Hundaþúfa

Today, November 16th, we celebrate Icelandic Language Day on the birthday of Jónas Hallgrímsson. Jónas was a prolific writer, poet and translator (November 16, 1807 – May 26, 1845).

On this occasion, I'd like to tell you about a dog-related word. In questionnaire #66 in the Sarpur collection, people are asked about the word hundaþúfa. The respondents were born between 1896 and 1927.

Hundaþúfa refers to cone-shaped grass tussocks that formed along riding paths, enriched by dog droppings. These distinctive mounds became well-known landmarks in rural Iceland when everyone traveled on foot or horseback with their dogs. Plural: hundaþúfur.

"Hundaþúfur were well known. Were other names used for them? Describe this. Do people know the saying: 'Now I think the hundaþúfa is starting to show off'?"

All interviewees answered similarly to this woman, born in 1905:

"In those days, everyone was traveling on foot or horseback with dogs along. Cone-shaped tussocks were found widely along riding paths, they were called hundaþúfur. I haven't heard other names for these distinctive tussocks. When dogs needed to relieve themselves, they ran to these distinctive cone-shaped tussocks. The grass was dark green and lush because of the fertilizer from the droppings. Horses, cows and sheep made little effort to graze on the grass of hundaþúfur."

One woman, born in 1908, answered: "As a child, I was afraid of hundaþúfur, because they were the dogs' toilets."

This verse appeared in the answers from a man, born in 1904:

Hundaþúfan er höldum kunn
hér á landi víða.
Eðlishvötin á þeim runn
læt ég hana bíða.

(The hundaþúfa is surely known / widely here in the land. / The natural urges at that spot / I let her wait for.)

About the saying "Now I think the hundaþúfa is starting to show off," the most common response was:

"I'm familiar with hearing that, 'this is quite the hundaþúfa,' was said about something that was small and insignificant or trivial." (Woman, born 1912)

"Well known is the expression: 'Now I think the hundaþúfa is starting to show off.' It was often said about arrogant men who thought themselves important but others felt they had little to boast about." (Woman 1907)

A man, born in 1899, answers: "I have always heard the word hundaþúfa used in a derogatory sense, such as 'there's a difference between a hilltop and a hundaþúfa.'"

"I don't remember hearing or seeing other sayings about hundaþúfur in books. Though it may be that I have at some point heard it used disparagingly about a...poor turf house, built of inferior materials, e.g. 'this damn hundaþúfa.'"

I end this hundaþúfa compilation on Icelandic Language Day with a verse by Steingrímur Thorsteinsson (1831-1913), author, translator and poet:

Hundaþúfan hreykti kamb
hún var nóg með þurradramb,
skamma tók hún hefðar fjall,
hafðu skömm þú ljóti kall.

Fjallið þagði, það ég skil, það
viss'ei að hún var til.

(The hundaþúfa showed off its crest / it was enough with its dry boasting, / briefly it took on the mountain's tradition, / be ashamed you ugly fellow. // The mountain stayed silent, I understand that, it / knew not that she existed.)