Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1970, Síða 180

188
Faroese Bird-Name Origins
origin outside the Scandinavian world. The range of the black
guillemot has brought it into the ken of the Russians, whose
name for the bird is cistik. The standard authority, M. Vasmer,
Russ. etym. Wb., does not list this word, so that details are
wanting, but its general affinity with Scandinavian as an
onomatopoeic creation seems self-evident.
De Vries, Altnord. etym. Wb., had the advantage of being
able to draw on the conclusions of the earlier workers menti-
oned, yet he felt able to say no more than “man vermutet ein
schallnachahmendes wort”. However, there is finally the
ineluctable testimony of the object itself. It is not merely that
the black guillemot makes a whistling noise, as Hellquist was
content to state. The really crucial fact is that the soft, but
very audible, whistle of the black guillemot distinguishes it
from all other birds, in particular from all other seabirds. It
is the u n i q u e n e s s of its voice which gave the bird its
name.
Spógvi ‘whimbrel’
It has not been the practice in these studies to consider the
etymologies of Old Norse prototypes in cases where the
filiation of the Faroese was obvious, since such information
is readily available. Admittedly, many outstanding problems
of Old Norse etymology remain, and in the following we shall
dispute an etymology which has found general acceptance and
then suggest the correct solution.
Both Numenius phæopus and N. arquata often go under
one popular name, for although there is a difference in size,
the species are very much alike in appearance and behaviour.
Icelanders, for instance, may refer to them indiscriminately
as spói; if they must distinguish them, then the names become
litli spói and stóri spói respectively. The Faroese equivalent
spógvi is, however, attached to N. phæopus, the breeding
species in the Faroes; N. arquata, only a winter visitor, is
technically tangspógvi lit. ‘seaweeđ-spógvi’.