Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2005, Page 61

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER (GAVIA IMMER) IN CIRCUMPOLAR FOLK ORNITHOLOGY 59
Orkney name as emmer-goose (Marwick,
1929: 38). It is known as immer goose in
the Shetland Islands (Saxby, 1874: 275).
This Norn name is also found in the Fou-
la place-name Imberskerry (Lockwood,
1971: 54). The Irish called it imber diver,
while the Scots named it ammer or emmer
goose (Swainson, 1886: 213).
In German it has been called Imber,
Hymber and Himbríne, in Danish imber
and havimber, in Swedish imber, hymber
and havhymber and in French imbrím.
However, these names are probably not
tblk names, but loan words through hand-
books and ornithological literature. Before
it received its present scientific name, Ga-
via immer, it had various other names in
that language, e.g. Colymbus glacialis,
Colymbus immer, Colymbus maximus,
Gavia torquata and Urinator imber (Sun-
devall and Kinberg, 1885: 1068-1070;
Hantzsch, 1905: 99).
More names in Iceland and the Faroes
A name of quite a different origin appeared
in the 17th century too; that is brúsi, a
masculine word used locally in north and
north-east Iceland (Olafsen, 1772: 556;
Mohr, 1786: 26; Davíðsson, 1894: 282;
Grondal, 1887: 589; Thoroddsen, 1933:
512). It means ‘roarer’ or ‘surfer’ or ‘the
bird that goes high up, or lifts itself’, or
‘the big one’. Closely related to the noun
brúsi is the verb brúsa ‘to rise’, ‘to boil’,
‘to elevate’, ‘to get rough’, and a neutral
noun coming from that verb, brús ‘foam’
(Lockwood, 1971: 56; Magnússon, 1989:
87).
From the 18th century there exists the
variation of Danish spelt bruuse (Olafsen,
1772: 556) and bruse (Mohr, 1786: 26).
Since the early 20th century the Icelandic
classification for the diver family (Gavii-
dae) is brúsaætt. And still another name
corning from yet another direction is perrí-
kráka, meaning ‘the bird [actually crow
or raven] predicting dry weather’ or ’the
weather prophet’ (Valdimarsdóttir, 1989:
324-325; Ægisson, 1996: 51).
Nowadays the Faroe Islanders use the
denomination havgás ‘ocean goose’, a
bird still well known among local fisher-
men. It seems to be a unique name with-
out correspondence in other Nordic lan-
guages. Lockwood supposes that havgás
was originally a taboo name, which has
replaced the older word imbrimil in many
places (Lockwood, 1961: 65).
From Suðuroy two more names have
been recorded. One is helsiont (‘collar
duck’), recorded by Mikkjal á Ryggi, and
explained as a name for a ‘great northern
diver in summer plumage’, while the other
is helsión, which is a ‘great northern diver
in fully developed plumage’ (Lockwood,
1961: 65-66).
Traditional folk knowledge
Fishermen in north-western Europe asso-
ciated this solitaire large diver, which they
encountered at sea, with many beliefs. Its
loud call emphasizes that the great north-
ern diver was a special bird. The call is
remarkable and has been compared to
“humans cry for help, in distress at sea”
(Faber, 1822: 58; Nilsson, 1835: 489).
Some beliefs and habits were of course
shared with other diver species. The Brit-