As mentioned below, "fil" (with a long i) is a Persian word for elephant.
The original Persian word is actually "pil" (with long i), but Arabic took
it from Persian and pronounced it "fil," and, as near as I can determine,
the Persians took it back in that form and then used both forms. Both "pil"
and "fil" are listed in Steingass, the most authoritative dictionary of
classical Persian.

In the Wehr/Cowan Arabic dictionary, "fil" appears, meaning elephant and
chess bishop.

C. 1000 CE, "piltan," meaning "body of an elephant" was used as an alternate
name for the Persian hero Rustam, who figures prominently in the Persian
epic, the Shahnameh.

I think it quite possible that Vikings would have run into Persians in the
early Middle Ages, somewhere in Central Asia, Asia Minor, or the Caucasus. I
don't know how likely it would have been for elephants to have been in those
regions, however.

Brandon in Honolulu

>From: "llama_nom" <600cell@...>
>Reply-To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
>To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: [norse_course] Re: Elephants in the Eddas
>Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 21:26:19 -0000
>
>--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Andrew Higgins" <asthiggins@...>
>wrote:
> >
> >
> > Greetings All
> >
> > I am working on the prologue to Snorri's Edda and came across an
> > interesting line about elephants. It is when the Trojan prince Thorr
> > is being described (lines 38-40) - where he is described as
> >
> > "Sva var hann fagr alitum er hann kom meth othrum monnum sem tha er
> > fils bein er grafit i eik"
> >
> > Which I translate as
> >
> > He was so fair in appearence that he came among other people as if he
> > were like the ivy of the elephant inlaid with oak (strong, towering?)
>
>
>I think the comparison is rather to the more precious material, ivory,
>"inlaid in oak", so that his fairness stands out clearly surrounded by
>the dullness of other people. As for elephants... The word 'f�ll' is
>Persian in origin (from the same source as 'alfil', the Spanish name
>for the bishop in chess). It appears in a number of other medieval
>sources. The Or�ab�k H�sk�lans text database has this example from
>Heimskringla: Elefans heitir d�r � lat�nu en � �ra tungu f�ll. �at er
>haft � orustum � �tl�ndum. "There is an animal called elephant in
>Latin, and f�ll in our language. It is used in battles in foreign
>lands." Elephants are mentioned also in a few of the late legendary
>sagas. A chimerical creature called a finng�lkn is described in
>Hj�lm��s saga ok �lvis as having the tail of either a horse or an
>elephant (the prose says horse, an embedded verse says elephant).
>Then there's a gigantic warrior in S�rla saga sterka who rides an
>elephant into battle. In �orleifs ��ttr jarlask�lds, the word is even
>used in a kenning, �ldu f�l 'wave's elephant', meaning "ship". It's
>quite traditional in Old Norse poetry to refer to a ship in terms of
>an animal; it's just the choice of animal here that's exotic.
>
>There's a curious incident in Yngvars saga v��f�rla -- a fantastical
>tale of exploration at the eastern edge of the Viking world based
>loosely on historical events -- in which the adventurers find natives
>leading a strange creature on a rope. The animal has a wooden tower
>on its back and it takes ten men to lead it, but the vikings don't
>know what it is or what it ate, so they kill it. The saga is supposed
>to be an early translation from a 12th century Latin original, written
>in Iceland, and claims to be based (in part at least) on oral stories.
> I'm guessing the saga audience would be in on the joke, and aware
>what this mysterious beast was.
>
>LN
>
>
>
> > "fils" in Zoega is translated as elephant - does anyone know the
> > origin of this word.
> >
> > Is there any other instance of fils being used in the eddas or sagas?
> >
> > Thanks, Andy
> >
>
>

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