The Old Norse Toponym Grænland and its Tie to the Trade in Walrus Ivory

Abstract The implausible medieval toponym Grænland ‘Greenland’ is traced to the walrus hunting station in the Disko Bay region of northwestern Greenland and to the dominant island proto-industry, tusk extraction and trade in ivory. Language substitution and related processes take a notional * tannland ‘tusk land’ (perhaps tabooed) through * granland ‘whisker land’ (a second dominant cranial feature of the animal) to grænland , variously ‘fresh, new land’, ‘land of hope’, and, lastly, ‘green land’. Norse trade as far as to central Asia in ivory and other luxury goods such as North American hardwoods is also reviewed.