Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1970, Page 178

186
Faroese Bird-Name Origins
obvious similarity likely to cause confusion. We note, how-
ever, that the grebe is a rare species in the Faroes and
consequently little known — — there is some evidence that
gjøðr is a locally established name------and in matters like
this there is constantly the possibility that the identification
may be based on a misunderstanding at some stage. Fíowever
that may be, we confidently claim bárufjatla as a one-time
name for the stormy petrel.
Bárufjarta, etc. ‘stormy petrel’
The Suðuroy word bárufjatla (above) can hardly be se-
parated from another name from the same island, bárafjertur
‘little auk’, recorded by Mohr (Dictionarium Færoense, i, 37
“baarafiertur”), or from the Fugloy forms bárufjarta, -fjarti,
-fjertur, noted down as noa expressions once in use for the
stormy petrel. Cognates occur in Norw. baarafjært, etc.,
where the prevailing sense seems to have been ‘little auk’, a
sense which again appears to be attested for Faroese in
Clusius’ “Barufiard”, cf. FBN, 66.
The first task is to evaluate the evidence for the meaning
‘little auk’ against the evidence for the contrary meaning
‘stormy petrel’. The meaning given in Fugloy, the parallel
with Suðuroy bárufjatla, the likely philology of the word
and, last but not least, the ornithological considerations compel
us to interpret bárufjarta, etc., as ‘wave-walker’ and hence to
define it as properly denoting the petrel only, with the rider
that any other meaning must needs be secondary. The petrel
and auk concerned are by far the smallest of seabirds, which
presumably facilitates an interchange of meaning, cf. Far.
havtyrðil (above).
As to the philology we cannot yet, it seems, adequately
interpret the forms of the type -fjarta, -fjertur, but it is hard
to avoid the conclusion that they must contain a derivative
of fara ‘go, walk’. The occurrence of radical ja beside je is
reminiscent of a sound change in Continental Scandinavian,