Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1995, Page 75

THE FAROESE WHALE NAMES
79
cuous white markings on these dolphins.
The name is Common Scandinavian, ap-
pearing in Old Dan. lyft (Kalkar) though the
species is not indicated.
The shift of sense seen in the Faroese
word will, we may assume, be due to the
adoption of SPRINGHVALUR etc. to
name the Dolphins in question, LEIFTUR
being then remembered as a small whale,
whence its meaning today.
MASTRARFISKUR, -HVALUR Killer
Whale = BÓGHVÍTUHVALUR. When
seen at some distance from the front on the
back, the characteristic dorsal fin, in adult
males exceeding six feet in height, can be
fancifully likened to a mast, hence the pre-
sent, purely Faroese terms. Records go
back to the beginning of this century. Far.
mastur, mastrar- f. is akin to Norw. dial.
master, a variant of the standard form mast,
see Falk-Torp 704.
For similar motivation in other names for
this species, cf. STEYRHVALUR, VAGN,
alsoNÝVIL.
NEBBAFISKUR m. Fin Whale (Balae-
noptera physalus). Introduced by M.D. á
Ryggi, Varðin III (1923) 57. However, the
name itself, with nebb ‘beak’, shows that it
is here out of place. It presupposes *nebba-
hvalur, the substitution of -fiskur arising in
connection with whale hunting. Such a
name can only have properly applied to the
Bottlenose Whale døglingur, and precisely
this is the meaning of the corresponding
Norw. nebbehval, whence Dan. næbbehval.
This equation confirms that nebbafiskur
may well be traditional, as á Ryggi, Varðin
VII (1927) asserts, but how it came to be
used in its present sense remains a mystery.
We may add that identification with the
Beaked Whale is excluded, for such a rare
species could never acquire a folk name,
the neologism nevhvalur, first in Dýralæra
107, with nev the now usual word for beak,
being coined after Dan. næbhval.
The Fin Whale has been traditionally
known as ROYÐUR, properly the Blue
Whale, see under this name. The Faroese of
old would have no clear idea of the differ-
ence. These huge creatures are difficult to
catch, indeed so swift is the Fin Whale that
it was quite beyond the reach of whalers
until the invention of the harpoon gun in
1864.
NEVHVALUR see under NEBBA-
FISKUR.
NÍSA f. Porpoise (Phocoena ph.) The
record begins with Resen 73 ‘Nysse’ Svabo
has e.g. Fiskakvæði 15 ‘Nujsa’. The word
continues ON hnísa, an onomatopoeic
name inspired by the loud blow. The term
also survives in Icel. hnísa, Norw. nisa, lo-
cal isa by false division of ei nisa ‘a por-
poise’, and with productive k-suffix in
Shetl. nisek.
NÝÐINGUR m. A term for a particularly
large Pilot Whale (GRINDAFIS KUR
-HVALUR), locally also a large Bottlenose
Whale (DØGLINGUR).
Svabo records the name, firstly Fiska-
kvæði 18 (but omitting it in the glossary)
and secondly Dict. fær. 596 where it is de-
fined ‘Spækhugger physeter macrocepha-