Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.1995, Page 79

THE FAROESE WHALE NAMES
83
(Blondal) and synonymous Norw. troll-
hval. There are no medieval records.
*VAGN or *VOGN f. Killer Whale =
BÓGHVÍTUHVALUR
The one-time presence of this term is
presupposed by vagn- or vognhogg, a com-
pound found twice in the Faroese record.
The first occurence takes us back to the
Seyðabræv of 1298, ed. J.H.W. Poulsen and
U. Zachariasen (1971) 51: hvalflystri pa er
ver kollum vagn hogg. A later addition (p.5)
offers a commentary: hvalflyster, stycke af
hvalen som flyter i wágen, vagnhog, det
manfár huggafritt i uti vágen. On the basis
of this Fritzner defines vagnhogg n ‘Stykke
som en forfolgende vagnhvalr har hugget
ud af en Hvals Legeme ’, where vagnhvalr
is, of course, the Killer Whale; it survives
in Icel. vagnhvalur. The name is further
present in Norw. staurvagn see
STEYRHVALUR.
In the second occurence, however, the
compound vagn- or vognhøgg has itself be-
come a whale name: Resen 73: Quæsing
eller Vaagenhog; er en liden SpringHval
med hvide Plætter i, har Tænder, som ligne
Hunde-Tænder. The latter equation with
the Bottlenose Dolphin HVESSINGUR is
clearly mistaken, the description is that of
the Killer Whale, a sense also seen in Norw.
vagnhogg, quoted as a Helgeland term by
Aasen, Norsk Ordbog (1873).
ON vagn-, as attested above, is the same
word as Swedish dial. vagn ‘distaff’; it
refers to the distinctive fm of this whale,
taller than that of any other cetacean, cf.
MM p. 33. For similarly motivated names
see under MASTRARFISKUR.
ÆÐUHVALUR Killer Whale = BÓGHVÍ-
TUHVALUR. A name, formed with æða
‘eider’, inspired by sightings of the whale
taking eiders. These diving ducks, common
in the Faroes, feed in full view close to the
shore where they are in danger from the
whale in question, see further under
KJAFTHVÍTI. The present name is
uniquely Faroese, the record going back to
the beginning of this century, but implied a
little earlier (1887) by a Danish translation
‘Edderfuglehval’, see under KOBBA-
HVALUR.
Acknowledgement
For help with various points I am most grateful to Car-
men Blacker, Anne Duekilde, Gunnlaugur Ingólfsson,
Anfinnur Johansen, Carl Chr. Kinze, and Magne
Myrhen.
References
Blondal, S. 1920-1924. Islandsk-dansk Ordbog.
Debes L. 1963. Færoæ et Færoa reserata (1673). ed, J.
Rischel.
Falk, H. and Torp, A. 1911-12. Norwegisch-danisches
etym. Worterbuch.
Fritzner, J. 1972. Ordbog over det gamle norske Sprog,
I-III (1886.1896), IV ed. F. Hødnebø.
Jacobsen, M.A. and Matras, Chr. 1961. Føroysk-donsk
Orðabók2
Kalkar, O. Ordbog til det ældre danske Sprog (1881-
1918).
Lockwood, W.B. 1944. ‘Etymological Notes on some
Scandinavian Whale Names’, Maal og Minne 1-2,
1944.
Poulsen, J.H.W. 1974. Føroysk-donsk Orðabók.
Eykabind.
Resen, P.H. 1972. Atlas danicus. Færøeme, ed. J.
Rischel and P. Skárup.
Ryggi, M.D. á. 1935. Dýralæra.