Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1965, Page 55

HJARTA DREPR STALL
53
variant bera hjartað í hosunum from the 19th century.54 They are
without douht borrowed from the Danish hjertet sidder (synker
nedj i bukserne. In Swedish we find similar phrases: ha hjartat i
byxorna, hjartat sjunker i byxorna (found 1681), hjartat ar i byx-
orna pá ngn and hiertat lág i brook, which is found in a book from
about 1685.55 These Scandinavian phrases may have been borrowed
from German; at least German has a rich supply of this type of
phrase: das Herz ist ihm in die Hosen gefallen, einem sinkt das
Herz, das Ilerz fallt e-m tiefer gegen die Schuhe hinab, das Herz
sinkt e-m in die Kniekehlen, das Herz liegt e-m in Knien, das Herz
fdllt e-m in die Stiefel, das Herz ist ihm in die fíruch gefallen.5 0 In
English we also find similar phrases: one’s heart is in (at) one’s
heels or hose, one’s heart is at the bottom of one’s hose, one’s lieart
turns into one’s hose, one’s heart sinks in one’s shoes, to have (wishj
one’s heart in one’s boots. The oldest instance of this type of phrase
in English is from about 1430: Myn herte fil doun vnto my tooS'1
The same belief is found in the Icelandic phrase variants lijartað
er orðið neðarlega í e-m (1795) and lijartað er komið neðarlega í
e-m (20th century):
mundi ecki ordid nedarlega í þér hiartad, þegar stóri hundur-
inn kom.58
corae afraid’ — the latter found in the 19th century: “hann fékk buxur —
timor ei injectus est” (Lbs. 220, 8™, 61) — probably do not belong here. It is
more likely that they have connection with Danish buksefeber and Swedish
byxángest or at least trace their origin to a similar idea.
54 Safn af íslenzkum orðskviðum, 410.
55 SAOB, under lijarta, byxor, and brok.
50Deutsches ÍFörterbuch IV 2, 1209; V, 1423, 1429; Wilhelm Borchardt,
Die sprichwörtlichen Redensarten im deutschen Volksmunde nach Sinn und
Vrsprung erláutert. In giinzlicher Neuarbeitung herausgegeben von Gustav
Wustmann (Fiinfte Auflage; Leipzig 1895),223; Borcbardt-Wustmann-Sclioppe,
Die spríchhuiörtlichen Redensarten ... (Siebente Auflage neu bearbeitet von
Dr. Alfred Schirmer ...; Leipzig 1955), 221.
57 OED, under heart and boot.
58 Sumar-Gipf handa R0rnum frá Sra. Gudmundi Jónssyni (Leirárg0rdum
1795), 83.