[4] dunna (f.) ‘duck’: According to CVC, AEW: dunna, this name refers to a wild duck, ‘mallard’ (Anas boschas or Anas platyrhynchos), but cf. Faroese dunna ‘domestic duck’. The term most likely originates from the colour of the bird, cf. OE dun ‘dull brown, dark-coloured’, OS dun ‘red-brown’ (ÍO: dunna).
References
- Bibliography
- AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
- CVC = Cleasby, Richard, Gudbrand Vigfusson [Guðbrandur Vigfússon] and W. A. Craigie. 1957. An Icelandic-English Dictionary. 2nd edn. Oxford: Clarendon.
- ÍO = Ásgeir Blöndal Magnússon. 1989. Íslensk orðsifjabók. Reykjavík: Orðabók Háskólans.