Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1982, Qupperneq 98

106
Faroese Bird-Name Origins
Fritzner, Ordbog, iii, 597). We may add that a basic meaning
’fork’ for 2) is confirmed by the sense in Faroese, namely
’kløftet, gaffelformet træredskab, ramme, hvorpa fiskesnøren
ophaspes’ (Jacobsen-Matras, Føroysk-Donsk Orðabók), this
special sense again, and related meanings, in Norwegian (Torp,
Nynorsk etym. Ordbok).
We next consider the different meanings of the Old Norse,
but noticing first that in meaning 1) the form may be súl, this
latter corresponding exactly to synonymous OFIGer., OLGer.
sdl, and with ablaut to Goth. sauls. Looking now at the
other meanings, it can be stated that 3) is definitely derived
from 2), reference being to the crossed wing tips, black in con-
trast to the otherwise white plumage (Fróðskaparrit, xxiii, 26f.).
But how are the disparate meanings of 1) and 2) to be recon-
ciled? We recall that súl is attested only in meaning 1). It is
therefore arguable that súl can have influenced súla in point of
this meaning, with the rider that the original sense of the latter
is seen in meaning 2). This being so, the apparently unbridge-
able semantic discrepancy between súl ’post, etc.’ and súla ’fork’
implies etymologically distinct words. If súl affected súla
semantically, it is not hard to believe that it did so morpho-
logically as well. We therefore propose to regard súla as a cor-
ruption of svala ’fork’, lost in this original sense, but preserved
in the bird name.
Svanur ’swan’
Far. svanur descends directly from ON svanr, a Common
Germanic word, cf. OEng., OHGer. swan; one postulates Pr.
Gmc. *swanaz. In Fróðskaparrit xix, 129f., it was noted that
this term is comparable to Lat. sónus, Skt. svanás ’sound, noise,
cry, call’, whence it follows that some such meaning lies behind
the Germanic name, ’swan’ being then literally ’(swan-) song’.
In this, of course, we were following a well known etymology,
so that the general validity of the above statements will scar-
cely be challenged. On the other hand, we now notice an or-
nithological problem, hitherto overlooked, which has an im-
portant bearing on the Realien.