Hafgufa
[15][d] Its mention in the Speculum regale was noted by Olaus Wormiaus (Ole Worm) in his posthumous Museum Wormianum (1654)[21][22] and by another Dane, Thomas Bartholin the senior (1657).
[22][1] In the later version of Örvar-Odds saga[23] dating to the late 14th century,[24] hafgufa is described as the largest sea monster (sjóskrímsl) of all,[e] which fed on whales, ships, men, and anything it could catch, according to the deck officer Vignir Oddsson who knew the lore.
[25][27][5][f] Örvar-Oddr and his crew, who started from the Greenland Sea were sailing along the coast south and westward, towards a fjord called Skuggi[g][28] on Helluland (also given by the English-translated name of "Slabland"), and it is on the way there that they encountered two monsters, the hafgufa ('sea-reek') and lyngbakr ('heather-back').
[29] Although the original aspidochelone was a turtle-island of warmer waters, this was reinvented as a type of whale named aspedo in the Icelandic Physiologus (fragment B, No.
[29][30][h] In the Icelandic aspedo was described as a whale (hvalr) being mistaken for an island,[33][34] and as opening its mouth to issue a perfume of sorts to attract prey.
[35] Halldór Hermannsson [is] observed that these were represented as two distinct illustrations in the Icelandic copy; he further theorized that this led to the mistaken notion of separate creatures called hafgufa and lyngbakr in existence, as occurs in the saga.
[23][26] Contrary to the saga, Danish physician Thomas Bartholin in his Historiarum anatomicarum IV (1657) stated that the hafgufa ('sea vapor') was synonymous with 'lyngbak' ([sic.
[43] and later, the non-native Moravian cleric David Crantz [de]'s History of Greenland (1765, in German) treated hafgafa as synonymous with the krake[n] in the Norwegian tongue.
[46] In 2023, scientists reported observed behaviour of whales resembling that of the Hafgufa of legends, by staying stationary on the sea surface with their jaws open and waiting for fish to swim into mouths.
[8][47] Einn fiskr er enn útaldr, er mér vex heldr í augu frá at segja fyrir vaxtar hans sakir, þviat þat mun flestum mǫnnum útrúligt þykkja; þar kunnu ok fæstir frá hánum nǫkkut at segja gǫrla.
Eigi kann ek skilvísliga fráa lengð hans at secja með álna tali, þviat þeim sinnum er hann hefir birzk fyrir mǫnnum, þá hefir hann landi sýnzk likari en fiski; hvárk spyr ek, at hann hafi veiddr verit né dauðr fundinn; ok þat þykki mér likt, at þeir sé eigi fleiri en tveir í hǫfum, ok ǫngvan ætla ek þá auka geta sín ámilli, þiat ek ætla þá hina sǫmu jafnan vera, of eigo mundi ǫðrum fiskum hlýða, at þeir væri svá margir sem aðrir hvalir fyrir mikilleika sakir þeirra, ok svá mikillar atvinnu er þeir þurfu.
En sú er náttúra sǫgð þeirra fiska, at þegar er hann skal eta, þá gefr hann ropa mikinn upp or hálsi sér, ok fylgir þeim ropa mikil áta, svá at allskyns fiskar, þeir er í nánd verða staddir, þá samnask til, bæði smáir ok stórir, ok hyggjask sér skulu þar matar afla ok góðrar atvinnu; en þessi hinn mikli fiskr lætr standa munn sinn opinn meðan, ok er þat hlið eigi minna en sund mikit eða fjǫrðr, ok kunni fiskar eigi at varask þat at renna þar í með fjǫlda sinum.
En Ǫgmundr flóki hefir sent þessi kvikvendi í móti þér með fjǫlkynngi sinni til þess at bana þér ok ǫllum mǫnnum þínum; hugði hann, at svá skyldi hafa farit fleiri sem þeir, at nú druknuðu, en hann ætlaði, at hafgufan skyldi hafa gleypt oss alla.
