narwhal: [17] The narwhal, a small arctic whale with a long unicorn-like tusk, is whitish in colour, which evidently reminded Viking seafarers somewhat morbidly of a corpse, for they named it in Old Icelandic nāhvalr, literally ‘corpse whale’. In Danish and Norwegian this became narhval, and English took it over and partially anglicized it as narh whale. Over the centuries this has contracted to narwhal.
narwhal (n.)
1650s, from Danish and Norwegian narhval, probably a metathesis of Old Norse nahvalr, literally "corpse-whale," from na "corpse" + hvalr "whale" (see whale). So called from resemblance of its whitish color to that of dead bodies. The first element is from PIE *nau- (1) "death; to be exhausted" (cognates: Old English ne, neo, Gothic naus "corpse," Old Cornish naun, Old Church Slavonic navi, Old Prussian nowis "corpse," Lettish nawe "death," Lithuanian novyti "to torture, kill").
雙語例句
1. Whether they catch a male or female narwhal, the Inuit waste nothing.
不論獵捕到公角鯨或母角鯨, 因紐特人絕不浪費絲毫可用之物.
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2. The narwhal's single, spiral tusk has always been a mystery.
獨角鯨那獨一無二的螺旋狀尖角總是被視為神秘之物.
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3. The male narwhal's extraordinary 1 tusk, up to three meters long, inspired 2 legends 3 of unicorns long ago.
公角鯨奇特的長牙(長達三米)在古時曾引發(fā)關(guān)于獨角獸的傳說.
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4. In fact, this monster is not a narwhal, but a wonderful submarine structure.