Etymology Dictionary

WALRUS,   a kind of large seal.  (Du.,—Scand.)   In Ash's Dict., ed. 1775.—Duc. walrus, 'a king of great fish with tusks;' Sewel, ed. 1754.   Not a Du. word, but borrowed from Scand.—Swed. vallross, a morse, walrus; Dan. hvalros.   The name is very old, since the word ross (for horse) is no longer in use in Swedish and Danish, which languages now employ häst, hest in its stead; but we find the word, in an invented form, in Icel. hross-hvalr, a walrus, lit. a horse-whale; the name being given (it is suggested) from the noise made by the animal, somewhat resembling a neigh.   β. At any rate, there is no doubt about the sense, whatever may have been the reason for it; the notion referred to by E. Müller, that the word was orig. Norwegian, and meant 'Russian whale,' is disproved at once by the Icelandic word; and to make it doubly sure, we have the A.S. hors-hwæl, a horse-whale, a walrus, in Ælfred's translation of Orosius; see Sweet, A.S. Reader.   γ. The Swed. vall, Dan. hval, Icel. hvalr, are cognate with E. Whale.   The Swed. ross, Dan. ros, Icel. hross or hors, are cognate with A.S. hors (the r in which has shifted); see Horse.   ¶ The name morse, q.v., is Russian.