Glossary of Faroese Geographical Names

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Glossary of Faroese Geographic Names lists the geographic names in the Faroese language .

Primarily, these are all geographical names ( place names , field names ) in the Faroe Islands , some names in Denmark and Scandinavia , as well as names of the countries in the world, insofar as it from the name in the national language or vary the German name. Example: Argentina is just as neglected as Estonia . The sorting of the lists follows the Faroese alphabet.

Faroese Name Transcription

There are currently no binding transcription rules for Faroese names in German. This is probably because Faroese is not taught at any university in Germany and there are no Faroese-German dictionaries. If you want to learn Faroese, you usually have to fall back on Danish-language literature, although a classic textbook is also available in English . On the other hand, Faroese uses the Latin alphabet, so it can also be represented with its typical special letters by conventional writing programs on the computer. Therefore, a transcription should be avoided.

The following special letters exist in Faroese (alphabetically): á, ð, í, ó, ú, ý, æ and ø (alternatively: ö).

In the alphabet, á, í, ó, ú and ý are classified under a, i, o, u and y. This corresponds to the convention for German umlauts in dictionaries. Therefore , the accent can possibly be left out. However, it must be remembered that the accent not only indicates a different vowel quality , but can also be a differentiator .

The letter ð (the edd ) is always silent in pronunciation. A possible transcription would always be the d . So Bordoy instead of Borðoy . A transcription according to the Icelandic pattern Seyðisfjorður > Seydhisfjordhur with dh would be misleading . The Icelandic ett is always articulated as a voiced th (as in English: brother ).

The letters æ and ø can be circumscribed using ä and ö. This also corresponds to their pronunciation and, for example, the spelling in Swedish . In addition, ø also occurs as ö in Faroese anyway. See for example: Norröna .

Føroyar - Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands are known locally as Føroyar . The German word Färöer is borrowed from the Danish Færøerne ( the Faroe Islands). The Faroese archipelago can also appear poetically as Føroyaland . In connections, Føroya often appears without the r. This is the genitive of the name, which always only exists in the plural. Example: Postverk Føroya (Post Office of the Faroe Islands). The word Føroyar is feminine , analogous to the island (s).

Word origin

The origin of Føroyar is not clear. The word is made up of two parts: Før- and -oyar . The meaning and origin of -oyar is undisputed: Faroese oyggj (plural: oyggjar ) means island . There are historical reasons for deviating from modern orthography (see below).

Component of "Før-"

The most common etymological approach is the derivation of Old Norse fár (today Danish : får "(wool) cattle", "sheep", common Germanic related to cattle ). However, the word fár does not appear in the Faroese language, not even in other conceivable forms such as før . The sheep is called seyður in Faroese .

It is therefore unclear whether the name might not be derived from the Celtic fear an ("far away"). The first recorded people in the Faroe Islands were Celts , and the Faroe Islands were by all means "far away" for the time.

Regardless of this, however, the Faroe Islands can definitely be described as "sheep islands", as there are more sheep than people there; in addition, a ram is the Faroese heraldic animal.

Component "-oy (ar)"

Island is called oyggj in Faroese . The plural is oyggjar . Faroese geographical names referring to their own islands use the old form oy , plural oyar . This corresponds to the equivalent Danish Ø for island . It is related to the German island . The pronunciation -oy (in the special case of island!) In Faroese [i], the [i] cares about the quality of the plural Gleitkonsonanten [j] on, thus: [jar]. Sometimes, especially in high-level language, [-oi] is used instead of [-i].

Pronunciation - Faroese, Danish, German

The pronunciation of Føroyar is ['fœrjɑr]. The [r] is always rolled in Faroese.

The Danish Færøerne is pronounced [ˈfɛʁˌøʔəʁnə]. The second part of the word, Øerne sneaked thin is the islands and is a impact sound uttered to it but does not give in Faroese.

The German Faroe Islands is usually not articulated in such a way that the two parts of the word appear separately from each other. So [-röer] is spoken as the second and third syllable. In the same way it is also separated: Fä | rö | er . Here the German leaves the correctly derived pronunciation, so to speak.

What all three languages ​​have in common, however, is the stress on the first syllable. If the Duden names [fä'röer] as an alternative accent, this is probably due to an observed use of language by German speakers who have never moved in the Faroe Islands themselves in the German language context.

Spelling of the Faroe Islands in other languages

Some of the forms below use the redundant islands ( -öer already means islands ). If you know the "correct" forms, please enter them here and name the forms with the islands in brackets, as in the English example.

Names of the Faroese Islands

Map of the Faroe Islands The names of the 18 islands of the North Atlantic archipelago all have a meaning that can often be translated directly into German, but in some cases can only be derived etymologically, i.e. not directly derived from the modern Faroese vocabulary.

In addition, the islands (like all places and other geographical names in the Faroe Islands) also have Danish names (here in brackets after them). This is due to the fact that Danish was the only official written language on the islands for around 500 years.

Only a few geographical names in the Faroe Islands also exist in a German form. The most prominent example is the region of the six north islands (Borðoy, Fugloy, Kalsoy, Kunoy, Svínoy, Viðoy), which are always called that in German-language literature. Terms like Groß-Dimun and Klein-Dimun are also quite common for (of all places) the two smallest Faroese islands. All other translations are unusual in the German language context but are (for the most part) common for clarification purposes.

The geographical overview of the islands can be found in the article Islands of the Faroe Islands

  • Borðoy (Bordø) - Bordinsel (in the sense of edge, edge )
  • Eysturoy (Østerø) - East Island
  • Fugloy (Fuglø) - bird island
  • Hestur (Hestø) - horse (compare Koltur )
  • Kalsoy (Kalsø) - men's island
  • Koltur (Kolter) - foal (from English colt , a very old Anglicism )
  • Kunoy (Kunø) - women's island
  • Lítla Dímun (Lille Dimon) - Little Dímun - Little Dimun ( see also: Stóra Dímun )
  • Mykines (Myggenæs) - guano tip of land (literally: dung nose ). But there are also linguists who believe that the name is of Celtic origin, although there is a saga about the origin of the name "with the dung".
  • Nólsoy (Nolsø) - near island (?). This name is etymologically difficult to derive. It is assumed that Nól- comes from Old Norse nór = closely , which in turn is closely related to German . In Old Norse the Strait of Gibraltar is called Nórvasund . Because Nólsoy is in front of the bay of Tórshavn , and all shipping routes to there pass this island, the explanation is plausible, but not properly proven.
  • Sandoy (Sandø) - sand island (because of the beaches there)
  • Skúvoy , also: Skúgvoy (Skuø) - Skuainsel (after the breeding seagull species Skua - zoolog .: Stercorarius Skua ) [1]
  • Stóra Dímun (Store Dimon) - Big Dímon - Big Dimun. Dímun is often interpreted as a demon . Other attempts have been the explanation as diamond . But the name is probably of Celtic origin and means two hills , which Stóra and Lítla Dímun are, with a bit of understatement - at least by Faroese standards.
  • Streymoy (Strømø) - current island (probably because of the frequent capsizing fast currents in the sound of Eysturoy )
  • Suðuroy (Suderø) - South Island (southernmost island and own region)
  • Svínoy (Svinø) - Pig Island
  • Vágar , also Vágoy (Vågø) - bays (island)
  • Viðoy (Vidø) - wooden island (probably because of the driftwood)

Countries of the world

The list of the National Statistical Office of the Faroe Islands serves as a reference.

The ending -oyggjar can often be read in the island states . This is the Faroese plural of oyggj = island . The fact that the Faroe Islands do not call themselves “Føroyggjar” is discussed in the section on the international names of the Faroe Islands.

The additions of the cardinal points are: Eystur ( east ) and Vestur ( west ); Norður ( north ) and Suður ( south ).

This list does not provide any information about how often these names appear in modern Faroese, but only an overview of the different country names in Faroese. So Denmark can be written both Danmørk and Danmark . The latter corresponds to the Danish country name and is not shown separately. ( see first paragraph ).

Evropa - Europe

Africa

America

Asia - Asia

Kyrrahavsoyggjarnar - Oceania

Individual evidence

  1. ^ WB Lockwood: An Introduction to Modern Faroese . Ejnar Munksgaard Hafniae, 1955.
  2. ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: PDF download, 6 pages )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.hagstova.fo