Showing posts with label Shetland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shetland. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Well, actually

 

AI´s fantasy picture of a basking shark 

"Sveriges hav - Nordsjöns giganter" is a somewhat peculiar nature documentary, probably German in provenance, but I haven´t been able to locate the original version. The Swedish title means "The Seas of Sweden - Giants of the North Sea".

Ahem, the North Sea is *not* Swedish...

Indeed, most of the docu seems to be taped on or around the Shetland Islands, which are (of course) British?! Not sure who came up with the idea to call this a "Swedish" documentary. Some old Viking romantic? Dude!

But sure, if you like dramatic vistas, this might be for you. Killer whales, basking sharks, grey seals, sea otters, dolphins, skuas attacking and eating puffins, the invasive red king crab...you get the picture. Shetland sure looks pretty dangerous, LOL. 

  


Sunday, September 23, 2018

Magnum opus




This must be the most expensive book on sale here. If you have $ 2,800, you can get *your* very own copy of Jakob Jakobsen's classical “An etymological dictionary of the Norn language in Shetland” in a 1985 reprint edition. Or rather the second of two volumes! The original English version was published in 1928-32, while the Danish version is even older.

Norn is an extinct Scandinavian language, once spoken on the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, the Hebrides and Caithness. Until the mid-15th century, the Shetlands and Orkneys were Norwegian territories. The population was descended from “Vikings” who settled there about six centuries earlier. Norn died out at some point during the 18th or 19th centuries. The language strikes me as similar to Icelandic and Faroese. Unsurprisingly, Jakob Jakobsen was from the Faroe Islands. I never heard of him before discovering this product page, but apparently Jakobsen was a kind of “national awakener” on his native islands. When not promoting the Faroese language and culture, he studied the Shetland dialect of Norn and eventually published this magnum opus on the subject.

Today, a small group of enthusiasts have launched a project called Nynorn or New Norn, but it's entirely web-based and even the creators admit that it's of theoretical interest only. Perhaps a crossover with Reconstructionist Asatru might be more interesting?

Be careful what you wish for



A review of a sign saying "Parking for Norn Speakers only, all others will be towed" 

This is actually a quite funny sign. Norn is an extinct language previously spoken on the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, the Hebrides and Caithness. The language was similar to Icelandic and Faroese, being introduced to these distant shores by Scandinavian Vikings. Since the language disappeared about 200 years ago, a parking lot for Norn-speakers only will be vacated for a very long time. And when the rightful occupants return, it will probably be in a majestic dragon-ship, rather than in a Volvo!