Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1995, Page 63

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A note on the derivation ofFaroese grind'
Kate Sanderson
Úrtak
Tá ið greiða skal fáast á, hvaðani tað føroyska orðið grind
(bólkur av grindahvalum) stavar, verður vanliga víst til,
at orðið stavar ffá grind, sum merkir skrokkur ella eitt
slag av portri. Vanliga verður greitt frá, at henda orða-
týðingin av einum bólki av grindahvali antin sipar til,
hvussu grindabólkurin skipar seg, tá ið hann svimur
saman, ella til mannagongdina, tá ið ein grindabólkur
verður rikin, nevniliga soleiðis at ein røð av bátum 'girða
hann inni' á víkum, eins og tá ið seyður verður rikin í rætt.
Komið verður við øðmm uppskoti, har ið orðið heldur
verður sett í samband við uppøsta atburð og rørslur
hvalanna í einum bólki, soleiðis sum norðmaðurin Peder
Claussøn Friis í seytjandu øld greiðir frá um Hvalsgrind,
og eisini sum áíslendskum: að vera ígrindum ella grinda
sig, tá ið víst verður til hval, ið savnast í hópatali at parast.
Abstract
The most common and widely used explanation for the
derivation of the Faroese word grind (school of pilot
whales) elates the word’s origins to grind with the
meaning of a framework or gate-like stmcture. The ap-
plication of this sense to a school of pilot whales has
been popularly explained either by the formation of a
school of whales as they swim together, or in relation to
the methods used to drive schools of pilot whales,
whereby they are “fenced into” bays by a line of boats to
prevent their escape, with parallels in sheep herding ac-
tivities. An altemative to this standard derivation is sug-
gested, in which the word is rather related to the agitat-
ed behaviour and movement of whales within a group,
as found in the seventeenth century Norwegian descrip-
tion of a Hvalsgrind by Peder Claussøn Friis, as well as
in Icelandic expressions such as að vera í grindum or
grinda sig, which refer to the shoaling and mating be-
haviour of groups of whales.
The fact that grind only has the meaning of
a school of pilot whales in Faroese is a fac-
tor which has in many ways enhanced the
perception of grindadráp (the pilot whale
hunt) as a distinctively Faroese activity. It is
an element which, as I have discussed else-
where (Sanderson, 1990; 1992), has been
combined in a great variety of compound
nouns concemed with various aspects of
the hunt, and continues to be incorporated
into new terms to refer to more recent as-
pects of the activity. Furthermore, as pilot
whaling in the Faroes has so often been
written about in other languages, including
English, the term is not infrequently en-
countered in its Faroese sense in English-
language texts describing the Faroes. Grind
is in fact listed with its Faroese meaning as
a separate entry in the latest edition of the
Oxford English Dictionary (1991), albeit
marked as a non-naturalised word in Eng-
lish, and the explanation for its derivation
comprises two possible interpretations
which I will discuss briefly here.
The earliest known use of the element
grind in Faroese to refer to small whales is
found in the account of whales and whaling
in the Faroes contained in a topographical
account of Norway, Noregs og Omliggende
Øers sandfærdige Bescriffvelse, by Peder
Claussøn Friis, published in 1632 (Storm,
1881). The section in question was appar-
Fróðskapanit 43. bók. 1995: 67-72