Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1977, Qupperneq 13

Some traces of Gaelic in Faroese
21
Dýr ‘seal’
In the present context it will not be out of place to recall
that Far. dýr lit. ‘beast’ was taken down in BorSoy by J.
Jakobsen as a seaman’s noa term for the seal. There is an exact
correspondence in Sc. Gael. beist (Dwelly). Though not indi-
cated as such in that dictionary, a term of this nature was
certainly evasive, at least in the first place. The word itself is
a loan from Lat. bestia, already present in Old Irish, so that
a Norse-Gaelic contact is well within the bounds of possibility.
It may be added that J. G. Campbell, Superstitions of the
Highlands and Islands, 239, expressly states that beist mhaol
‘bald beast’ was used by fishermen instead of the ordinary
name rón. The corresponding Ir. peist may denote a whale,
this in imitation of the native synonym míol. Evidently the
pattern goes a long way back, witness Welsh morfil ‘whale’
lit. ‘sea beast’ (-fil < mil). Given such persistent Celtic tra-
dition, it seems not merely possible, but quite probable, that
Far. dýr ‘seal’ arose through contact with Gaelic.
Fara á soppin
The affiliations of Far. soppur ‘handful of hay’ and Gael.
sop ‘wisp’ have been worked out in detail by Chr. Matras,
Frób., iv, 15—31. The purpose of the present note is simply to
draw attention to a piece of new information only recently
published. It shows that the idioms fara á soppin, vera búgvin
á soppin, which refer to a woman about to give birth, have
indeed been inspired by Gaelic, a possibility envisaged by Chr.
Matras, but not at the time confirmed by known evidence
from that language.
Meanwhile, in A. Carmichael, Carmina Gadelica, vi, (1971),
we read in reference to conditions obtaining in the last century,
p. 84: “Among the crofters of the Isles a temporary bed of
straw is made before the fire for the woman in labour. Hence