Kraken: Difference between revisions

The English word '''''"kraken'''''" (in the sense of sea monster) derives from [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] ''kraken'' or ''krakjen'', which are the [[Article (grammar)#Variation among languages|definite]] forms of ''krake'' ("the krake").<ref name=oed1-kraken/>

According to a Norwegian dictionary, the root meaning of ''krake'' is "malformed or overgrown, crooked tree".<ref name="UIB"/> It originates from [[Old Norse]] {{lang|non|kraki}}, which is etymologically related to Old Norse {{lang|non|krókr}}, {{literally|hook}}, [[cognate]] with "crook". This is backed up by the [[Swedish language|Swedish]] dictionary [[SAOB]], published by the [[Swedish Academy]], which gives essentially the exact same description for the word in Swedish and confirming the lead ''krak'' as a [[diminutive form]] of ''krok'', Norwegian and Swedish for 'hook/crook' (''krake'' thus roughly translate to "crookie").<ref name="krake sbst.4"/> With time, "krake" have come to mean any severed tree stem or trunk with crooked outgrowths, in turn giving name to objects and tools based on such, notably for the subject matter, primitive [[anchor]]s and ''drags'' ([[grapnel anchor]]s) made from severed spruce tops or branchy bush trunks outfitted with a stone sinker,<ref name="UIB"/><ref name="krake sbst.4"/> known as ''krake'', but also ''krabbe'' in Norwegian or ''krabba'' in Swedish ({{literally|crab}}).{{efn|{{lang-no|Krabbe}}, {{lang-sv|krabba}} ({{literally|crab}}) as a word for ''drag'' ([[grapnel anchor]]) is assumed to be figuratively derived from the animal of the same name, as both shares the nature of crawling on the sea bed. The word stems from {{lang-non|krabbi}}, etymologically root cognate with {{lang-gml|krabbe}}, {{lang-ang|crabba}}, 'to crawl'.<ref name="krabba sbst.1"/><ref name="krabba sbst.2"/><ref name="credibility"/>}} Old Norse {{lang|non|kraki}} mostly corresponds to these uses in modern [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], meaning, among other things, "twig" and "drag", but also "pole, /stake used in {{ILL|pole blockages|sv|pålspärr}}" and "[[boat hook]]".<ref name="cleasby-vigfusson-kraki"/> Swedish SAOB gives the translations of Icelandic {{lang|is|kraki}} as "thin rod with hook on it", "wooden drag with stone sinker" and "dry spruce trunk with the crooked, stripped branches still attached".<ref name="krake sbst.4"/>

[[File:20000 squid holding sailor.jpg|thumb|upright|An illustration from the original 1870 edition of ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the SeaSeas]]'' by [[Jules Verne]]]]

The French novelist [[Victor Hugo]]'s ''Les Travailleurs de la mer'' (1866, "[[Toilers of the Sea]]") discusses the man-eating octopus, the kraken of legend, called ''pieuvre'' by the locals of the [[Channel Islands]] (in the [[Guernésiais|Guernsey dialect]], etc.).<ref name="cahill"/><ref name="hugo1866"/>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Hugo also produced an ink and wash sketch of the octopus.<ref name="weiss"/>}} Hugo's octopus later influenced [[Jules Verne]]'s depiction of the kraken in ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the SeaSeas]]'',<ref name="bhattacharjee"/> though Verne also drew on the real-life encounter the French ship ''[[French corvette Alecton|Alecton]]'' had with what was probably a [[giant squid]].{{sfnp|Nigg|2014|p=147}} It has been noted that Verne indiscriminately interchanged ''kraken'' with ''calmar'' (squid) and ''poulpe'' (octopus).<ref name=miller&walter/>

<ref name="bell">{{citation|last=Bell |first=F. Jeffrey |author-link=Francis Jeffrey Bell |title=XLIV. Some Notes on British Ophiurids |journal=Annals &and Magazine of Natural History |series=Sixth Series |number=47 |date=November 1891 |url={{GBurl|id=g-BEAAAAYAAJ|q=Stella+Arborescens}} |pages=342–344<!--337–-->}}</ref>