narwhal

English

WOTD – 1 February 2011

A drawing of a narwhal

Wikispecies

Alternative forms

• narwal, narwhale

Etymology

From Dutch narwal or Danish/Norwegian Bokmål narhval, from Old Norse náhvalr, from nár (“corpse”) + hvalr (“whale”). Compare Icelandic náhvalur.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnɑːʍəl/, /ˈnɑːwəl/, /ˈnɑːˌʍeɪl/, /ˈnɑːˌweɪl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈnɑɹʍəl/, /ˈnɑɹwəl/, /ˈnɑɹˌʍeɪl/, /ˈnɑɹˌweɪl/, /ˈnɑɹʍɔl/, /ˈnɑɹwɔl/, /ˈnɑɹʍɑl/, /ˈnɑɹwɑl/

Noun

narwhal (plural narwhals or narwhal)

1. Monodon monoceros, an Arctic cetacean that grows to about 20 feet (6 meters) long, the male having a single horn-like tusk, a twisted, pointed canine tooth that projects forward.

   Synonym: sea unicorn

   • 1986, D. E. Sergeant, “Chapter 16: Sea Mammals”, in I. P. Martini, editor, Canadian Inland Seas‎^[1], page 337:

     Moreover, both narwhals and bowheads can occur in late summer in southern Prince Regent Inlet (coming from Lancaster Sound) and may reach Fury and Hecla Strait and northern Foxe Basin.

   • 1988, Tristan Jones, Somewheres East of Suez‎^[2]:

     Often, in the morning, narwhals played around the boat and reminded me of the dolphins, so far away in the North Atlantic. But these narwhals were not like the Atlantic sea-dogs; they had little of their flashing vibrancy; these Turkish narwhals were much more relaxed, and rolled over lazily, with a sigh, as if they were going to retire to a sofa and smoke a hookah.

   • 2000, Richard C. Connor, Andrew J. Read, Richard Wrangham, edited by Janet Mann, Cetacean Societies: Field Studies of Dolphins and Whales‎^[3], 10: Male Reproductive Strategies and Social Bonds, page 247:

     At over 2.5 m in length, the tusk of the male narwhal (Monodon monoceros) is one the most impressive instruments of male-male competition among mammals.

Derived terms

• narluga

 

Translations

Arctic cetacean

• Afrikaans: narwal
• Albanian: narvali m
• Arabic: حريش البحر m (ḥarīš abaḥr)
• Armenian: միաժանի (miažani)
• Azerbaijani: narval
• Basque: narbal
• Belarusian: нарвал m (narval), аднарог m (adnaróh)
• Breton: narwal m
• Bulgarian: нарвал (bg) m (narval)
• Catalan: narval (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᎤᏲᎾ ᏓᏆ (uyona daqua)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 獨角鯨 / 独角鲸 (zh) (dújiǎojīng), 一角鯨 / 一角鲸 (yījiǎojīng), 角鯨 / 角鲸 (jiǎojīng), 長槍鯨 / 长枪鲸 (chángqiāngjīng)

• Czech: narval (cs) m
• Danish: narhval (da) c
• Dutch: narwal (nl) m
• Esperanto: narvalo
• Estonian: narval (et)
• Faroese: náhvalur m
• Finnish: sarvivalas (fi)
• French: narval (fr) m, licorne de mer (fr) f
• Georgian: მარტოკბილა (marṭoḳbila)
• German: Narwal (de) m
• Greek: φάλαινα νάρβαλ f (fálaina nárval)
• Greenlandic: qilalugaq qernertaq
• Hebrew: חַדְשָׁן חַדקֶרֶן m (khadshén khadkéren)
• Hungarian: narvál (hu)
• Icelandic: náhvalur (is) m
• Ido: narvalo (io)
• Inuktitut: ᑑᒑᓕᒃ (toocaalik)
• Irish: narbhal m
• Italian: narvalo (it) m
• Japanese: 一角 (ja) (イッカク, ikkaku), イッカク (ja) (ikkaku)
• Kazakh: сытқы (sytqy)
• Korean: 일각고래 (ko) (ilgakgorae)
• Latvian: narvalis m
• Lithuanian: narvalas m
• Lombard: narval m
• Macedonian: нарвал m (narval)
• Manx: whale feeacklagh m, narwhal m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: narhval (no) m

  Nynorsk: narkval m

• Occitan: narval m
• Old English: nēohwæl m
• Persian: ناروال (nârvâl), ختو (xotu)
• Polish: narwal (pl) m, jednorożec (pl) m
• Portuguese: narval (pt) m
• Romanian: narval (ro) m
• Russian: нарва́л (ru) m (narvál), единоро́г (ru) m (jedinoróg)
• Scottish Gaelic: muc-mhara adharcach f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: на̀рвал m, је̏днорог m

  Roman: nàrval (sh) m, jȅdnorog (sh) m

• Slovak: narval m
• Slovene: narval m, enorog m, samorog (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: narwal m

  Upper Sorbian: narwal m

• Spanish: narval (es) m
• Swedish: narval (sv) c
• Thai: นาร์วาล (naa-waan)
• Turkish: narval (tr), deniz gergedanı
• Ukrainian: нарва́л m (narvál)
• Uzbek:

  Cyrillic: нарвал (uz) (narval)

  Roman: narval

• Vietnamese: kì lân biển (麒麟𣷭)
• Welsh: môr-ungorn m, morfil ungorn m

Manx

Etymology

From English narwhal, from Old Norse náhvalr.

Noun

narwhal m (genitive singular narwhal)

1. narwhal

   Synonym: whale feeacklagh