Saturday, November 12, 2011

Einvist (Rockall)


In 1956 the British scientist James Fisher eferred to the island as "the most isolated small rock in the oceans of the world." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockall
I tried out different names like draugadrangur or Einsemdarsker, but I think I've now found a more elaborated one based on two aspects of the rock: Its remoteness and its relation to some the nearest Scottish Islands, the Hebrides. Rockall could be seen as the superlative of St Kilda, the outermost archipel of the Outer Hebrides. Rockall is proportionate to the Hebrides what X-rays are to the visible spectrum (St Kilda is in the ultraviolet region). Rockall is to Scotland what Kolbeinsey is to Iceland, but I can't useany part of the Icelandic name here.
No, the things is, Rockall lies very close to the same latitude as North Uist, Which was called Ívist by the Norseman (According to the English Wikipedia Article about North Uist, the earlier name was Innivist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Uist . It is possible to create a pun on the Old Norse name of the island: Einvist, which should emphasize the remoteness of this peculiar skerry. I wouldn't make constructions like Einvistardrangur in order not to ruin the word-play on Ívist.
North Uist. Latitude: 57° 40′n /
South Uist site information: Latitude: 57.333
Rockall Island is at latitude 57.61ºN

Well, actually, it isn't exactly situated on the very same latitude as Ívist, but somewhat halfway the Island of Lewis (Ljóðhús), but it still close enough to the island for the relevance of the pun.

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