Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1978, Qupperneq 19

Faroese Bird-Name Origins
27
or wood’, and a second element -kárn occurring as a simplex
ín the same ms. as jaðrakárn itself, and further in Far. kráku-
kárn, Norw. krákekonn, also Norw. ramnkorn ‘blakráka’
(FBN, 22).
We refer first to the element jaðra-. We ourselves thought
it unlikely that such a general meaning as ‘edge’ could figure
in a bird name except as a result of secondary folk-etymology.
This may be so, but it will not have been impossible that, at
some stage or in some areas, ON jaðarr acquired a narrower
sense than has been recorded, perhaps ‘edge of a marsh’ or the
like. And in fact such a development is now known to have
taken place in cognate Far. jaðari, also specifically ‘kanten af
en strøm’ (Jacobsen-Matras, op. cit.). A word with such a
meaning could naturally enter into a bird name, a close pa-
rallel here being Ger. Uferschnepfe ‘(black-tailed) godwit’
(Ufer ‘shore, bank of a river or stream’, Schnepfe ‘snipe’), cer-
tainly a popular name, as also e. g. Uferschwalbe ‘sand martin’
(.Schwalbe ‘swallow’). One may evidently reckon with the
possibility that jaðra- in our word could indeed be a compo-
sition form of ON jaðarr.
We now take the element -kárn. Its onomatopoeic affilia-
tions are in no doubt, and the Faroese and Norwegian examples
show it as a constituent of crow names. Could this element be
expected to occur in a godwit name? The possibility is appa-
rently not excluded, for in addition to the peewit-like calls,
the godwit produces other, quite different notes. H. F. Wither-
by et al., Handbook of British Birds, iv, 161 f., quote reports
that ‘feeding birds sometimes use a monosyllabic »kuk« and
»kik«. . . . a quick barking »querk-querk-querk«. . . . also. . . .
a uniform »gáge-gáge-gáge«. . . . in scrape ceremony, varied
by loud, clear, gull-like »gák«. . . .’
In the light of the foregoing, it appears that ON jaðrakárn
must, in the first place, be taken seriously at its face value.
At any rate, and whatever the ultimate origin of the elements
concerned, this compound is undoubtedly ancient and its pre-
sence in both Icelandic and Faroese makes it as certain as may