Note to Arn Þorfdr 23II
[2] Þursaskerjum ‘Þursasker’: Lit. ‘Giants’ skerries’. Dublin (til Dyflinnar) (l. 4) presumably marks the south-western extremity of Þorfinnr’s sphere of influence, so that one would expect Þursasker to be its north-eastern limit, just as it is the eastern boundary of Scandinavian Scotland in Hák ch. 265 (1977-82, 149; ms. ‘þussa-sker’). Finnbogi Guðmundsson’s identification of Þursasker with The Skerries, a group of islets in the extreme east of the Shetland Isles, is therefore plausible (ÍF 34). Quite close by are fishing grounds which Crawford (1987, 75) notes had the traditional name ‘de Tussek’, possibly a reminiscence of Þursa-/Þussasker.
References
- Bibliography
- ÍF 34 = Orkneyinga saga. Ed. Finnbogi Guðmundsson. 1965.
- Crawford, Barbara E. 1987. Scandinavian Scotland. Scotland in the Early Middle Ages 2. Leicester: Leicester University Press.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar’ in Kari Ellen Gade (ed.), Poetry from the Kings’ Sagas 2: From c. 1035 to c. 1300. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 2. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=33> (accessed 23 April 2024)