Trom: The Edge of a Cliff

A little while ago I became intrigued by the word "trom," I guessed it was Scandinavian in origin. Indeed, my best guess was that it was Danish. As I love words I sought their meaning and discovered it was in fact Faroese. I never knew that such a language existed, and I felt quite exhilarated. The translation is found in the heading of this "post," i.e. "the edge of a cliff." I next needed to learn as much as I possibly could about this language, and perhaps a little of the geography of the Faroe Islands too. My primary objective was to discover if there were any translations of the Scriptures in the Faroese tongue. I confess my knowledge of the Faroes was limited to listening to the Shipping Forecast broadcast on the "wireless" by the BBC back in the 1950s. And I had assumed, mistakenly, that the Islands "belonged" to Great Britain, when in fact they still remain a possession of Denmark.

My search however was not in vain, on the contrary, it was to prove wonderful to me. Much of the material I found is readily available to all who are interested, Wikipedia is especially helpful. Chapter 9 of Volume 8 in the series "That The World May Know," authored by F.A. Tatford although brief is rich in content.

I will desist from giving details about the geography, climate, and other aspects of the Islands, to concentrate on the Faroese translations of the Bible. 

Until recent years the Faroese people did not have a written language. The first dictionary was published in 1928, and so a Faroese translation of the Bible was not published until 1949 after he had re-edited the entire manuscript into a more contemporary Faroese language, The first manuscript for his translation was in fact ready in 1939 but the invasion of Norway by Hitler, where the Bible was to be printed, was on hold until the war was over.

This first translation was the faithful and diligent work of Victor Danielsen, (see photo), who was born in the settlement of Soldarfjarour on the Faroese Island of Eysturoy in 1894. In 1916 Victor quit the established Faroese People's Church and became identified with the Broorasamkoman, the Faroese (Plymouth) Brethren. He married in 1920, and he and his wife moved to Fuglafjorour where he worked full-time in the Siloa Assembly.

In 1930 the Assembly in Torshavn requested Danielsen to translate the Epistle to the Galatians into the Faroese language. His translation was enthusiastically received, and he was prevailed upon to translate the entire New Testament. This labour of love was completed in March 1937 just a few weeks before Jakob Dahl's translation which had been authorised by the Faroese People's Church.

Victor Danielsen had no knowledge of either Hebrew or Greek, but he was fluent in Faroese, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, German, and English. So he based his translation on every version available to him, using the Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, two German, two English, and Icelandic Bibles in creating his version.

A second translation of the Bible into Faroese was sponsored by the state church and was published in the 1960's. For this version, the translators worked from the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts.

A statue honouring Victor Danielsen was erected on a small plaza on the main street entering Fuglafjorour around about 2008. Victor was "called home" there in 1961.

Another instance of the extraordinary debt the universal Assembly owes to this remarkable movement of the Holy Spirit. I feel humbled and elated at being privileged to be identified with "Brethren,"