An Icelandic-English Dictionary/Preface

by Guðbrandur Vigfússon and Richard Cleasby

PREFACE.

THIS work is a Dictionary of the Old Icelandic Language, or (as it may be called) the Classical Language of the Scandinavian race.

The history of the preservation of this language in its ancient form is remarkable.

The Icelandic language, in old writers also called the Norse or the Danish (Noræna or Dönsk tunga), was spoken by the four great branches of the Scandinavian race who peopled the countries abutting on the Baltic, the Norsemen or Northmen, Swedes, Danes, and Goths (Norðmenn, Svíar, Danir, and Gautar), as well as by the inhabitants of those parts of Northern Russia which were then known by the name of Gardar^[1].

At the beginning of the 9th century the growing population of these countries, together with political changes and the naturally enterprising character of the people, caused a great outward movement of the race. Under the leading of their chieftains they set forth to seek for homes in other lands; and thus the 9th century came to be known by the name of the Age of the Vikings (Víkinga-Öld). The stream of emigration increased in volume, as tidings of the successes of the first adventurers reached the northern shores. The Swedes continued to press eastward into the countries beyond the Baltic, while the Danes and Norsemen steered boldly to the south and west, and chiefly to the shores of the British Isles.

Two main currents of this emigration by sea may be traced. First, the Danish, which directed its course to the north-east of England, and at length occupied that district so completely that it received the name of the Dena-lagu. The Saxon Chronicle is the chief authority for this part of the subject^[2]; the only old Icelandic works which touch on it being the Egils Saga, which says that in the reign of Athelstan almost every family of note in Northern England was Danish by the father’s or the mother’s side; and the Ragnars Saga, which professes to give an historical account of the great Danish invasion, but is almost as mythical as the Iliad.

The second migration was Norse. These settlers gradually peopled the coasts of Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Orkneys and Shetland, and the northern counties of Scotland, Ross, Moray, and especially Caithness. In the year 852 A.D. the Norse sea-king Olave the White reached Ireland with a large fleet, and founded a Norse principality at Dublin: the foremost man among the Norsemen in Scotland was Earl Sigurd, uncle of Göngu-Hrolf. It is probable that to this same emigration must be referred the conquest and occupation of Normandy.

With this stream of Norsemen the colonisation of Iceland also is closely connected. That island had already been discovered by a Viking named Naddodd, who called it Snowland (Snæland); it was next seen by Gardar, a Swede, after whom it was named Gardarsholm; and lastly, the Viking Flóki gave it the name of Iceland, from seeing the Isafjörd covered with polar ice. But the first settlers were Ingolf, son of Örn, and his foster-brother Leif, who set sail about A.D. 870, and reached Iceland; they soon however passed on to Ireland, whence after a few years they returned to Iceland, taking with them some Irish slaves. The year 874 is fixed by the chroniclers as the date of this final settlement. Leif was soon after murdered by his unwilling Irish colonists; Ingolf remained alone and is regarded as the first settler in the island. About the same time Harold Fair-hair had seized the throne of Norway, and, by the establishment of despotic power, had become unbearable to the high-spirited and independent chiefs; and therefore the newly-discovered island, bleak and desolate as it was, offered a welcome home to men who had hitherto lived in the possession of equal and undisputed rights. Again, the Norsemen in the British Isles became unsettled after the death of King Thorstein, Olave the White’s son (the Oistin Mac Amlabh of the Irish Annals), in the year 874 A.D.; and they seem from that time to have begun to migrate to Iceland. Conspicuous among these emigrants was Queen Auðr Djápauðga, King Olave’s widow, who set forth with almost all her kinsfolk and followers. It is probable that the number of Norsemen who sailed from Ireland to Iceland was about equal to that of those who had gone thither from Norway. They carried with them their families and such cultivation as they possessed. They spoke that form of the Scandinavian tongue which prevailed on the western coast of Norway; and as time went on, while new dialects formed themselves throughout Scandinavia, in Iceland the old tongue rose to the dignity of a literary language, and thereby retained its original form. It has thus been preserved to our days^[3].

The first settlers formed an independent aristocracy, or republic, which continued for nearly four hundred years. Up to the end of the 10th century they held the heathen faith and practised the rites of heathen worship: Christianity was accepted as the faith of the island in the year 1000 A.D. Two centuries and a half after this change of faith (A.D. 1262) the Icelanders made willing submission to the king of Norway, that is, as has been said, about four hundred years after the first discovery of the island.

It was during this period that the Laws and Sagas of Iceland were written. Some idea of the extent and variety of this literature may be formed from the compendious account which is subjoined to this Preface. Tales of an historical and mythological character were committed to writing, being for the most part narratives of the feats of heroes abroad and at home, and belonging to the times before the year 1030 A.D., which may fairly be called the patriarchal age of Icelandic history; and in these tales, with poems, laws, and documents of various kinds, the old Scandinavian tongue, as spoken and written by the Icelanders in the period ranging from 900 to 1262 A.D., has been handed down to us in a form which may justly be called classical. In Sweden and Norway the old Scandinavian tongue is preserved in writing only on the scanty Runic monuments. The earliest Danish and Swedish written laws are believed not to be earlier than the middle and end of the 13th century, by which time the common language in these lands had already undergone great changes, although the modern Danish and Swedish were not yet formed. In Norway, however, a considerable literature of the 13th century survives; and the old language lasted longer there than in the sister countries. This literature consists of laws, diplomas, homilies, and translations of French romances; and these works are quoted in this Dictionary together with the Icelandic. These documents belong to the period embraced by the reign of King Hakon, A.D. 1216-1263; but, though valuable, they do not make an original literature. Only in Iceland did a living literature spring up and flourish; there alone the language has been handed down to us with unbroken tradition and monuments, from the first settlement of the island to the present day.

It is believed that the present Dictionary will furnish not only a complete glossary of the words used in this old classical literature, but also a full account of the forms and inflexions of the verbs, with copious citations of passages in which each word occurs, with references carefully verified, and explanations given whenever they seem to be required; and, at the same time, though the Dictionary is mainly intended for the old authors, both in prose and poetry, it endeavours to embrace an account of the whole language, old and new.

A few words must be added to explain the origin and history of the work.

Many years ago, Richard Cleasby projected a General Dictionary of the Old Scandinavian Language; and in 1840 he left England to settle in Copenhagen, the chief seat and centre of Scandinavian learning and the home of the best collection of Icelandic MSS., for the purpose of preparing himself for his work and of obtaining the assistance of Icelandic students in collecting materials; among these Mr. Konrad Gislason’s name ought especially to be mentioned. Mr. Cleasby was a man of independent means, an excellent scholar, held in high esteem by foreign scholars, devoted to his work, and shunning no labour to make it perfect. He reserved for himself the old prose literature; while Dr. Egilsson was engaged on the poetical vocabulary, towards the expenses of which Mr. Cleasby promised to contribute, so that he may be said to have been the chief promoter of that work also. The MS. of the Poetical Dictionary was ready for publication in the year 1846. In the following year Mr. Cleasby caused five words—bragð, búa, at (conjunction), af (preposition), and ok (conjunction)—to be set up in type as specimens of the projected Prose Dictionary. These he sent to several foreign friends, and among others to Jacob Grimm, who returned a most kind and friendly answer, warmly approving of the plan as indicated in the specimens, and adding many good wishes that Mr. Cleasby might have health and life to complete the work. Unhappily these wishes were not to be realised. In the autumn of the same year he was taken ill, but was in a fair way to recovery, when; by resuming work too soon, he suffered a relapse. His illness took the form of typhus fever, and he died insensible, without being able to make any arrangements respecting his papers and collections.

Mr. Cleasby’s heirs, anxious that his labours should not be thrown away, paid a considerable sum of money to certain persons in Copenhagen, for the purpose of completing the book. But in 1854 came a demand for more money; and as it seemed doubtful whether the work was likely to be finished in any reasonable time, and on any reasonable terms, it was determined that the whole of the MSS. should be sent to England. It seems, however, that none of Mr. Cleasby's original slips were included in the papers sent. These papers consist of rough transcripts, made after Mr. Cleasby’s death by various students in Copenhagen, whereas his original papers have not to this day come over to England.

It is clear, from an examination of these transcripts, that scarcely any part of the Dictionary, with the exception of the words sent to Grimm, had been completed during Mr. Cleasby’s lifetime or by him. The letters D, F, J, K, N, O, P, S, U, V, and H (partially), were worked out after his death by the Copenhagen editors, but in such a manner that it would have been much better to have had Mr. Cleasby’s papers in their original form. In his collections he appears to have been accustomed to write out in full the references taken from MSS., while he made but a brief note by page or otherwise of words drawn from printed books. This he probably did, both to save labour and also because he may have looked forward to being able to complete his book In England, where the printed editions, but not the MSS., would have been within his reach. The editors have simply copied out these references, adding and explaining little or nothing.

The MSS. in this state were placed at the disposal of the well-known Icelandic scholar, Mr. G. Webbe Dasent, and In the year 1855 he proposed to the Delegates of the Clarendon Press at Oxford to undertake the publication of the Dictionary under the belief that the collections left by Mr. Cleasby would not require much revision to fit them for publication. A specimen was set up in type, and Mr. Dasent himself undertook to see the book through the Press.

The matter, however, remained In abeyance till the year 1864, when Mr. Dasent again brought it before the Delegates. They, having taken into consideration the great value of a complete and accurate Dictionary of the old classical Scandinavian language, and the great interest this language has for students of Old English, were persuaded to renew their engagement with Mr. Dasent and to undertake the publication of the work. Mr. Dasent consented, as before, to revise the proof-sheets, to correct the English explanations and translations, and to add parallel words and usages from the Old English and Scottish dialects. He also stated to the Delegates that the papers were left in an imperfect state, and asked them to grant a sum of money, for the purpose of securing the services of an Icelandic scholar in completing the work. This was also agreed to; and Mr. Dasent, in the course of the same year, secured the services of Mr. Gudbrand Vigfusson, a born Icelander, already well known for his learning, and for his labours in the field of his native literature.

Mr. Vigfusson’s report of the papers handed over by Mr. Cleasby’s heirs shews that they contained copious materials for a Dictionary, but required much labour and research to work them into a form fit for publication. Mr. Cleasby’s were the first large and comprehensive collections ever made, and are particularly valuable in that they were all taken from the documents themselves. The words of varied construction, such as the chief Verbs and Prepositions, are very rich, and taken from the best writers. But the words relating to Antiquities are left in a meagre condition; and there are many omissions of a kind which shew that Mr. Cleasby kept much of the matter in his head, and intended carefully to revise the whole. He intended no doubt to have worked out every word with the same conscientious accuracy which is shewn in the completed articles,—a task which would have occupied years of labour; and had life been granted him, it is certain he would have fulfilled this self-imposed task well and thoroughly. These circumstances have rendered the business of completing the book very arduous, and must account in a great measure for the delay which has occurred in the publication of even a part of the work.

Unfortunately also, Mr. Dasent’s incessant and various occupations have prevented him from carrying his promised supervision beyond the first two sheets. The task of revising the English part of the work has fallen into hands far less competent, not only in respect to knowledge of the Scandinavian language and literature, but also in respect to acquaintance with those archaic and provincial dialects of the British Isles, which have special affinities to the Scandinavian tongue.

The Delegates however have reason to hope that a fuller account of Mr. Cleasby’s life and labours, as well as a general introduction to the whole work, will be written by Mr. Dasent and prefixed to the Dictionary when it is completed.

Mr. Vigfusson takes this opportunity of acknowledging the help and advice he has received from the officials at the British Museum and the Bodleian Library, and particularly to express his many obligations to the Rev. H. O. Coxe, librarian of the Bodleian. He also desires to render his personal thanks to the following Icelandic scholars,—Mr. Dasent, Dr. John Carlyle, Prof Konrad Maurer of Munich, Prof. C. R. Unger of Christiania, and last, not least, to his friend and countryman Mr. Jón Sigurdsson of Copenhagen.

H. G. L.

Oxford, June 10, 1869.

1. See the word Gardar in the Dictionary.
2. The Saxon Chronicle under the year 787 states in that year Danish ships first came to England. The Annales Cambriae record the same fact with regard to Ireland under the year 795: so also the Irish Annals, see Dr. Todd’s Introduction to ‘The War of the Gaedhill with the Gaill,’ p. xxxii (Rolls’ Ed.)
3. See the Landnáma, the Laxdæla Saga, and the Irish Annals; and, for details, Mr. Dasent’s Paper in the Oxford Essays for 1858, pp. 176 sqq., and his Introduction to ‘The Story of Burnt Njal,’ Edinburgh 1861.