Page:The Finding of Wineland the Good.djvu/254

 is followed by Keyser [Nordmændenes private Liv i Oldtiden], and Vigfusson [Dict.]. The Icelandic painter, Sigurðr Guðmundsson ['Um kvennabúninga á Íslandi að fornu og nýju,' in Ný fjelagsrit, vol. xvii], has, on the other hand, regarded the word as allied to the expression: 'at nema at beini' [i.e. fitting close to the leg, narrow], and concludes that 'námkyrtill' should be translated, 'narrow kirtle,' in which view Eiríkr Jónsson [Oldnordisk Ordbog] and K. Weinhold [Altnordisches Leben] coincide.

'I cannot agree with either of these interpretations. The mention in Flatey Book is so indefinite, that nothing can be determined from it. On the other hand, the meaning of this word becomes apparent from a passage in Laxdœla Saga, if this be compared with other references to female dress in ancient times, contained in the elder literature. This passage in Laxdœla Saga is as follow: "Gudrun wore a 'námkyrtill' and a close-fitting upper garment [vefjarupphlutr], with a large head-dress; she wore wrapped about her an apron with dark embroidery upon it and fringed at the end" ["Guðrún var í námkyrtli, ok við vefjarupphlutr þrǫngr, en sveigr mikill á hǫfði; hon hafði knýtt um sik blæju ok váru í mǫrk blá ok trǫf fyrir enda."] "Námkyrtill" evidently means here half-kirtle or petticoat, for with it an "upphlutr" [waist] of different stuff is worn, which in Snorra Edda [ii. 494] is called "helfni" [i.e. half-kirtle]. The origin of the word seems to me to have been as follows: In the ordinary woman's gown [kirtle] the upper part, or "upphlutr," was, obviously, much narrower [i.e. closer-fitting] than the lower part of the garment, and was, in consequence, worn out sooner than the lower part. With the better class of people the kirtle was usually made from some foreign stuff of bright colour, especially red. Now when the upper part [upphlutr] was worn out, the wearers, indisposed to abandon the lower part of the garment made from domestic stuff [homespun], the so-called wadmal [vefjarupphlutr]. The lower detached part of the garment or skirt then received the name of "nám" or "námkyrtill" [cf. landnám, órnám] because it had been taken [numið] from the entire kirtle. By the preservation of the serviceable lower part of the garment, with its foreign stuff of showy colour, the dress was rendered more ornamental than it would have been if both the lower and upper portion of the kirtle had been made from wadmal, which it was not easy to obtain, in Iceland, dyed in colours. Such I conclude to have been the origin of the word "nám" or "námkyrtill." The word subsequently continued in use, regardless of the fact whether the skirt or lower half-kirtle, to which it was applied, had been cut from an old kirtle or not .'

(71) A 'mǫrk' was equal to eight 'aurar' [cf. Laxdœla Saga, ch. 26, ed. Kålund, Copenh. 1889, p. 90]; an 'eyrir' [plur. 'aurar'] of silver was equal to 144 skillings [cf. Vídalín, Skýríngar yfir Fornyrði Lögbókar, Reykjavík, 1854, p. 351]. An 'eyrir' would, therefore, have been equal to three crown [kronor], modern Danish coinage, since sixteen skillings are equal to one-third of a crown [33⅓ øre], and a half 'mǫrk' of silver would accordingly have been equal to twelve crowns, Danish coinage. As the relative value of gold and silver at the time described is not clearly established, it is not possible to determine accurately the value of the half 'mǫrk' of gold. It was, doubtless, greater at that time, proportionately, than the value here assigned, while the purchasing power of both precious metals was very much greater then than now.