Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1955, Page 25

Soppur í føroyskum og sopp í írskum
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cf. the compound leiksoppur which, however, is always used in a
figurative sense. The special meaning «float (on a fishing net)» is at»
tested from )>ingeyjarsýsla. In modern Icelandic svoppr appears as
sveppur and means «fungus». Thus we observe that the sense «wisp
of hay» found in Far. and Shetl. has no parallel elsewhere in Scans
dinavian, but on the other hand it is strikingly like the meaning of
Gaelic sop (E. Ir. sopp). We can add that Wight, Engl. Dial. Dict.i
records from the English of the Isle of Man sap precisely whith the
same application as in Far. and Shetl. It is possible that the Faroese
expressions fara á soppin, vera búgvin á soppin — which refer
to a woman about to give birth — are calques on Gaelic, but of this
we cannot be certain until we have evidence that Irish uses sop in a
similar way. At all events we may assert that the sense of Gaelic sop(p)
«wisp of hay» entered Faroese and Shetland Norn in the Viking Age
;n the same way as such everyday words as Icel. tarfur, Far. tarvur
— cf. Gael. tarbh «bull», and Orkney Norn blatho, Shetl. bleddik,
Far. blak (older Far. *blaðak) — cf. Gael. bláthach «buttermilk».