Ann Naddodsdóttir (; fl. c. 10th century) was possibly a daughter of Naddoddr, the

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

attributed with the discovery of

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

Bressay Stone

Her name may appear on a gravestone outside the cemetery of a church in

Bressay Bressay is a populated island in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland. Geography and geology Bressay lies due south of Whalsay, west of the Isle of Noss, and north of Mousa. With an area of , it is the fifth-largest island in Shetland. The po ...

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

. In 1864, a stone slab was found outside the cemetery, dating from the early 10th century. The slab features carved

Christian cross The Christian cross, seen as representing the crucifixion of Jesus, is a religious symbol, symbol of Christianity. It is related to the crucifix, a cross that includes a ''corpus'' (a representation of Jesus' body, usually three-dimensional) a ...

es and decorations of

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n origin on the front and back faces. It also has various lettering carved along the edges in the

ogham Ogham (also ogam and ogom, , Modern Irish: ; , later ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish language ( scholastic ...

alphabet. In 1996, Celtic historian Katherine Forsyth from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

managed to decipher the text as part of her Ph.D. dissertation.Katherine S. Forsyth: ''The Ogham Inscriptions of Scotland. An Edited Corpus''. Harvard University Dissertation, Cambridge, Mass. 1996 One text says *" → CRRO CC (gaelic for "cross") *"" → NAHHTVVDDA D *"" → DATTRR (Norse for "daughter") *"" → N - And the other says: *"" → BEN ES MEQQ DDR NN (MEQQ is Gaelic for "Mac", son-of) It mentions the following names: Nahhtvdda d, Ben es, Ddr nn :''See

Ogham inscriptions Ogham (also ogam and ogom, , Modern Irish: ; , later ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish language ( scholastic ...

'' According to Dr. Forsyth (and other previous scientists) it can be translated in

Old Norwegian Old Norwegian ( and ), also called Norwegian Norse, is an early form of the Norwegian language that was spoken between the 11th and 14th century; it is a transitional stage between Old West Norse and Middle Norwegian. Its distinction from O ...

to: "HER: KROSSUR: NADDODDSDÓTTIR: ANN" and: "(AV) BEINIR SONUR DRÓIN" Dr. Forsyth (2020) has also noted the possibility of ''DATTRR'' representing a

Pictish Pictish is an extinct Brittonic Celtic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from late antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geog ...

cognate of

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

''duxtir'', likewise meaning "daughter".Forsyth, Katherine - Protecting a Pict?: Further thoughts on the inscribed silver chape from St Ninian’s Isle, Shetland. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (2020) p. 11

Descendant theory

Forsyth says that this Ann Naddodsdóttir was a Faroese Viking. The son Beinir Dróinsson (MacDroan) who raised the grave might be identical to Beinir Sigmundsson who according to

Færeyinga saga ''Færeyinga saga'' (; Danish: ''Færingesagaen''), the saga of the Faroe Islanders, is the story of how the Faroes were converted to Christianity and became a part of Norway. Summary The saga was written in Iceland shortly after 1200. The auth ...

was the brother of Brestir Sigmundsson who together ruled their own half of the Faroe Islands. They both died in 970. Brestir's son

Sigmundur Brestisson Sigmundur Brestisson (961–1005) was a Faroese Viking chieftain, and was responsible for introducing Christianity to the Faroe Islands in 999. He is one of the main characters of the Færeyinga saga. According to the Færeyinga saga, emigrant ...

apparently introduced Christianity to the Faroe Islands in 999. If this is true Sigmundur was already of Christian faith at birth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naddodsdottir, Ann 10th-century Faroese people 10th-century Icelandic women People associated with Shetland