Etymology

narwhal

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Today it means: An Arctic toothed whale (Monodon monoceros) that grows to about 20 feet (6 meters) long, the male having a single horn-like tusk, a twisted, pointed cuspid that projects forward. Full definition →

Dutch narwal ← Norwegian Bokmål narhval ← Old Norse náhvalr
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The story

  1. Old Norse · derived fromnáhvalr
  2. Norwegian Bokmål · borrowed fromnarhval
  3. Dutch · borrowed fromnarwal
  4. English todaynarwhal

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

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.