Hafgufa

Last updated
Hafgufa
Grouping Legendary creature
Sub grouping Sea monster
Other name(s)Hafgufu (Old Norwegian)
Country Greenland

Hafgufa (Old Norse : haf "sea" + Old Norse : gufa "steam"; [2] [3] "sea-reek"; [lower-alpha 1] [5] "sea-steamer" [6] ) is a sea creature, purported to inhabit Iceland's waters (Greenland Sea) and southward toward Helluland. Although it was thought to be a sea monster, research suggests that the stories originated from a specialized feeding technique among whales known as trap-feeding. [7] [8]

Contents

The hafgufa is mentioned in the mid-13th century Norwegian tract called the Konungs skuggsjá ("King's Mirror"). Later recensions of Örvar-Odds saga feature hafgufa and lyngbakr as similar but distinct creatures.

According to Norwegian didactic work, this creature uses its own vomit-like chumming-bait to gather prey-fish. In the Fornaldarsaga , the hafgufa is reputed to consume even whales or ships and men, though Oddr's ship merely sailed through its jaws above water, which appeared to be nothing more than rocks.

Nomenclature

This creature's name appears as hafgufa in Old Norse in the 13th century Norwegian work. [9] [lower-alpha 2] [10]

In the Snorra Edda , the hafgufa ("sea-steamer" [6] ) appears in the list ( þulur ) of whales. [11] [12] The spelling is also hafgúa in some copies. [13] An 18th-century source glosses the term margúa 'mermaid' as hafgúa. [lower-alpha 3] [14]

This was rendered "hafgufa ('[mermaid]')" in a recent excerpt of this work, [15] but has been translated 'kraken' in the past. [16] It was translated as "sea-reek" [5] in the saga. [18]

Norwegian King's Mirror

In the Speculum regale (aka Konungs skuggsjá , the "King's Mirror"), an Old Norwegian philosophical didactic work written in the mid-13th century, the King told his son [19] [20] of several whales that inhabit the Icelandic seas, concluding with a description of a large whale that he himself feared, but he doubted anyone would believe him about without seeing it. He described the hafgufa as a massive fish that looked more like an island than like a living thing. The King noted that hafgufa was rarely seen, but always seen in the same two places. He concluded there must be only two of them and that they must be infertile, otherwise the seas would be full of them. [15]

The King described the feeding manner of hafgufa: The fish would belch, which would expel so much food that it would attract all the nearby fish. Once a large number had crowded into its mouth and belly, it would close its mouth and devour them all at once. [15] [lower-alpha 4]

Its mention in the Speculum regale was noted by Olaus Wormiaus (Ole Worm) in his posthumous Museum Wormianum (1654) [21] [22] and by another Dane, Thomas Bartholin the senior (1657). [1] Ole Worm classed it as the 22nd type of Cetus, as did Bartholin, but one difference was that Ole Worm's book printed the entry with the skewed spelling hafgufe. [22] [1]

Odd's saga

In the later version of Örvar-Odds saga [23] dating to the late 14th century, [24] hafgufa is described as the largest sea monster (sjóskrímsl) of all, [lower-alpha 5] which fed on whales, ships, men, and anything it could catch, according to the deck officer Vignir Oddsson who knew the lore. [5] [26] He said it lived underwater, but reared its snout ("mouth and nostrils") above water for a duration until the tide changed, and that it was the nostril and lower jaw which they had sailed in-between, although they mistook these for two massive rocks rising from the sea. [25] [27] [5] [lower-alpha 6]

Örvar-Oddr and his crew, who started from the Greenland Sea were sailing along the coast south and westward, towards a fjord called Skuggi [lower-alpha 7] [28] on Helluland (also given by the English-translated name of "Slabland"), and it is on the way there that they encountered two monsters, the hafgufa ('sea-reek') and lyngbakr ('heather-back'). [5]

Original sea monster and analogues

St. Brendan says Mass atop Jasconius Saint brendan german manuscript.jpg
St. Brendan says Mass atop Jasconius

The aspidochelone of the Physiologus is identified as the potential source for the hafgufa lore. [29]

Although the original aspidochelone was a turtle-island of warmer waters, this was reinvented as a type of whale named aspedo in the Icelandic Physiologus (fragment B, No. 8). [29] [30] [lower-alpha 8] In the Icelandic aspedo was described as a whale (hvalr) being mistaken for an island, [33] [34] and as opening its mouth to issue a perfume of sorts to attract prey. [35] Halldór Hermannsson  [ is ] observed that these were represented as two distinct illustrations in the Icelandic copy; he further theorized that this led to the mistaken notion of separate creatures called hafgufa and lyngbakr in existence, as occurs in the saga. [23] [26]

Contrary to the saga, Danish physician Thomas Bartholin in his Historiarum anatomicarum IV (1657) stated that the hafgufa ('sea vapor') was synonymous with 'lyngbak' ([sic.], 'back like Erica plants'). [lower-alpha 9] He added that it was on the back of this beast that St. Brendan read his Mass, causing the island to sink after their departure. [1] [37] The Icelander Jón Guðmundsson (d. 1658)'s Natural History of Iceland [lower-alpha 10] also equated the lyngbakr and hafgufa with the beast mistaken for an island in St. Brendan's voyage. [38] The island-like creature is indeed told of in the legend of Brendan's voyage, [39] though the giant fish is named Jasconius/Jaskonius. [40] [41] [42]

Hans Egede writing on the kracken (kraken) of Norway equates it with the Icelandic hafgufa, though has heard little on the latter. [43] and later, the non-native Moravian cleric David Crantz  [ de ]'s History of Greenland (1765, in German) treated hafgafa as synonymous with the krake[n] in the Norwegian tongue. [44] [45] However, Finnur Jónsson for instance has expressed skepticism towards the notion which developed that the krake had its origins in the hafgufa. [46]

In 2023, scientists reported observed behaviour of whales resembling that of the Hafgufa of legends, by staying stationary on the sea surface with their jaws open and waiting for fish to swim into mouths. The whale may also use chewed up fish to attract more fish. The scientists noted that the earliest description of Hafgufa described it as a type of whale, and proposed that this behaviour of whale as the origin of the Hafgufa myth which became more fantastic in later centuries. [8] [47]

Explanatory notes

  1. "reek" is defined as 'vapor, smoke'. [4]
  2. i.e., hafgufarectéhafgufa. It appears as hafgufu [sic.] in the original text,but that nominative is not used, but hafgufa is given instead by Finnur Jónsson in his commentary to his edition of Konungs skuggsjá.
  3. The source being Ann. =Íslandske Annaler indtil 1578.
  4. Text vs. translation:
  5. Technically the hafgufa and lygbakr are mentioned as two sea monsters, and the hafgufa is called the "biggest monster in the whole ocean". [25] [5]
  6. Text vs. English translation:
  7. This was where Vignir knew to find the troll Ögmundr flóki (Ogmund Tussock), slayer of Eyþjófr (Eythjof). They aimed to fight Ögmundr so they could exact vengeance.
  8. A finer point is that the Latin aspidochelone being called cetus only signified it was a "cetacean" in the non-modern, broader sense including sharks, [31] and actually, the classical Greek equivalent κῆτος signified "sea monster" of any kind. [32]
  9. The common heather was actually the type species of Linnaeus's Erica genus, and it was not until 1802 the common heather was reclassified Calluna vulgaris. [36]
  10. The actual title is Stutt undirrétting um Íslands aðskiljanlegar náttúrur  [ is ] ("A brief description of Iceland's various natures").

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References

Citations
  1. 1 2 3 4 Bartholin, Thomas (1657). "Historia XXIV. Cetorum genera". Thomae Bartholini historiarum anatomicarum rariorum centuria [III et ]IV (in Latin). typis Petri Hakii, acad. typogr. p. 283. Vigesimum secundum Hafgufa, vapor marinus, quibusdam Lyngbak, quod ejus dorsum Ericeto sit simile. Extat historia de Episcop quodam Brandano, qui in hujus belluae dorso tabernam fixit, missam celbravit, & non multo post hanc ut purabant , insulam submersam esse.
  2. Glossed as:"Hafgufa, vapor marinus". [1]
  3. Cleasby & Vigfusson (1874), An Icelandic-English Dictionary, s.v. "gufa". 'vapour, steam'.
  4. Skeat, Walter William, ed. (1882), "reek", An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, Clarendon Press, p. 497
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Edwards & Pálsson 1970 tr., Arrow-Odd: a medieval novel, "Ch. 21. Death of Vignir", pp. 68–69: "one called 'sea-reek' and the other 'heather-back'". Based on Guðni Jónsson (1950) edition.
  6. 1 2 Faulkes, Anthony (tr), ed. (1995). "Skaldskaparmál 75". Edda: Snorri Sturluson. Everyman. p. 162. ISBN   0-460-87616-3.
  7. "A 'recently discovered' whale feeding strategy has turned up in 2,000-year-old texts about fearsome sea monsters". Conversation. February 28, 2023.
  8. 1 2 McCarthy, John; Sebo, Erin; Firth, Matthew (2023). "Parallels for cetacean trap feeding and tread-water feeding in the historical record across two millennia". Marine Mammal Science. 39 (3): 830–841. Bibcode:2023MMamS..39..830M. doi: 10.1111/mms.13009 .
  9. 1 2 Keyser, Munch & Unger (1848), p. 32.
  10. Finnur Jónsson (1920), pp. 113–115.
  11. Halldór Hermannsson (1924), p. 36, endnote
  12. Phelpstead, Carl (1996). A History of Norway, and the Passion and Miracles of Blessed Óláfr. Kunin, Devra Levingson (tr.). London: Viking Society for Northern Research. p. 4. ISBN   9780903521482.
  13. "Skaldskaparmál 75". Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Formáli, Gylfaginníng, Bragaræður, Skáldskaparmál et Háttatal. Vol. 1. Copenhagen: sumptibus Legati Arnamagnæani. 1848. p. 580.
  14. Halldór Hermannsson [in Icelandic] (1975), Old Icelandic Heiti in Modern Icelandic, Institute of Nordic Linguistics, Margúa ' mermaid ' occurs in the 18th cent. as a synonym of hafgúa (Ann. IV 45 (OH) ), found in OI in the form hafgúfa
  15. 1 2 3 Somerville, A. A. tr., "Wonders of the Iceland sea" in Somerville & McDonald (2020), p. 308 based on 'Speculum Regale[Konungs skuggsjá] wKeyser, Munch & Unger (1848) ed. pp. 29–32, 33–40.
  16. Larson (1917) (tr.), p. 125
  17. Edwards & Pálsson (1970), pp. xx–xxi.
  18. First complete translation, by Edwards and Pálsson in 1970, though Jacqueline Simpson had published selections in 1965. [17]
  19. Somerville & McDonald (2020), p. 307.
  20. Larson (1917), p. 7.
  21. Denys-Montfort, Pierre (1801). "La poulpe colossal – La poulpe kraken". Des mollusques. Histoire naturelle : générale et particulière 102 (in French). Vol. 2. Paris: L'Imprimerie de F. Dufart. p. 387.; alt text (Vol. 102) via Biodiversity Heritage Library
  22. 1 2 Wormius, Olaus (1655). "Musei Wormiani Historiae de animalibus (liber tertius). Cap. XIII. De Cetis". Museum Wormianum, seu Historia rerum rariorum [...] adornata ab Olav Worm. Leyden (Lugduni Batavorum): J.Elsevirium. p. 280. ISBN   9780903521482.
  23. 1 2 Halldór Hermannsson (1938), p. 11: "the representation of our Physiologus has in Iceland caused a tradition to be formed about two separate animals, lyngbakr og hafgufa, as we see in the younger recension of the Örvar-Odds Saga".
  24. Edwards & Pálsson (1970), p. xxi.
  25. 1 2 3 Boer (1888), p. 132.
  26. 1 2 Power, Rosemary (1985). Louis-Jensen, Jonna [in Icelandic]; Sanders, Christopher; Springborg, Peter (eds.). Christian influence in the Fornaldarsǫgur Norðrlanda (PDF). Copenhagen: Det arnamagnæanske Institut. p. 849.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  27. Rafn (1829) ed. Örvar-Odds saga Kap. 21, pp. 248–249
  28. Boer (1888), p. 131.
  29. 1 2 Helland, Amund Theodor, ed. (1906), Norges land og folk: Finmarkens amt (in Danish), Aschehoug, p. 302, Aspedo, som hvalen kaldes i «Physiologus», er en forkortelse af aspidochelone, som betyder havskildpadde, og dyret opfattes som en hval. Det er da sandsynligt, at det er den varme zones store flydende havskildpadder, som i middelalderen hos de nordlige folk er blevet forstørret til øer. [Aspedo, as the whale is called in [the Icelandic] «Physiologus», is an abbreviation of aspidochelone, which means sea turtle, and the animal is perceived as a whale. It is then probable that it is the large floating sea turtles of the warm zone which in the Middle Ages among the northern peoples have been magnified into islands.]
  30. Halldór Hermannsson (1938), p. 10.
  31. Clark, Willene B. (2006). "CXIII De aspidochelone". A Medieval Book of Beasts: The Second-family Bestiary : Commentary, Art, Text and Translation. Boydell Press. p. 205. ISBN   9780851156828. aspidochelone.. the cetaceans (note 406: 'Whales, dolphins, sharks')
  32. Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon s.v. "[κῆτος]", 'any sea-monster or huge fish'.
  33. Kalinke, Marianne E. [in Icelandic] (January 1992). "Reykjahólabók:A Legendary on the Eve of the Reformation". Skáldskaparmál. 2: 248, and note 17. Er hvalr í sæ , er heitir aspedo , ok er of bak sem skógr sé . En í miðju hafi skýtt þat upp baki sínu, en skipverjar ætla ey vera festa skip sitt við þar, ok kynda elda síðan. En aspedo kennir hita, ok drekkir sér í sjó ǫllum skipverjum
  34. Kalinke, Marianne E. [in Icelandic] (1996). The Book of Reykjahólar: The Last of the Great Medieval Legendaries. University of Toronto Press. p. 143. ISBN   9780802078148. Er hvalr í sæ, er heitir aspedo.. /There is a whale in the ocean, who is called ' aspedo ' and its back is like a forest. And in the middle of the ocean it lifts up its back so that the sailors think it's an island..
  35. Jónas Kristjánsson (1970). Icelandic Sagas and Manuscripts. Boucher, Alan (tr.). Saga Publishing Company. p. 143. There is in the sea a whale called Aspedo ... When he is hungry he opens his mouth and emits as it were a sort of perfume . And the little fishes smell the perfume..
  36. Wallace, Alexander (1903). The Heather in Lore, Lyric and Lay. New York: A.T. De La Mare ptg. and Publishing Company, Limited. pp. 20–22.
  37. Hunter, John (F.R.S.) (1882), Schneider, Johann Gottlob (tr., comm.) (ed.), Beyträge zur Naturgeschichte der Wallfischarten, Erster Theil, Leipzig: Schäfer, p. 117{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  38. Jón Guðmundsson. Halldór Hermannsson (1924) ed., p. 8, line 31 and p. 36, endnote: "So er lesit j sögu hins H. Brandanij biskups, at j ysta vthafi, þá skylldi hann messu sungit hafa á eylandi nockru lijnguöxnu, sem sijdan sockit hafdi, og menn nú nefna lijngbak edur hafgufu, sem endist med heiminum en fiölgar alldri" (in Icelandic)
  39. Halldór Hermannsson (1938), p. 11: Speculum regiae of the 13th century describes a monstrous whale which it calls hafgufa... The whale as an island was, of course, known from the Saga of St. Brandan, but there it was called Jaskonius".
  40. W[ilson] (1818), p. 649.
  41. Unger, Carl Richard (tr.), ed. (1877). Brandanus saga (fragment). Christiania: Trykt hos B.M. Bentzen. pp.  272–275. Archived from the original on 2008-06-01. Retrieved 2021-01-12.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  42. Dunn, Joseph (January 1921). "The Brendan problem". The Catholic Historical Review. 6 (4): 427–428. JSTOR   25011716.
  43. Egede, Hans (1745). "Ch. 6. Of the Greenland Sea Animals, and Sea Fowl and Fishes / § Of other Sea Animals". A description of Greenland : Shewing the natural history, situation, boundaries and face of the country, the nature of the soil;. London: Printed for C. Hitch in Pater-noster Row; S. Austen in Newgate-Street; and J. Jackson near St. James’s Gate. p. 87.
  44. Crantz, David [in German] (1820). The History of Greenland: Including an Account of the Mission Carried on by the United Brethren in that Country. From the German of David Crantz. Vol. 1. p. 122.; Cf. Note X, pp. 323–338
  45. W[ilson] (1818), Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, p.649
  46. Finnur Jónsson (1920), pp. 113–114.
  47. Knapton, Sarah (28 February 2023). "Scientists solve the mystery of dreaded Norse sea monster". The Daily Telegraph.
Bibliography