A bit of Language Log

This is probably evidence of me being such a geek that I can't even help doing linguistics in my spare time. But oh well, here goes.

The ferry from Norway to the Faroes got into a spell of bad weather over the weekend. One of the propellor engines ended up above water, turned itself off in an emergency procedure, another engine gave up because it couldn't deal with the extra demand, the whole ship turned at a right angle to the direction of the waves and started tilting back and forth, oscillating between 45 degrees either side. Not nice, and I don't think I'll take a ferry across the North Atlantic any time soon.

Today, Faroese news carries a story about two Danish for whom this was their first ferry experience, and who thought the whole ordeal was unpleasant, but apparently a necessary part of the trip. (Subtext: silly Danes who've never been on a boat before!)

Tvey av ferðafólkunum við Norrönu hendan nú famøsa túrin vóru ikki serliga bangin. Tað var nevniliga fyrstu ferð tey sigldu, og tí vistu tey ikki, at tey upplivdu nakað út yvir tað vanliga.

The bit in red took a while to parse. I wanted it to read "on Norröna's now famous trip", but couldn't figure out the possessive construction. Whether you use a defunct genitive or a way cooler accusative possessive construction, the possessor would typically follow the possessed NP, and that NP would not be definite (as the possessive construction itself makes it definite). The accusative one also doesn't work because it's restricted to familial relations – although it would be cool to see it spread to other relations as well...

After a while I realized, slightly disappointed, that we have two separate adjuncts, a PP við Norrönu and a temporal accusative NP hendan nú famøsa túrin. Maybe it's still cool that they're using a noun with very little temporal semantic content in that way? (Trying desperately to salvage the situation.)

Also,

Donsku hjúnini ætla sær at sigla niður aftur til Danmarkar.

"Down to Denmark" – now would that be because it's further South, or because Denmark (highest point 120 metres or so) is actually a lot lower than the Faroes (880 m)? Or actually, seeing as they still do directions with Norway as a point of reference (útnyrðingur 'north-west', landsynningur 'south-east'), might it have to do with Norway being even higher (2400 m, I think it was)?

And,

Tey eru annars komin heim at vitja vinfólk í Føroyum.

Interesting use of the word heim there. Obviously, the Faroes are not "home" to our friends, because if it were, they would most certainly have been on a boat before. They did not come home to visit friends in the Faroes, but they left home to do so. But apparently, the Faroes are "home" whichever way you look at it.


* Finally, samstundis sum dótturin spýið maga og merg úr sær which is a cool expression: to spit stomach and marrow out of yourself. I was wondering why there was a past participle spýið, because surely this was not a counterfactual and the little girl actually sicked all over the North Atlantic, but it's a typo for spýði, which is a boring past tense. (The infinitive is spýggja, which in turn is cool because of the skerping.)
** Bedtime now.