Gripla - 20.12.2018, Qupperneq 52

GRIPLA52
between the Letter and Pseudo-Soranus, it will be examined here whether
it can be determined if Af natturu mannzins ok bloði derives from the
Pseudo-Soranus version. relevant variants from Pseudo-Soranus (PS) are
given in the footnotes. Af natturu mannzins ok bloði is printed from Eiríkur
Jónsson and finnur Jónsson’s edition of Hauksbók, 180–182. Vindician’s
Letter is printed from rose’s edition, Epistula Vindiciani, 484–92.
with the prefixes “rauða” and “suarta” refers to the specific humours known in English as
“red bile” and “black bile” (note the explanatory Melancholea=black blood, item 1). “Bloð”
without a prefix refers to the blood in the veins, but “rétt bloð” [right blood] to blood as a
humour – except when there is no risk of ambiguity, such as in items 7, 9, 10. Semantically,
the old norse text thus speaks of “rauða bloð” and “suarta bloð” as humours in the blood,
which is very much in accordance with the humoural doctrine. according to the theory, the
bloodstream in the veins was the carrier of all four humours in a mixture. Blood was one of
the humours but also the medium that contained them all. this understanding also appears
clearly in items 1 and 2. Because of this, imbalance between the humours could be corrected
by the popular method of bloodletting: extracting blood from the appropriate parts of the
body. See Vivian nutton, “Humoralism,” Companion Encyclopedia of the History of Medicine,
ed. by W. f. Bynum and roy Porter, 2 vols (London: routledge, 1993), vol. I, 287; Harold
J. Cook, “Physical Methods,” ibid., vol. II, 942–44.
75 boni voti] − PS, simplices] − PS, euchymos seu suci plenos] − PS, blandos] + et formosos
PS.
Af natturu mannzins ok bloði
3. Enn ef rauða bloð er mest i bloði
mannz. þa er sa fímr ok flogall.
lettr a sér. slægr. ok bráðr. ok ma
mikit eta. (181:27–28)
[If red blood74 is greatest in a man’s
blood, than that man is agile and
volatile, light, shrewd and hot-
tempered, and can eat a lot.]
4. Enn ef mestr lutr af bloði mannz er
þat er rett bloð er kallat þa er hann
bliðr ok hỏfeskr kátr. ok litillátr.
vakr. ok varmr í natturu sinni.
(181:28–31)
Vindician’s Letter
3. cholera rubea facit homines ira-
cundos ingeniosos acutos leves
macilentos, plurimum comedentes
et cito digerentes. (488:10–12)
[red bile makes men hot-
tempered, clever, shrewd, light,
thin. They eat a lot and digest
quickly.]
4. sanguis facit homines boni voti
simplices moderatos blandos
euchymos seu <suci> plenos.75
(488:9–10)