IslayBlog.com -> 2007 ->
03/Apr/2007
Islay in Old Swedish Encyclopedia
Again and again I'm impressed about all the fascinating things I find about Islay on the internet. Yesterday I found the Nordisk Familjebook, a project to scan an old Swedish encyclopedia published in two editions from 1876-1926 (English preface). I think you can guess where this is leading to, I obviously looked up the entry for Islay:
I couldn't find anything in the first edition, but it looks much better in the second edition. In the twelfth volume, Hyperemi - Johan, Islay is listed on page 947-948, Islandsfalken-isleifr.
Islay [åYléi], den sydligaste ön bland Hebriderna, s. v. om ön Jura, från hvilken den skiljes genom det 3 km. breda Islay-sundet, tillhör skotska grefsk. Argyle. 606 kvkm. 7,805 inv. (1901). 1831 hade ön 14,992 inv. Pen norra delen af ön är bergig, och längs östra kusten går en bergås af ända till 470 m. höjd, men de centrala och västra delarna äro tämligen jämna. Det är den rikaste och mest produktiva af alla Hebriderna och kallas därför "Hebridernas drottning", men en stor del, öfver 150 kvkm., upptages af torfmossar, ön har järn, koppar och bly. Hufvudprodukter äro nötkreatur, får och brännvin. Hufvudort är byn Bowmore vid Loch Indaal. Omkr. 900 inv. (J. F. N.)
I know a tiny bit of Swedish, in combination with my English and German as well as my knowledge of Islay (not to forget a bit of help from an online Swedish-English dictionary) I'll have a go at translating it into English. Here's what I make of it, if any Swedish speaker is reading this please feel free to tell me of any major errors:
Islay, the most southerly of the Hebrides, south west from Jura, separated by the 3km wide Sound of Islay, belongs to the Scottish county Argyll. 606 km2. 7,805 inhabitants (1901). In 1831 it had 14,992 inhabitants. The northern part is hilly and near the eastern coast is a hill with a height of 470 metres, but the central and western parts are mainly flat. This is the richest and most productive part of the Hebrides and is therefore called ‘Queen of the Hebrides’, even though a large part, over 150 km2, consists of peat, there are iron, copper and lead reserves. Main products are cattle, sheep and spirit (alcohol). The capital is Bowmore on Loch Indaal. 900 inhabitants.
Apart from the number of people living on Islay (to my knowledge the number of permanent residents is currently around 3,500) not too much would need to be changed or updated if the entry was published today.
PS: If you are Swedish (or speak fluent Swedish), the project is looking for proofreaders to help reviewing the results from OCR processing. I think you'll have to register, but then it seems to work similar to a Wiki and utilises a similar technology.
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