Klambrar saga. Síðari hluti.

Um orðið klömbur í örnefnum

Abstract

In the first part of ,,Klambrar saga`` (Orð og tunga 10:61-93) the morphological development of the common noun klömbur (fem.) `tightness; narrowness' was described. In this second part the emphasis is on the place name.

Three farms in Iceland have the name Klömbur in sources from the fourteenth century onwards, one in the South of Iceland, now totally destroyed by inundation, and two in the North, one of which is now abandoned. All three were located in some kind of narrowness in the landscape.

The place name Klömbur had the same declension as the common noun until about 1800. Then it was replaced in the South by Klambra (fem.), but in the North Klömbur has frequently been treated as a plural form, dat. Klömbrum, gen. Klambra. During the last two centuries the declension has been quite uncertain and confused. A small farm with the name Klömbur was established in Reykjavík in 1925, but lasted only for a few decades. Its name was transplanted from the North and almost from the beginning declined as a plural noun, either as Klömbur (fem. plur.) or, more frequently, as Klambrar (masc. plur.). This development is in accordance with a well-known tendency elsewhere, cf. the names Eiðar, Gásar, Laugar, etc.

Finally, a mention is made of the place names Klembrur and Klömbrur in the neighbourhood of Innri-Hólmur at Akranes as well as some compound place names having klambra(r)- or klömbru- as its first member.