Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1964, Page 43

Postscript to The Faroese Bird Names
51
this background we may reconsider the Faroese names
mávur and mási. Clearly, the former belongs to the oldest
stratum, but the latter, though now dominant, appears as
an intruder. We therefore feel entitled to regard Far. mási
as a loan word from Norwegian.
Ógvella
I have argued for the onomatpoeic origin of the name
ógvella ‘longstailed duck’ (Faroese Bird Names, pp. 10—11),
thus implying that the Icelandic form haferla Iit. ‘sea wag*
tail’ is not the primary name but a secondary creation due
to popular etymology. I have since had access to the
material being collected for the projected Tiernamenwórter=
buch of the Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften,
Berlin.
This material contains three names from German dialect
which have connections with our Scandinavian name. The
first is Aulit, from SchleswigíHolstein; this word is clearly
identical with Older Danish havelit and will belong to the
Danish substratum. The other forms, from unspecified
localities, are Auliek and Hauliek, which can hardly be
anything else than varieties of the first word. It would be
possible, of course, to interpret the last as ‘hau gleich’, but
such an interpretation would be secondary. Onomatopoeia
is here primary.
The rich German material confirms, in a general way,
the theory of the onomatopoeic origin of the name. In
winter*time, the long*tailed duck visits the Baltic coast of
Germany in large flccks. The bird is thus well known and
has acquired many local names. Its raucous call is prover*
bial and regarded as a sign that spring is not far away.
Such a bird is a popular visitor and has been given the
familiar name Klashahn, containing the Christian name
Klaus. The name occurs in many variations, one of which
Klasklasaudelitt is reminiscent of the Scandinavian. Other»
wise the German names for this duck refer mainly either