Matching Names
Found 1 matching names:A
| Name | ☼ | European | Old Spelling | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | ☼ | European | Old Spelling | |||
| A | ||||||
| ▸ | Arruttaq | N | Arrútaĸ | |||
| Probably the same stem as 'arrusaq (aarrusaq)', but simplified to 'Arrutaq' or 'Arruttaq'. Arrusaq is the term for a small pelagic marine gastropod (clione limicina) which is gelatinous and transparent, and shaped like little angels, having flapping "wings", hence their name in English: sea angels. They can become 5 cm (2 in.) in size. Their dictionary definition in Greenlandic is 'aataasaq' (shaped like an aataaq - harp seal), but the gastropod have erroneously gained the name 'aataaliannguaq' from a popular and unrelated children's song by the same name. Arrusaq/aataasaq sometimes functioned as helping spirits for shamans in traditional society, varying in size from that of a hand to the size of a human. The name might have a connection to Fabricius' legendary 'ataarpiaq' (real harp seal) from his dictionary from 1804 (p. 57). The verbal form is 'arrorpoq', which means 'disintegrates into water, becomes soft, becomes frayed', thus named due to its gelatinous form. | ||||||