Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1976, Page 67

Faroese Bird-Name Origins (VI)
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fróur og kátur, syngur bæSi árla og síðla, og syngur fagrast av
øllum Føroya fuglum — og so harðmælt hatta lítla er! But
alas! this sweet song is poor comfort, for it portends more rain.
That is why the wren has the(|picknames váti skalli and vatn-
skøltur.
We have evidently identified the milieu in which the epithet
morreyði became closely attached to the wren (following the
masculine gender of already existing músabróðir). With the
subsequent creation of the semantically more transparent mor-
títlingur, there appeared a prosaic competitor with clear advan-
tages over músabróðir which, though traditional and apposite,
is nevertheless an unusual sort of bird name.
Stórfuglur
This collective term for guillemots and razorbills is discussed
in FBN, 70, and characterised as a term likely to have arisen
in fowler’s parlance. This aspect we now endeavour to bring
into sharper focus.
First, the motivation. We note that the two species are com-
monly named as one and this appears to be traditional, cf.
synonymous svartføtti, further the parallel use of Icel. svart-
fugl (Fróð., xxii, 110), and of course the two species regularly
consort and may, in popular use, go under a single name, as
e. g. Eng. murre. But neither is by any stretch of the imagination
the largest bird known in the Faroes. On the other hand, if
we are dealing with a fowling term, then other considerations
can apply, and here a remark from the oldest source for the
name seems to confirm this. The source in question is R. H.
Resen, Færøerne, ms. from c. 1673, as follows (Færoensia ix,
48 f.): Lomviven er ret en stor Fugl, saaat den og derfore af
Færøerne kaldes Stor Fugl, but in the parallel Latin text we
find Lomviven, avis satis magna: ut ideo Færoensibus vocetur
storfugel sive avis magna per excellentiam. The addition ‘per
excellentiam’ suggests that economic interests are involved.
This being so, stórfuglur ‘big bird’ may be understood as a