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Saga-Book of the Viking Society
word 'thorp' is used, he maintains, exactly as in Denmark, to
denote a place of secondary settlement. He is able to identify
with considerable success and the aid of maps the main
settlements on which the 'thorp' depended. The fact that
a Danish name was exclusively used for such secondary
settlements seems to him "to support the general hypothesis I
have proposed that Danish settlement in the northeast Midlands
was on a considerable scale, and was not simply the result of the
settlement of a part of an army, itself to be counted only in
hundreds"
Finally, this issue of Mediaeval Scandinavia sees the publication
of the first part of the Norse-Celtic bibliography. The
bibliography has been planned in two parts, the first to cover the
ground geographically, the second by special topics. There is
also a section called 'Miscellanea' which includes items not easily
fitted into the planned categories. The first part of the
bibliography published here consists of the Miscellanea section
and the Faroese section. The purpose of the bibliography is "to
furnish specialists in One branch of study with a point of
departure for investigation into another, and in that way to
promote interdisciplinary research on the Norse-Celtic question"
Nevertheless, the bibliography on the Faroe islands is particularly
full, and covers most aspects of their history and culture.
Within the eleven subsections (miscellaneous, medieval and early
modern sources, historical studies, etc.) books arc arranged
chronologically. There is a generous provision for cross
references from One subsection to another. Altogether this is a
most interesting and well-set-out bibliography. Whoever undertakes
research into a new subject and faces all the uncertainties
and difficulties of the pioneer will envy Norse-Celtic scholars the
efficient instrument which has been provided for them.
Among the reviews in this issue, R. 1. Page's discussion of Niels
Age Nielsen's Runestudier stands out for its sensible and witty
discussion of problems of Runology in general. Altogether this
volume is packed with interest and admirably upholds the high
standards One has come to associate with Mediaeval Scandinavia.
PETER KING
THE NORDIC LANGUAGES AND MODERN LINGUISTICS. Edited by
HREINN BENEDIKTSSON. Vlsindafelag fslendinga. Reykjavik,
1970. 616 pp.
This volume is the record of a conference held in Reykjavik in