Anthropozoologica
53 (15) - Pages 175-183One of the main features of the relation between humans and the walrus (Odobenus rosmarus (Linnaeus, 1758)) is terminological plurality. Our lexicographical approach specifies the meanings of words referring to the walrus in Northern Europe during the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance, and the links between them. Those terms are both numerous and ambiguous, while some of them actually mean ivory rather than walrus. In order to achieve our study, we use narrative, juridical and practical sources. Our examination of words also bears results in the fields of food history and animal symbolism.
Nordic countries, walrus, horse-whale, hvalr, ivory, animal names, lexicography, food, monsters.
