Gripla - 01.01.1993, Qupperneq 278

278
GRIPLA
translating iniquitas, nequitia, and ntalitia, e.g., ’tradidit omni impudi-
citiæ et iniquitati’4 > ‘aurvæntandi allri uhreinsan ok illzku;’5 ‘Paeniten-
tiam itaque age ab hac nequitia tua’6 > ‘Nu gerðu iðrun sem braðaz
fyrir þessa illzku;’7 ‘in malitia obstinati’8 > ‘stirdir ok stadfastir i sinni
illzku.’9
Of the altogether fifteen examples of illska in Gyðinga saga,10 seven
are in compound forms: illskufullr (99,23), illskukraptr (100,11), illsku-
maðr (39,8; 54,22; 85,17), illskuverk (39,3), and illskuþjóð (40,2). In all
seven instances the meaning of illska is clearly ‘wickedness,’ ‘cruelty.’
But in only two or three of the eight examples of illska as a simplex
does it appear in the above-mentioned meaning of the word: ‘Ok þo at
allar þiodir hlydi Antiocho. ok samþyckiz med hans illzku’ (9,10); ‘Enn
hon fylltiz vpp eitrligrar illzku imoti honum’ (61,8); ‘ok fellu vt idrín
med illzku’ (93,9).11 The remaining five examples appear to represent
the ‘sérkennileg merking’ that is ‘distress,’ ‘mischief,’ or ‘tribulation’:
(1) ‘þuiat aa hans dogum hófz allr oroí ok illzka. su er yfir geck allan
Gydínga lyd’ (2,6); (2) ‘Nu ferr at oss vfridr ok illzka’ (14,19); (3) ‘Nu
ser Judas huer ánaud ok illzka yfir gengr folkit’ (31,22); (4) ‘Var þar nu
sua mikil illzka ok ánaud. at yfir Israels folk. hafdi alldri fyrr komit
iafn hardr dagr’ (37,13); (5) ‘alldri geck af þeim suerd ok svt. vfridr ok
illzka’ (98,29). In only two of these examples does illska translate iden-
tifiable words in Latin, that is in (3), where ‘ánauð ok illska’ translate
‘mala’ (1 Macc. 7:23), and in (4), where ‘illska ok ánauð’ translate ‘tri-
bulatio’ (1 Macc. 9:27). This meaning of illska is, however, no more
‘sérkennileg’ than Baetke, Cleasby-Vigfusson, Fritzner, Heggstad, and
de Vries (see n. 1) include it as one of the secondary meanings.
As evident from Cleasby-Vigfusson, Fritzner, and the archives of
the Arnamagnaean Dictionary, the use of illska in this meaning is not
4 C.R. Unger, ed. Heilagra manna s0gur II (Christiania, 1877), p. 359,31.
5 ibid., p. 360,8.
6 Acts 8:22.
7 C.R. Unger, ed. Postola sögur (Christiania, 1874), p. 293,24.
8 Vincent of Beauvais. Specutum historiale 1,10.
1 C.R. Unger, ed Stjórn (Christiania, 1862), p. 8,14.
111 All references to Gyðinga saga in the following are to Guðmundur Porláksson’s
edition in Samfund til udgivelse af gammel nordisk litteratur (1881).
11 In the last phrase (taken from Acts 1:18), illska may have the somewhat more
modern meaning ‘illness’ or ‘sickness’.