"Stóparnir" í Dufansdal

Abstract

The article deals with the place name Stópar (or Stóbar) in Dufansdalur in North-West Iceland. According to the medieval text of The Book of Settlement (Landnáma), the area around Dufansdalur was settled by people of Celtic origin. In Celtic sources, the word stob refers to ‘a small top, point or peak’, and is commonly seen in hill names. A similar word also exists in Faroese, the masculine noun stópur meaning ‘something that sticks out’ or ‘a small hill’. If the account of a Celtic settlement in Dufansdalur is to be believed, it is not unlikely that the Icelandic place name Stópar and the Faroese noun stópur share the same Celtic origin.