Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1977, Qupperneq 10

18
Some traces of Gaelic in Faroese
Matras2): hann svimur sum selur (er en god svømmer), feitur
sum selur(in) (lasket og fed). This circumstance proves that
the phrases are traditional. The latter recalls ON selfeitr, still
in Mod. Icel. selfeitur ‘smækfed’ (Bløndal), certainly a very
idiomatic word, cf. selfeitur hestur (Zoega). At Álmanakki,
29, it was noted that feitur sum selur agrees exactly with Ir.
chomh ramhar le rón. We would add that the Irish is as much
a set phrase as the Faroese, idiomatically equivalent to Eng.
‘fat as a pig’, so T. de Bhaldraithe, English-Irish Dict., 245.
There can be no doubt then that the Irish is also traditional.
And the same will naturally be true of the corresponding
Sc. Gael. cho reamhar ris an róin (A. R. Forbes, Gaelic
Names, 210).
In his essay, Chr. Matras was reluctant to place too much
emphasis on the correspondence to which he had himself
drawn attention, since other suspected connections with Gaelic
in the sphere of seal-hunting igrúkur, etc.) remained conjec-
tural. We hope, however, that our present contribution has
helped to transform inspired conjecture into philological cert-
ainty. In these circumstances, and in the light of what can
otherwise be deduced about Far. feitur sum selur and its Gaelic
peers, it is now evident that these expressions are indeed
related, and the presumption is — on balance — that the Celt
was the giver.
It is not our suggestion that influences were necessarily one-
way. Thus Sc. Gael. briomal ‘male seal’ is from ON brimill,
certainly native Norse as it is etymologisable in terms of
Germanic, the literal sense being ‘roarer’; Irish has tarbh lit.
‘bull’. At the same time, one would need to admit that this
may well be a Norse relic absorbed by the advancing Gaelic
as Norse speech declined rather than a true borrowing. There
may be other linguistic traces of Gaelic-Norse contact in this
sphere. It seems noteworthy that the Faroese use of a special
term tvøst to denote the meat of seals or whales, thus distinct
from the general term for meat kjøt, is exactly paralleled in