Gripla - 2022, Page 130

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wards one another (Lapis)64 and preventing faint-heartedness and envy
in the carrier (Saffirus).65 We could also include Smaralldus’s ability to
sooth carnal lust here (which I have included above in physiological aids),
depending on whether lust was seen as rooted in bodily behaviour or in
emotional life. It seems likely, though, that no meaningful distinction was
made between these two categories, especially when we consider that hu-
moral theory regards emotions as phenomena with a physical and a mental
dimension.66
Social/interpersonal aids (prophylactic and enhancive)
Stones also act on social and interpersonal environments.67 For example,
Saffirus prevents the user from being tricked68 and facilitates peace,69
while Adamantis overcomes conflicts and quarrels.70 Conversely, Onix
can instigate quarrels.71 Stones can also impact the outcome of events for
the wearer: Illiasborius is used as a “sigr-steinn” (victory-stone) to ensure
victory,72 while Caledonius helps the user win their law-suits.73 The text
does not specify whether Caledonius’s impact on the external world is
direct or whether it is mediated through the user; in other words, whether
it works by improving the wearer’s verbal acuity or whether its mere pres-
ence influences the outcome of the lawsuit, perhaps acting instead on the
minds of others present.
Cognitive/intellectual aids (curative, prophylactic and enhancive)
Saledonius and Adamantis heal those who are óheill (unhealthy, not
64 AÍ, 77: “hann gerer mann þeckan fólki.”
65 Ibid.: “eigi ma hann ok hug-laus vera, medan berr hann, ok eigi aufundsiukr.”
66 See, e.g., Jacques Bos, “The Rise and Decline of Character: Humoral Psychology in
Ancient and Early Modern Medical Theory,” History of the Human Sciences 22.3 (2009):
29–50.
67 These can be seen to overlap functionally with the emotional aids outlined above, since both
sets are generally geared towards facilitating social harmony.
68 AÍ, 77: “eigi ma þann svikia.”
69 AÍ, 78: “hann er godr til grida.”
70 AÍ, 82: “deilur ok sennur.”
71 AÍ, 79: “aflar hann þretu ok kemr upp deilum.”
72 AÍ, 83.
73 AÍ, 78: “þa mun hafa mal sitt.” Interestingly, these properties parallel the use of “sigrúnar”
(victory-runes) and “málrunar” (speech-runes) in the eddic heroic tradition, as seen in
Sigrdrífumál (see stanzas 7 and 13, in Eddukvæði, vol. II, ed. by Jónas Kristjánsson and
Vésteinn Ólason (Reykjavík: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 2014), 314–15).