"Inger Eik" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>... > I'm asking on behalf of a friend whose last name is Furholt. He lives in > southern Norway, in the county of Aust-Agder, and his name comes from the > name of his farm, which is very old. He got a photo sent from Iceland by a > friend, showing a road sign with the place name Næfurholt. This is situated > somewhere south east of Reykjavik. > > The question is: Does anyone have any knowledge on how to find out where the > people came from, who named that place? He would of course be very > interested to find out if they could have been settlers from Norway, from > his part of the country. Næfurholt is probably the closest farm to Hekla. According to Landnáma, this area was settle by a woman named Þórunn. She was from Telemark, so not very far from Aust-Agder. Landnáma does not actually state the name of her farm, but it's likely to have been Næfurholt. The oldest known mention of Næfurholt is from ca. 1200. Note that at that time there wouldn't have been any u in it and the æ would have been an oe ligature. So the name would have been Noefrholt. The word næfur refers to the outermost layer of a tree bark and holt is a forested area. Wouldn't a name like that rather have evolved into something like Nøfrholt or even Nøfholt in Norway? In my opinion, any connection to Furholt is tenuous at best. -- Halldór Árnason

Halldór Árnason wrote: > > Note that at that time there wouldn't have been any u in it and the æ > would have been an oe ligature. So the name would have been > Noefrholt. The word næfur refers to the outermost layer of a tree > bark and holt is a forested area. Wouldn't a name like that rather > have evolved into something like Nøfrholt or even Nøfholt in Norway? 'næfr' is 'never' in modern Norwegian (nynorsk and bokmål). There are a large number of farm names beginning with Never- (sometimes written Næver-). There is even a Neverholt (in Surnadal, Møre og Romsdal). > In my opinion, any connection to Furholt is tenuous at best. ....or none... except that both are a holt, small forest ot group of trees; Furholt is a group of pines ('furu'), and Neverholt most likely a group of birches ('næfr' is found on birches) Old Þórunn (or someone else) probably found a 'holt' of birches that could provide her with 'næfr'; thus Næfrholt.

"Ivar S. Ertesvåg" <[email protected]> skrev i melding news:[email protected] > > > Halldór Árnason wrote: > > > > > Note that at that time there wouldn't have been any u in it and the æ > > would have been an oe ligature. So the name would have been > > Noefrholt. The word næfur refers to the outermost layer of a tree > > bark and holt is a forested area. Wouldn't a name like that rather > > have evolved into something like Nøfrholt or even Nøfholt in Norway? > > 'næfr' is 'never' in modern Norwegian (nynorsk and bokmål). > There are a large number of farm names beginning with Never- > (sometimes written Næver-). There is even a Neverholt (in Surnadal, > Møre og Romsdal). > > > In my opinion, any connection to Furholt is tenuous at best. > > ....or none... > except that both are a holt, small forest ot group of trees; > Furholt is a group of pines ('furu'), and Neverholt most likely a > group of birches ('næfr' is found on birches) > > Old Þórunn (or someone else) probably found a 'holt' of birches that > could provide her with 'næfr'; thus Næfrholt. Thanks for the answers, which I'll report back to my friend. -- MVH Inger