[2] hafgufa (f.) ‘sea-fumer’: This is the name of a legendary sea-monster described in Kgs (Holm-Olsen 1983, 17) as a fish of incredible size that looks more like an island than a fish (see also Larson 1917, 125; Ǫrvar-Odds saga, ch. 21, FSN II, 249). The second element of the cpd (-gufa ‘fume, steam’) refers to the foul vapour emitted by the creature (see Fritzner: hafgufa and the discussion there). Nordgaard (1920, 113-15) argues that there could be true accounts of some kind of ray, a giant manta or ‘sea-devil’, behind the fantastic image of this sea-monster (cf. ModDan. sjødjevle ‘sea-devils’ and djevlerokker ‘devil-skates’).
References
- Bibliography
- FSN = Rafn, Carl Christian, ed. 1829-30. Fornaldar sögur nordrlanda. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Popp.
- Fritzner = Fritzner, Johan. 1883-96. Ordbog over det gamle norske sprog. 3 vols. Kristiania (Oslo): Den norske forlagsforening. 4th edn. Rpt. 1973. Oslo etc.: Universitetsforlaget.
- Holm-Olsen, Ludvig, ed. 1983. Konungs skuggsiá. 2nd rev. edn. Norrøne tekster 1. Oslo: Norsk historisk kjeldeskrift-institutt.
- Larson, Laurence Marcellus, ed. 1917. The King’s Mirror (Speculum Regale – Konungs Skuggsjá), translated from the Old Norwegian. New York and London: The American-Scandinavian Foundation and Oxford University Press.
- Nordgaard, O. 1920. ‘Forklaringer til de viktigste av Kongespeilets dyrenavne’. In Brenner 1920, 107-17.
- Internal references
- 2017, ‘ Anonymous, Ǫrvar-Odds saga’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry in fornaldarsögur. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 8. Turnhout: Brepols, p. 804. <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=35> (accessed 27 April 2024)