Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1991, Blaðsíða 120
The gieda chapter in the Old Icelandic Physiologus
by Dora Faraci
Not all of the chapters of the two versions of the Old Icelandic
Physiologus1 (henceforth 01P; ca 1200) have analogues in the early
Physiologus texts2. Whereas the five animals included in Fragment A
appear in the early Physiologus, although in a more expanded form,
some of those belonging to Fragment B are either missing from the
early tradition or dealt with in a way which seems to have no
correspondent in other Physiologus texts we know3. In spite of its
distinctiveness, the text is related to the methods of the same book in
other languages arid from other centuries4. Distinctive touches may
have been added by the OIP author, but any such supposed distinc-
tion should be tested against traditional attitudes in other texts of the
1 The text has been published by: T. Mobms, Analecta norroena, 2nded., Leipzig 1877,
pp. 246-51; V. Dahlerup, ‘Physiologus i to islandske bearbejdelser’, Aarbøgerfor nordisk
Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1899, pp. 199-290; H. Hermannsson, The Icelandic Physiolo-
gus, Islandica 27, Ithaca, New York 1938 (reviewed by G. T. Flom in Modern Language
Notes 55, 1940, pp. 541-42); J. Louis-Jensen, ‘Faksimile af de Islandske Physiologus-
Fragmenter’, Romanske Stenarbejder 2, Højbjerg 1984, pp. 23-57.
2 Dahlerup included in his edition some excerpts from London, British Library, MS
Royal 2.C.XII, ff. 133r-145v (ed. by F. Mann, ‘Der Bestiaire Divin de Guillaume le
Clerc’, Franzosische Studien, 6/2,1888, pp. 37-73) and from Bem, Burgerbibliothek, MS
233, ff. 1-13 (ed. by C. Cahier 8c A. Martin, Me'langes d’Archéologie, d’Historie et de
Littérature, II-IV, Paris 1851-56). For the B-version of the Latin Physiologus see F. J.
Carmody, Physiologus Latinus. Versio B, Paris 1939.
3 The most debated chapters are Nos. 16-19 of fragment B, conceming milvus, porcus
silvae, nycticorax and elephans (cf. lasdy J. Louis-Jensen, ‘Forklaringer til den islandske
Physiologus-tekst’, Romanske Stenarbejder, 2, Højbjerg, 1984, pp. 59-62, at p. 59). As we
shall see in the present paper, milvus appears in the Bestiary; nycticorax and elephans,
although they belong to the tradition, are dealt with in an original way. Differences from
the early Latin texts can be also noted in relation to other animals. See, for instance, the
chapters on the ant (A, 4) and on the whale (B, 8).
4 A more extensive analysis of the Physiologus tradition is to be found in my forth-
coming work on the Middle English Bestiary, together with bibliographic references
on the subject.