THE TRUE STATE OF ICELAND ad. 



1592. 



For while you take in hand to schoole others, & to teach 

 them by what name a Whale-fish is to be called in our 

 tongue, leaving out through ignorance the letter H, 

 which almost alone maketh up the signification of the 

 worde, you deliver that which is not true : for val in 

 our language signifieth not a Whale, but chusing or 

 choise of the verbe Eg vel, that is to say, I chuse, 

 or I make choise, from whence val is derived, 

 &c. But a Whale is called Hualur with us, & there- 

 fore you ought to have written Trollhualur. Neither 

 doeth Troll signifie the devill, as you interprete it, 

 but certaine Giants that live in mountaines. You see 

 therefore (and no marvel) how you erre in the whole 

 word. It is no great injurie to our language being 

 in one word onely : because (doubtlesse) you knew 

 not more then one. 



Others also do offend in the same fault, for it is 

 not to be allowed that a certaine man being about to 

 publish a Map of Island received from Islanders 

 themselves, had rather marre the fashion of all, or 

 in very deed of the most names of Capes, Baies, 

 mountaines, springs, rivers, homocks, valleis, hils & 

 townes (because that being ignorant of our language, 

 he was not able to read those things aright, which he 

 received from our countreymen) he had rather (I say) 

 deprave & corrupt them all, then learne of the Islanders 

 themselves, which at that time, namely in the yeere 

 1585. lived in the universitie of Hafnia, or Copen 

 Hagen, how every thing ought to be read and written. 

 And we esteeme him for this his wilfull marring of 

 our native names and words, (whereupon it came to [I. 569,] 

 passe that we reading the same, could acknowledge 

 very few to be our owne) that he is no slight offender 

 against our tongue, otherwise retaining the pure and 

 the ancient propertie. 



But now we have after some sort examined most of 

 the myracles of Island, which our writers have men- 

 tioned. Notwithstanding before we enter into any 



139 



