Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1965, Blaðsíða 48

46
HALLDÓR HALLDÓRSSON
completely unfounded alteration, drepa í stall. He compares drepa
á stall with drepa á dyr and translates the phrase by “corda pulsa-
banl scamnum, scil. palpitando, ubi prius præ metu ad lumbos sub-
sedissent.” In continuation he writes as follows:27
Nimirum prisci boreales cor animi et fortitudinis sedem
habebant; qvod dictiones hodieqve usitatæ testantur; ex. gr.
dan. behjertet, hos hvem Hjertet sidder paa det rette Sted, ani-
mosus dicitur. De ignavis contra et meticulosis dici solet:
hans Hjerte sidder ei paa sit rette Sted: vel Hjertet sank ham i
Knæerne; veteres autem dixerunt: hiartat drap hanvm i stall,
dan. sank til Bænks, in scamnum subsidebat: drápv pro drápvz
vel vorv drepin, freqventi formarum permutatione; qvæ ta-
men, si lectio, á korn, admittatur, hujus non est loci.
Thorlacius’ method would surely not be approved by modern
scholars and in addition his explanation is not clear. He thinks he
finds support for his views in Danish metaphorical phrases, indi-
cating that the heart was believed to fall downwards in the body
when one is in a state of fear. He speaks of its falling down to the
loins (“ad lumbos”). He translates stallr with scamnum, which in
fact means ‘a bench’. He seems to mean thereby some part of the
body, but he never says explicitly what part he means. Thorlacius’
attempt to explain the phrase is nevertheless original and worthy of
consideration, although I do not believe in its correctness.
Sveinbjörn Egilsson discusses the origin of the phrase rather
thoroughly in his Lexicon poeticum. He quotes more instances of
the phrase than Thorlacius, but he bases his explanation on Thorla-
cius’ theory. Egilsson’s attempt to explain the phrase may thus be
characterized as an expansion of Thorlacius’ theory. He says that
stallr is not here used for ‘a bench’ (“scamnum”) in its proper
sense, but ‘for something expanded which catches a falling thing’
(“de quovis substrato, rem decidentem excipiente”). The part of the
body meant is, according to Dr. Egilsson, the diaphragm (“itaque
27 Ibid. 105.