Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1982, Page 97

Faroese Bird-Name Origins
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gination to presume a more original ’Haiwrika to bring it into
line with the West Germanic form. OWN Ixvirki m. can derive
by metathesis from 'Hævriki, presupposing 'Haiwriki, i.e. with
substitution of the masculine termination but otherwise agree-
ing with East Norse. Needless to say, such differentiations are
commonplace in the sphere of bird names. The Scandinavian
forms may thus be fitted without further ado into a Common
Germanic background. There is no reason to contemplate bor-
rowing from West Germanic, as has been suggested, e.g. by De
Vries, Anord. etym. Wórterbuch. Such a suggestion is, more-
over, a priori unlikely on ornithological grounds — the lark
is an abundant species everywhere in the traditional Germanic
areas; there would be no call for such borrowing.
Svala ’swallow’
The immediate source of the Faroese is, of course, ON svala,
a Common Germanic term, cf. OEng. swealwe, OHGer. swal-
wa, presupposing Pr. Gmc. ’Hwalwon f. The ultimate origin
of this name, however, has been an etymological riddle. To be
sure, etymologists have tried to find cognate material in other
Indo-European languages, but a glance through the dictionaries
shows that there is no consensus, only a handful of isolated con-
jectures, all admittedly tentative, see e.g. De Vries, Anord.
etym. Wb. In view of these difficulties, we would see in svala
a purely Germanic name, i.e. one arising in Germanic, and
therefore most likely explicable in terms of the Germanic
known to us.
Passing in review etymologisable swallow names in various
languages, we observe that the bird may be called after its di-
stinctive forked tail. An example of such a name is widespread
in Gaelic: Irish gabhlán, cf. gabhal ’fork’, further Scots Gael.
góbhlan, Manx gollan. The Germanic name was evidently simi-
larly motivated, since svala is recognisable in ON súla, as fol-
lows. The meanings of this word are 1) post, prop, support,
pillar, column, 2) two crossed pieces of wood tied round a pig’s
neck to prevent it breaking through fences, 3) gannet (cf.