Grímr Kamban was, according to the ''

Færeyinga saga The Færeyinga saga (), the saga of the Faroe Islands, is the story of how the Faroe Islanders were converted to Christianity and became a part of Norway. Summary It was written in Iceland shortly after 1200. The author is unknown and the original ...

'', the first Norse settler in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

. The modern Faroese form of the name is ''Grímur'', but it was ''Grímr'' in

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and t ...

and is often anglicised as ''Grim''.

Settlement of the Faroe Islands

The saga says he was a Norwegian

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

escaping the tyranny of the Norwegian King

Harald Harald or Haraldr is the Old Norse form of the given name Harold. It may refer to: Medieval Kings of Denmark * Harald Bluetooth (935–985/986) Kings of Norway * Harald Fairhair (c. 850–c. 933) * Harald Greycloak (died 970) * Harald Hardra ...

(''Haraldr Hárfagri''). However, this is an error in this saga, because Harald's age was in the late 9th century, while the first Norse settlers reached the Faroes after 825. :"''According to the

... the first settler in the

was a man named Grímr Kamban – ''Hann bygdi fyrstr Færeyar'', it may have been the land taking of Grímr and his followers that caused the

anchorites In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress) is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. While anchorites are ...

to leave... the nickname Kamban is probably Gaelic and one interpretation is that the word refers to some physical handicap, another that it may point to his prowess as a sportsman. Probably he came as a young man to the Faroe Islands by way of Viking Ireland, and local tradition has it that he settled at

Funningur Funningur is a village on the Faroe Islands. It is located on the northwest coast of Eysturoy (). It was the only village in the municipality called ''Funnings kommuna'', which on 1 January 2009 became part of Runavíkar kommuna. To the west of ...

Eysturoy Eysturoy (pronounced estroimeaning 'East Island') is a region and the second-largest of the Faroe Islands, both in size and population. Description Eysturoy is separated by a narrow sound from the main island of Streymoy. Eysturoy is extremely ...

.''" It is said that he settled down in

. The name ''funningur'' means ''finding''. Excavations have shown

Viking era The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

houses in this area, as well as all over the Faroes.

Name

''Grímr'' is an Old Norse name. The name ''Kamban'' indicates

Celt The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

ic origins. Thus he could have been a man from Ireland,

Western Isles The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coas ...

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

, where the Vikings already had settlements. Another theory says, he could have been an early Christianized Norwegian under the influence of

Irish monks The Hiberno-Scottish mission was a series of expeditions in the 6th and 7th centuries by Gaelic missionaries originating from Ireland that spread Celtic Christianity in Scotland, Wales, England and Merovingian France. Celtic Christianity sp ...

there. If Gaelic, the first part of ''Kamban'' would originate in the Old Gaelic ''camb'' "crooked". The name Kamban is therefore most likely be derived from ''cambán'' "crooked one" (c.f. Modern Irish ''camán'', Scots Gaelic ''caman'' and Manx ''camane''). The root ''camb'' is also found in the Gaelic names Campbell (originally ''caimbeul'') "crooked-mouth" and Cameron (''camshròn'') "crooked nose", as well as the sports term ''cambóg'', which in Gaelic refers to the type of stick used in games like hurling, hockey and golf.

Tribute

On 20 September 2004, the Faroese post office issued a stamp including honoring the poem ''Grímur Kamban'' by Faroese poet

Janus Djurhuus Jens Hendrik Oliver Djurhuus, called Janus Djurhuus, (26 February 1881, Tórshavn – 1 September 1948, Tórshavn) was the first modern Faroese poet. He and his younger brother Hans Andreas Djurhuus, also a poet, are called the ''Áarstova'' ...

(1881–1948).

References

External links

Sverri Dahl: ''The Norse settlement of the Faroe Islands''
(Medieval Archaeology 14, 1970, London, s. 60–73) {{DEFAULTSORT:Grimur Kamban Viking explorers Norwegian explorers 9th-century Faroese people 9th-century Vikings

Settlement of the Faroe Islands

Name

Tribute

See also

References

Related reading

External links