Note to Þul Fugla 6III
[7] hængivakr: An otherwise unattested cpd. This bird has not been identified and the reading of the cpd is uncertain. The first element is either hængi or hengi (in ms. A, <æ> normally represents [e]), and the quantity of vowel in the second element cannot be established with any certainty. If the vowel is short, this could be the same word as the adj. vakr ‘watchful, alert’; a long vowel would give vákr m. ‘hawk’. If the first element is hengi-, it is likely to be derived from the weak verb hengja ‘hang up’, which would yield the forms hengivákr (so LP: hengivákr) ‘hanging-hawk’ or hengivakr ‘hanging-watchful one’. The first element is probably not related to the noun hœingr m. (later hœngr, hængr) ‘male salmon’, since this is an old u-stem and we would have expected hængu- rather than hængi-.