m., pl. hvalar, Sks. 180 B; hvala, acc. pl., K. Þ. K. 138; hvalana, Grág. ii. 387; hvala alla, 359; mod. hvalir: [A. S. hwœl; Germ. wall-fisch; Dan. hval]:—a whale, Hým. 21, Rb. 1812. 17, Grág. i. 159, ii. 337: as to the right to claim whales as jetsum, see the law in Grág. and Jb., the Reka-bálkr and the Sagas passim, e. g. Grett. ch. 14,Eb. ch. 57, Háv. ch. 3, Fbr. ch. 9:—there was always a great stir when a whale was driven ashore, flýgr fiskisaga ferr hvalsaga; í hvals líki, Fms. xi. 182, Fas. ii. 131; hvals auki, amber, old Dan. hvals-öky, Sks.; hvals hauss, a whale’s head; hvals ván, expectation of a whale being drifted ashore, Vm. 174; hvals verð, a whale’s value, Grág. ii. 373; hvala blástr, the blowing of a whale; hvala-kváma, arrival of shoals of whales, Eg. 135; hvala-kyn, a species of whale, Sks. 121; in Edda (Gl.) and in Sks. l. c. no less than twenty-five kinds of whales are enumerated and described; hvala-skúfr, whale guts, a nickname, Landn.; hvala-vetr, a winter when many whales were caught, Ann. 1375: in local names, Hvals-á, Hvals-nes, Hval-fjörðr, Hvals-eyrr, Landn. etc.

COMPDS: hvalambr, hvalfiskr, hvalfjara, hvalfjós, hvalflutningr, hvalflystri, hvalfundr, hvalföng, hvalgrafir, hvalgæði, hvalgögn, hvaljárn, hvalkaup, hvalkálfr, hvalklippa, hvalkváma, hvallátr, hvalmagi, hvalmál, hvalreið, hvalreki, hvalrekstr, hvalrétti, hvalréttr, hvalrif, hvalró, hvalsaga, hvalskipti, hvalskíð, hvalskurðr, hvalskyti, hvaltaka, hvaltíund, hvalvágr, hvalván, hvalfrón.