walrus

Where does the word "walrus" come from? It comes from Old Norse hrosshvalr, passing through Dutch before entering English (1650s onward).

Walrus’s story begins in Old Norse: hrosshvalr meant “walrus, a kind of whale.” A compound literally meaning 'horse-whale', naming the tusked Arctic mammal. By 1650s, the word had taken hold in Dutch as walrus. The Norse compound was folk-etymologically inverted and reshaped under influence of Dutch 'walvis' (whale) and 'ros' (horse). It reached English by 1650s onward as walrus. Dutch 'walrus', from Norse 'hrosshvalr', horse-whale; Lewis Carroll's 'The Walrus and the Carpenter' (1871) made it familiar. Today, walrus means a large Arctic marine mammal with tusks and whiskers.

1. Stage 1 · Old Norse · medieval hrosshvalr "walrus, a kind of whale", a compound literally meaning 'horse-whale', naming the tusked Arctic mammal.
2. Stage 2 · Dutch · 1650s walrus "walrus", the Norse compound was folk-etymologically inverted and reshaped under influence of Dutch 'walvis' (whale) and 'ros' (horse).
3. Stage 3 · English · 1650s onward walrus "large Arctic marine mammal with tusks", Dutch 'walrus', from Norse 'hrosshvalr', horse-whale; Lewis Carroll's 'The Walrus and the Carpenter' (1871) made it familiar.