ETYMOLOGY. 81 



grapliischen Werke : De gentium se^tentrionalkim conditionibus 

 cet. Bomae 1555 heisst es : Norvagium littus maximos ae grandes 

 pisces elephantis hahef, qui morsi sen rosmari vocantur, forsitan 

 oh asperitate mordendi sic appellati, (Eine reclit witzige Etymo- 

 logie !) quia, si quem Jiominem in maris littore viderint apprelien- 

 dereque poterint, in eum celerime insiliunt, ac dente lacerant et in 

 momenta interimimtP * 



The same author also gives the following from Herberstain 

 (1567): "Under anclern ist auch ein thier, so grosse wie ein 

 ochs, und von den einwonern Mors oder der Tod geheissen 

 wird." t Hence, either from superstitious notions of the terri- 

 ble character of this animal, or from the resemblance of the 

 Eussian word morss to the Latin word mors, these terms be- 

 came early confounded, and rendered by the German word Tod, 



or death.} 



In the account of the exploits of the Norman Othere, where 

 the Walrus first finds its place in literature, it is termed Horse- 

 wael. As noted by Martens and other writers, equivalent 

 words in other languages have become current for this animal, 

 as Walross or Wallross of the Germans, Wallrus of the Dutch, 



*In an early (1658) Englisli version of Olaus Magnus's work ("A Com- 

 pendious History of the Goths, Swedes, & Vandals and other Northern 

 Nations. Written by Olaus Magnus, Arch-Bishop of Upsal, and Metropoli- 

 tan of Sweden", p. 231), this passage is rendered as follows: "The Norway 

 Coast, toward the more Northern parts, hath huge great Fish as big as Ele- 

 phants, which are called Morsi, or Bosmari, may be they are so from their 

 sharp biting ; for if they see any man on the Sea-shore, and can catch him, 

 they come suddenly upon him, and rend him with their Teeth, that they will 

 kill him in a trice." From this it would appear that Morsus, as used by 

 Olaus Magnus, might be simply the Latin word morsus, from viordere, to bite. 



tSee von Baer, Mem. de Acad, des Sci. de St. P^tersb., vi** s6t., Sc. 

 math., phys. et nat., tome iv, 2^*^ pars, pp. 112, 113. 



t Von Baer quotes a passage from the ' ' Rerum Moscoviticarum auctores 

 varii," originally published early in the sixteenth century, in which occurs 

 the phrase "scandut ex mari jiisces morss nuncupati," which he regards as 

 the first introduction into Latin of the Sclavic name MopJKb. In Western 

 Europe it a little later became current in the form of Morsz, which was soon 

 written Morss or Mors, from which Buffon later formed the name Morse, 

 which has since been the common appellation of this animal among French 

 writers. Von Baer further observes that the accidental resemblance in 

 sound of this word to that of the Latin word for death {mors) appears to 

 have contributed not a little to the strange conception of the terribleness of 

 this animal which was early entertained and even still prevails in Western 

 Europe, although the Russian accounts do not speak of it. 



^Zoolog. Garten, Jahrg. xi, 1870, p. 283, where the etymology of the 

 names of the Walrus is briefly discussed. 



Misc. Pub. No. 12 6 



