Íslenska / Icelandic Bible History (3)

**List: Icelandic Ministry Bible ( Biblían ) Icelandic... NORSE, OR ICELANDIC. "I.--GEOGRAPHICAL EXTENT AND STATISTICS. ICELAND lies on the confines of the polar circle, and comprises an area which exceeds 40,000 square miles.   Its population amounted, in 1855, to 64,600.   The island was first peopled about the year 874, by refugees from Norway, who fled thither to escape the tyranny of Harald Harfager, or the Fair- haired, king of Norway.   In the course of the next half century, all the habitable parts of Iceland became occupied by Scandinavian settlers; and, about 928, the inhabitants established a republic, which form of government subsisted till 1275, when Iceland became subject to Norway.   On the annexation of that kingdom to Denmark, Iceland was transferred with it; and the island is now governed by a stiftamtman, or governor, appointed by the king of Denmark.   The established church in Iceland is the Lutheran, under one bishop and 300 clergy.   A dialect of Norse was formerly spoken in the isles of Orkney and Shetland, but all vestiges of it have now disappeared. II.--CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE.    The ancient language of the Scandinavians was planted in Iceland by the Norwegian refugees, in the ninth century.   The insular and remote position of Iceland, and its consequent isolation from foreign intercourse, have caused the language to be preserved in the utmost purity; and so few are the changes which the lapse of time has effected in its structure, that the humblest Icelandic peasant can read and understand the most ancient written documents extant in the island.   By means of the Icelandic, the connexion of the Scandinavian with the Teutonic languages is distinctly to be traced. The Old Danish, or Scandinavian, now the living language of Iceland, was intimately connected with the Gothic, Alemannic, Francic, and other cognate dialects, so that the members of these nations were intelligible to one another without the aid of interpreters; and in the "Young Edda," a compilation of the eleventh century, it is said of the Anglo-Saxons and the Icelanders, wer erum einnar tungu, "we are of one tongue."   The aspiration of the consonants l and w is an infallible characteristic of the Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, and Icelandic languages: these peculiar sounds cannot be enunciated by Germans or Danes; and, except in the province of Dalecarlia, in Sweden, they are now no longer to be heard in the Scandinavian peninsula.   But one of the most remarkable characteristics of the Scandinavian languages is the placing of the article after the noun; as an appendage to it, e.g. as above: myrkrid, "the darkness." III.--VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THIS LANGUAGE.    No version of the Scriptures was made in Icelandic before the Reformation, although an ancient compendium of scriptural history, entitled the Stiorn, has sometimes been mistaken for a biblical trans- lation.   Oddur Gotshalkson, son of a bishop of Holum, in Iceland, was the instrument chosen by God to impart to his countrymen the first version of the Bible in their own language.   Oddur was educated in Norway; and, happily for himself and for Iceland, he remained abroad till the doctrines of the Reformation began to excite a general sensation throughout the North of Europe.   His own attention was forcibly arrested by the truths which were then unfolded; and we are told that, for three successive nights, he prostrated himself half-naked before the Father of lights, beseeching him to open the eyes of his understanding, and to show him whether the principles of Rome or those of Luther were from heaven.   The result of his prayers and meditations was a deep-rooted conviction that the cause of the reformer was the cause of God; and with the view of obtaining further information he repaired to Germany, and attended the lectures of Luther and Melanchthon.   On his return to Iceland he entered upon a translation of the Scriptures; and, to avoid persecution, he commenced his important labours in a small cell in a cow-house.   He completed a version of the New Testament in 1539; but finding it impossible, from the state of public opinion, to print it in Iceland, he sailed for Denmark, and published it at Copenhagen, under the patronage of Christian III.   The translation was made from the Vulgate, except in a few passages where Oddur mistrusted that version, and where he consequently followed Luther.   Besides the New Testament, Oddur is believed to have translated part of the Old Testament; but the only portion of this latter translation which he committed to the press was the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, printed with some short expository notes, at Copenhagen, in 1558.   All his translations were published at his own private expense.    In 1562, Olaf Hialteson, the first Lutheran bishop of Holum, published the Gospels and Epistles in the order appointed to be read in churches: this was chiefly a reprint from Oddur's version.    In 1580, the Proverbs of Solomon and the Book of Sirach were published at Holum, translated, it is supposed, by Gissur Eincerson, the first Lutheran bishop of Skalholt.   This version of the Proverbs was made from Luther's translation, except in a few passages where it follows the Vulgate.    At length, in 1584, the entire Bible was printed in Icelandic at Holum.   The work was con- ducted by Gudbrand Thorlakson, bishop of Holum.   It is not known what share this prelate had in the translation; the Old Testament was evidently executed by several hands, but the whole was revised and corrected by Gudbrand; and the New Testament, and such portions of the Old as had been translated by Oddur Gotshalkson, were adopted.   The edition consisted of 1000 copies, small folio; the expense of which was defrayed partly by a munificent donation from Frederic II. of Denmark, and partly by the collection of a rix-dollar from every church in the island.   This version has been called "a faithful mirror of Luther's German version," and, on account of the purity of its diction, it is still held in high estimation.   Another edition of the New Testament was published at Holum, by Bishop Gudbrand, in 1609, "revised and corrected according to the best translations that could be obtained."    A revised edition of this version was published at Holum, in 1644, by Thorlak Skuleson, the grandson of Gudbrand, and his successor in the episcopate.   The expense was partly defrayed by Christian IV. of Denmark, and he directed the bishop to remodel the version according to the Danish translations of Resenius.   But as the peculiar renderings of Resenius are only adopted in a few isolated passages of this revision, Dr. Henderson has conjectured that the old version was rendered conformable chiefly to the Danish Bible published at Copenhagen in 1633, which follows Luther's version.   The text of this Icelandic edition may be considered as exhibiting the version now in standard use.    Another Icelandic Bible was published in 1728, under the inspection of Stein Jonson, bishop of Holum.   He obtained from Frederick IV. of Denmark a renewal of the grants made to his predeces- sors, of raising a rix-dollar from every church in aid of its publication: but instead of printing the text of the former edition, he was enjoined to make a new translation from the Danish Bible, printed at the Orphan-house, Copenhagen.   In complying with this injunction, the bishop followed the Danish version with so much servility, that his work, when complete, was found to be full of Danicisms, and scarcely intelligible to the Icelanders.   It never obtained much circulation, and is still considered the worst edition of the Icelandic Bible.    In 1747, the fourth edition of the Icelandic Bible was published at Copenhagen, and the edition of 1644 was adopted as the text.   This was followed, in 1750, by an edition of 2000 New Testaments in 8vo.    This supply of Bibles was not, however, sufficient to meet the wants of the population of Iceland; and, in 1806, information was transmitted to the British and Foreign Bible Society, to the effect, that although the island scarcely contained one person in a hundred, above the age of twelve or fourteen, who could not read, yet the Scriptures were no longer to be obtained for money; and that, as the only press of which the Icelanders were possessed had not been used for many years, they had to resort to the tardy expedient of transcribing books; and, moreover, that not above forty or fifty copies of the Bible were to be found throughout Iceland.   An edition of the Bible, consisting of 5000 copies, printed from the approved text of 1644, was accordingly undertaken, chiefly at the expense of the British and Foreign Bible Society: it was carried through the press under the direction of Justiciary Thorkelin, privy-keeper of the royal archives of Copenhagen, and himself a native of Iceland.   The impression was completed at Copenhagen in 1807, and 1500 copies were immediately sent to Iceland.   The remaining copies narrowly escaped destruction at the bombardment of Copenhagen, where they were preserved in the midst of a conflagration which laid almost every thing on the spot in ashes.    In 1812, in the midst of the war between Great Britain and Denmark, permission was given to the Rev. Dr. Henderson to reside at Copenhagen, with every requisite privilege, for the purpose of publishing another edition of the Icelandic Bible: this concession was obtained from the King of Denmark, through the medium of a Danish member of the Committee of the British and Foreign Bible Society.   In the course of the year 1813, an edition of 5000 Bibles, and 5000 additional New Testaments, was printed at Copenhagen, under the direct superintendence of Dr. Henderson, from the text of 1644, or rather from the reprint of 1747.   The Edinburgh Bible Society, the Fuhnen Society, the British and Foreign Bible Society, and some friends in Holstein, combined to defray the expenses of the edition.   Before Dr. Henderson quitted Copenhagen in 1814, he had the satisfaction of seeing the formation of a society for the purpose of furnishing Iceland with adequate supplies of the Scrip- tures.   The first efforts of the Society were directed to a thorough revision of the existing Icelandic text, but some time appears to have elapsed before they issued a fresh edition.   In 1841, the version from which our specimen is taken was printed in the island, the type used being of large size, adapted to the use of the Icelanders, who, owing to the high latitude of their island, are for the most part obliged to read by lamplight."--The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only] NORSE, OR ICELANDIC.   [VIDEYAR KLAUSTRI.]--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: Gothic Character   "1841" John 1:1-12 unknown.]

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