NORSE SURNAMES. Stromness: and family name Norse Origins. Otkell, Son of Skarf

Stromness; and family name Norse origins.

The main town is Stromness, an old Viking layout with the curved streets to defeat the winds, old cobbles. For more on Stromness, see www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/stromness/stromness/index.

Look up your birth name.

We found name-roots in Skarfskerry, Scotland, across the water; and scraeb. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changes_to_Old_English_vocabulary-"

Cormorant was in the Old English vocabulary, 1320 Scrabster, then to Skarfskerry and Skarfr listed in Viking Men's Names at www.vikinganswerlady.com/ONMensNames. Skarfr green cormorant.
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Note to self on progress. Self?

We are reading old sagas.

In the Old Icelandic, for Skarfr, we went to www.northvegr.org/zoega/h369.php; and to the Old Irish (Vikings going a-viking) as Skafr at listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0307&L=old-irish-l&T=0&P=11459. Old Irish skafr for cormorant also. Icelandic Saga of Burnt Njall: son of Skarf: this is a limited quote for educational purposes that should not offend any copyright.

"...here was a man named Otkell; he was the son of Skarf, the son of Hallkell, who fought with Grim of Grimsness, and felled him on the holm. (1) This Hallkell and Kettlebjorn the Old were brothers.
Otkell kept house at Kirkby; his wife's name was Thorgerda; she was a daughter of Mar, the son of Runolf, the son of Naddad of the Faroe Isles. Otkell was wealthy in goods. His son's name was Thorgeir; he was young in years, and a bold dashing man."

From www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/epics/TheStoryofBurntNjal/chap47.Son of Skarf.
Find a readable total version in paragraph form, see (our excerpt is from section 47. OF OTKELL IN KIRKBY) the Northvegr.org site at ://www.northvegr.org/lore/njal/017.php/.

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Skarfs around in Iceland, then scharfes in Ireland, earliest 1516 - back to Scotland; then off to Australia. What's in a name? John and Ann Scharf immigrated from Kilkenny to Ottawa River Valley, Ontario. Scariff - An Scairbh, Ireland at www.tageo.com/index-e-ei-v-03-d-447477.htm">An Scairbh, County Clare, alt.name Scariff. See also walks.iwai.ie/derg/scariff/ the site for Walks at Scariff. Linking back to ourselves, Ireland Road Ways.

NORSE SURNAMES. Surname roots - skarf, scarf, scharfe, scharf, cormorant, iron-forger

Finding roots - recreation only. A birth name, Scharfe, with connections to the Shetlands and Iceland. See this fair-use quote (the whole thing is very long) at www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook.manxb. Do a search there for skarf. We had thought the name was somehow Irish, because in 1840, a Scharf pair (the e was later added for the convenience of the post office in Ottawa, Canada, to keep the households separate) came to Canada from Kilkenny.

"Scarff.Dr. Vigfusson suggests this name is probably derived (O.N.) skarð, ' a mountain . Then there is a reference to "see Gill"

SKARF is common in local names in Iceland, and we find scarf-gap in Cumberland, so that the surname may have been taken from one of the places so called. Other possible derivations are from skarði, 'hare-lip,' a nickname which was a frequent Danish proper name on Runic stones, or from skarf, 'a cormorant' which is used as a nickname in the Landndmaboc. The cormorant is still called the Scarf' in the Shetlands. SCHARF is found in the Hundred Rolls.

The name is now far less common.

MacSkerffe [1408], Skerf [1417], MacSkarff [1511], Scarff [1620]." [add Scaife? looks similar]

And another: ://www.northvegr.org/lore/landnamabok/019.php:

"45. This word Skard occurs often in the Book of Settlement and is worthy of special note as entering into the origin of many place names. Skard, as a common noun, means (1) a notch or chink in the edge of a thing, (2) a mountain pass, as in the phrase 'vestr yfir skordin' = west over the mountain passes; with this meaning it is used of the place names in the text, and also as the origin of many names in Iceland, e.g., Skard, Skord, Skardverjar = the men from Scard, Skardaleid = the way through Skard or the mountain pass (compare Scarf Gap, a pass in Cumberland). Skardsheidr, Skardsstrond, Vatnsdal's Skard, Ljosavatns Skard, Kerlingar Skard, Haukadale Skard, Geita Skard."

These quoted references are a small portion of the whole, so are fair use. If you disagree, let me know - not looking for difficulties and copyright is impossible to fathom.

For the Norse heading to Ireland, see http://irelandroadways.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html.