More on flotoyggjar around the Faroe Islands, & older Danish texts, publ. on the 31/07/2026

This publication discusses aspects to the flotoyggjar I have not discussed before, which includes having not discussed these aspects in other recent publications about them, with this publication on this page being entirely separate from my other publications about them. I have written numerous other things recently regarding these flotoyggjar and have discussed much more on these topics before that, the other recent publications (unrelated to and separate from the one on this page, and with other examples and information) are: my article: On flotoyggjar, Valinor, Rocabarraigh & The Green Isle, publ. on the 26/07/2026, published on www.kielimatka-2-11.co.uk , my unrelated blog post: Cormorants and oystercatchers as guides to Undying Lands, publ. on the 29/07/2026 published on www.languages-of-linnunrata.co.uk and my unrelated blog post: On Russian folk beliefs, including the Жар-птица/Firebird, & related topics, publ. on the 28/07/2026, published as a different blog post on the website you are currently on (www.runic-serpent-777.co.uk). I have published many other recent thing with discussions on tsunamis and ancient flood, and related aspects to this, plus much more in the past on these islands and connected topics.

The extracts in this blog post are taken from the book Føroysk tjóðminni og ævintýr by Jakob Jakobsen, a book written mainly in the Faroese Language, but with certain parts using Danish text. In the chapter of this book Fyribrigdi í natúruni is the section Flotoyggjar 5 - J. C. Svabo um flotoyggjarnar, where is given an account account about "floating islands" written in late 18th Century Danish, in a work titled: Indberetninger fra en Reise i Færøe 1781 og 1782 1. by Hefte. J. Chr. Svabo, (Jens Christian Svabo, a Faroese linguist and recorder of Faroese cultural knowledge, who often wrote in Danish. In this blog post I also discuss other things and important information not found in old Danish texts. 

I have not translated this whole section in 18th Century Danish about the floating islands, but have translated certain parts of it that I feel are particularly relevant, beginning with the following below where Svabo refers to the work of another author Lucas Jacobsøn Debes, and what he says in his own book: Færøa reserata: 

Fra S. 19 til 22 er denne Forfatter fast i den Troe, at hvis "de ikke ere Iisbjerge fra Grønland, saa ere de Djevelens Spøgerie og Forkoglerie, hvilken i sig selv er en tusindfold Konstner.

- from page 19 to page 22, this author is firm in the belief, that if "they are not icebergs from Greenland, then they are the Devil's haunting and witchcraft, who in himself is a thousandfold/powerful Artist/creator".

This bit of Danish text uses many archaic words and spellings, for example the spelling of M. Danish isbjerg - "iceberg" as Iisbjerge (in the plural), the use of the term Spøgerie for "haunting", as well as the use of Forkoglerie for "witchcraft". You will also notice that the spelling has something more of a "German" feel, with some nouns ending in -ie and all nouns beginning with a capital. You will also notice the lack of the letter å, which was commonly represented in the past, and is here as aa. The plural form of at være - "to be" is ere in the present tense form, whereas er is used in the singular. The phrase which describes the Devil as en tusindfold Konstner is essentially describing him as a being of a thousand ways of demonstrating their art, a kind of polymath, in this case with the implication that this art is used to deceive people in multiple ways. Note some of this archaic use of language here no doubt comes from that Svabo is in part quoting from the earlier writer Lucas Jacobsøn Debes. As well as Iisbjerge the texts given on this page contain other examples of double vowels not found in Modern Danish spelling, such as seet given below, which in a sense make the spelling a little more German- or Dutch-like in other ways.

The next part reads as, in archaic but slightly less-archaic Danish in the written language of Svabo:

Han beretter videre, at Svinøen har været en Flyd-Øe. Jeg vil legge til, at det samme berettes om Store-Dimon, ja vel flere af de færøeske Øer - "he further tells, that Svínoy used to be a Float(ing)-Island. I will also add, that the same is said about Stóra Dímun, (and) indeed (about) more of the Faroe(se) Islands". 

Another part further down which I would like to translate and discuss is the following, where more reference is given to Lucas Jacobsøn Debes' works:

Man igjentager den Fortælning, som L. Debes sigter til, at der fra Kalsøen og Viderøen skal have været for mindre end 20 Aar siden seet en Flyd-Øe, den største Deel af Dagen. Denne berettes at have havt 2 Fjelde, et paa Syd- og et paa Nord-Enden, hvoraf det sydligere var mørkere, og troedes derfor at være begroet med Lyng. At den for Resten skulde være græs groet til Toppen, og have store rindende Aaer; det har alle færøeske Flyd-Øer til fælles med denne. Ligeledes beretter man endnu, skjønt længere hen i Tiden, at have seet slige Flyd-Øer fra Mygenes og Suder øen 

- people repeat the telling, which L. Debes refers to, that from Kalsoy and Viðoy there has (must have) been seen, since less than 20 years ago, a float(ing) island, for most of the day. This is said to have had two mountains, one in the south, and one on the north end, of which the southerly one was darker, and was thought therefore to be covered in heather. And that incidentally there was supposed to be grass grown to the top, and have big flowing streams, this all Faroese floating-islands have in common with this (one). In the same way people still tell, although further (back) in time, to have seen such floating-islands from Mykines and the Suðuroy. 

Note that the translations of the Danish I give in this blog post are intended to be readable easily in English but also to preserve Danish nuances of meaning, I put elements of the translation into brackets when the information in brackets is not direct translation word for word but the general implied meaning in English. There are other parts of this longer Danish text which I will translate and publish about in the future, in this blog post I have only translated, and only discuss, certain sections of it. 

What is particularly interesting here about the connection with Mykines, one of the Faroe Islands, is that also in the book Føroysk tjóðminni og ævintýr is the section: Flotoyggjar 3 - Mykines, wherein it is described (in Faroese and not in Danish) how Mykines was also said to have once been a floating island or flotoyggj. I find this, and the description in Danish of floating islands having been seen from Mykines, interesting in particular, in that Mykines is one of the Faroe Islands with evidence in the soil of a pre-Norse population. As I discussed in another, unrelated blog-post recently, and in other places recently with different examples, about a connection between other such islands and certain ancient peoples, this may also be the case here - that there is some kind of implied connection between these flotoyggjar and ancient, pre-Norse peoples in the Faroe Islands, in a similar vein to how "floating islands" are sometimes associated with the Fin-men in the Shetland Isles. The pre-Norse people of the Faroe Islands are often more associated with the Papar however; although the exact identity of the Papar, as I have stated elsewhere, is a mystery. 

It is also curious here how the flotoyggjar are described as having large streams or rivers. I find it very difficult to believe that these things sighted were just mirages, and I also think that Lucas Jacobsøn Debes' implication that they are the work of the Devil, is also an unfair judgement, when these islands are very clearly linked to their own magical ancestors and qualities which have nothing to do with the Christian idea of the Devil, although I suppose that Lucas Jacobsøn Debes was implying in a general way that anything that seems phantom-like, or not fitting into the physical laws of our World, must be the work of the Devil, which is also an unfair and in my opinion, completely wrong assumption. 

I have read a fair bit of the section Flotoyggjar 3 - Mykines - the parts I can understand, which is a fair bit of it, but I will not provide a translation for this in this blog post, although I will translate bits of it and publish them in the future. I wish also to translate something in Jakob Jakobsen's book about the easternmost of the Faroe Islands, Fugloy - "bird island", having also once been a flottoyggj, and the relevant part of the book also connect the island (as a flotoyggj) with the Faroese trøll, magical beings in the Faroe Islands translated generally, and etymologically meaning "troll", although the Faroese trøll - "trolls" are unique and not the same as all other uses of this root word throughout Germanic speaking cultures. This does again imply another example of a connection between these flotoyggjar and magical ancestral demigods and spirit beings, although in this instance they are connected to the Faroese trøll and not to Finns for instance. 

Often in Scotland for example, general reference to the "Norse" and what I call "pre-Norse" aspects to Scotland's history, archaeology and language, are generally explored through the standard method of studying the Icelandic sagas and historic written sources, often written with a bias. These things can tell us a lot of course, especially in terms of Iceland, but also in the the more contemporary and simultaneously ancient Icelandic folklore which is not recorded in the sagas. But the Faroe Islands and their folklore, and language, are arguably the closest living Nordic-speaking culture to Scotland, and the Faroe Island and Scotland have many linguistic and historic ties. And honestly, in my personal belief, if you are a Scottish person looking to connect to Norse history and to how the Norse and Goidelic (and other ancient) cultures interact, I would personally say that the Faroe Islands and Faroese language can tell and instruct much about these things which are less commonly explored, and which I wish to go still deeper into - at least in my opinion.

*Note that the "floating islands" described in these publications are not the same as the physical floating islands, like those historically found on Derwent Water in Cumbria for example, which are formed of vegetation and soil, and which float. The mythological, phantom floating islands that I discuss are much larger, and a much vaster and different topic - which is not to say that physical floating islands are not also fascinating in their own way

This blog post is dedicated to the mysterious trøll of the Faroese flotoyggjar, and to all who call the Faroe Islands home, in spirit and in physicality.