Odense, 43: 77–144 (2003)

    In Faroese:

    • André Niclasen: Føroya mál á manna munni . Lærabókaforlagið, Tórshavn 2007, ISBN 99918-910-4-8 (on colloquial language as opposed to written language)
    • Johan Hendrik W. Poulsen : Mál í mæti . Føroya Fróðskaparfelag, Tórshavn 2004, ISBN 99918-41-84-9 (collection of linguistic articles)

    Individual evidence

    1. "HVÍ FØROYINGAR BÚSETA SEG Í DANMARK" ( Memento of the original from February 5, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , setur.fo, p.4 (Faroese) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / setur.fo
    2. "Fleiri og fleiri føroyingar í Danmark" ( Memento of the original from February 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , aktuelt.fo (Faroese) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / aktuelt.fo
    3. "Ynskja fleiri prestar til útisetarnar" , in.fo, February 3, 2015 (Faroese)
    4. a b c d Hammershaimb (1891) Vol. I, S. LIV.
    5. Compare the Norwegian article no: Ormurin langi , which explains that the Faroese text is legible for Norwegians with a few explanations.
    6. a b Tórður Jóansson: English loanwords in Faroese . Fannir, Tórshavn 1997 (p. 44 ff Faroese phonology and grammar)
    7. a b c Faroese, p. 369
    8. Svabo June 18, 1773 in the foreword to the 4th manuscript of the Dictionarium Færoense (Volume 2 (1970), p. XVII)
    9. Faroese (2004), p. 340
    10. ^ After Hjalmar Petersen in: Tórður Jóansson: English loanwords in Faroese . Tórshavn: Fannir 1997, p. 45 (in red: subsequent correction, July 21, 2008)
    11. a b Lockwood (1983), p. 1
    12. For example there is þar til instead of New Faroese hartil ("there")
    13. a b Faroese (2004), p. 372
    14. Mállæra (1997), p. 20
    15. Jakob Jakobsen: Diplomatarium Færoense 1907 (p. 37)
    16. Christian Matras: "Færøsk Sprog". In: Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder fra vikingetid til reformationstid Copenhagen 1960 (p. 82)
    17. a b Kölbl (2004), p. 13 f
    18. Lockwood (1983). P. 3
    19. Faroese (2004), p. 373
    20. Lucas Jacobson Debes: Natural and Political History of the Faroe Islands . Copenhagen and Leipzig 1757. Reissued and annotated and with an afterword by Norbert B. Vogt. Mülheim ad Ruhr, 2005 (p. 150 [247])
    21. Lucas Jacobson Debes: Færoæ & Færoa Reserata . Copenhagen 1673, p. 261 (this is lost in the German translation of 1757)
    22. Faroese (2004), p. 374
    23. a b Lockwood (1983), p. 2
    24. a b Faroese (2004), p. 374 f
    25. a b c d e f Hammershaimb (1891), Vol. I, S. LV
    26. Lockwood (1983), pp. 68 f.
    27. a b c d Faroese (2004), p. 378
    28. Gottlieb Christian Friedrich Mohnike (transl.): Faereyinga Saga or history of the inhabitants of the Faroe Islands: in the Icelandic basic text with Faroese, Danish and German translations , Copenhagen 1833
    29. a b c Faroese (2004), p. 382
    30. a b c Faroese (2004), p. 383
    31. Svend Grundtvig : Dansken paa Færøerne, et Sidestykke til Tysken i Slesvig . Copenhagen 1845 ("Danish in the Faroe Islands, a counterpart to German in Schleswig"), new edition Odense 1978.
    32. Faroese (2004), p. 381
    33. Hammershaimb (1891), Vol. 1, p. 344
    34. Faroese (2004), p. 384
    35. Hammershaimb (1891), Vol. I, p. LVI
    36. Lockwood (1977) p. 5
    37. Færøerne i dag  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.mamut.com   Iceland, 2006 (p. 8)
    38. Mállæra (1997), p. 26
    39. ^ Department of Scandinavian Research, University of Copenhagen. Retrieved March 11, 2011 .
    40. ^ Seminar program of the Nordkolleg Rendsburg. Retrieved March 11, 2011 .
    41. Nýggi Smyril doyptur ( Faroese ) Løgmansskrivstovan. Archived from the original on January 5, 2006. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
    42. Davidsen (1993) p. 26
    43. Føroysk orðabók:  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.obg.fo  
    44. Davidsen (1993) p. 28
    45. sprotin.fo - The two authors were named “Faroese Men of the Year” on March 7, 2008.

    Web links

    Wikibooks: Faroese  - learning and teaching materials
    Wiktionary: Faroese  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations