Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1995, Page 65

A NOTE ON THE DERIVATION OF FAROESE GRIND
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sembling in any way a grid-like structure or
framework, nor in them representing a bar-
rier to those encountering them together,
especially on the open sea. I would suggest
that if in fact there is any connection with
gates, it is more likely to be explained by
the second interpretation, in the sense of
penning in, such as with sheep in a fold.
Miiller (1882), for example, draws atten-
tion to the similarities of herding whales
and sheep, (»The driving ofa grind is very
like the driving of aflock ofsheep«, Miiller,
1882: 7) and prefers an explanation of
grind associated with the idea of enclosing
the whales into the bay by barring their es-
cape through the mouth of the bays with the
boats. In this respect we can also compare
the term caa’ing whale used of pilot whales
in Shetland, which derives from the mode
of capture (driving), rather than from the
natural characteristics of the whales them-
selves.
Grind in the sense of a pen or enclosure,
then, is a possible explanation given the
methođs by which the whales are driven
(like sheep) into the bay with no possibility
of escaping. Both interpretations depend on
a direct connection between the use of
grind to refer to schools of pilot whales,
and the sense of grind as a gate or barrier.
Foote (1964) has reviewed this meaning of
the word grind and its use in older sources
as this relates to its occurrence in Fcereyin-
ga saga (The Saga ofthe Faroe Islanders)
and its use for conjuring purposes in chap-
ter 40 of the saga. Without going into the
detail of Foote’s discussion, there is little to
support a case for any mythological or
magical connections contained in the use of
grind to refer to schools of whales in
Faroese. Indeed, there seems to be another
possible explanation for the derivation of
grind which is quite unrelated to the sense
of gate.
If we look again at Claussøn Friis’s ac-
count of grind, we fmd that he actually
points to another explanation for the use of
the term, quite different from any connec-
tions with frameworks or gates, but which
he has associated with an unrelated mean-
ing of the same word. He says that: »... be-
cause these whales swim side by side in
large groups when they are mating, then
that group of whales is called a Hvalsgrind,
as was discussed in the treatise on fish.«
The »treatise on fish« to which he refers
here is included in his discussion of fish
and whales in his natural history. In this
section he describes the behaviour of Trold-
Hvale (troll whales), the most dangerous
and belligerent kind of whale:
Oc er Hvallen mest farlig naar hand løber i
Bran eller paa Leeg, thi daa er hann medst
gram, dertill med løbe de oc mange hundrede
i Haab oc jage effter hin-anden oc det kalder
man Hvalsgrind.... (Storm, 1881: 67)
(And the whale is most dangerous when he gathers to
mate, for that is when he is most ferocious, and fur-
ther to this many hundreds congregate in a large
group and chase each other and that is known as a
Hvalsgrind.)
Claussøn Friis’s expanded explanation of
the term Hvalsgrind here points to a per-
ception of a school of whales, not in terms
of the outward appearance of the school in