Gripla - 2023, Qupperneq 217

“EYRSILFR DRUKKIT, ÞAT GERIR BANA” 215
effects of mainly plants, but also minerals and animal substances).29 The
former is characterised by presenting the ailment, followed by a remedy,
beginning for example by “Við beinbrot” (for a broken bone) or “Við
of feitan kvið” (for a belly that is too fat), sometimes organised by ail-
ments from head to foot. The pharmacology in the fragment follows the
usual format of other texts of the same nature, such as Harpestræng’s
writings, by naming the plant or the substance, followed by its effects:
“Eyrsilfr drukkit – Þat gerir bana” (Drinking quick-silver, that brings
death), or “Gras þat er heitir feniculum – Stappa þat við vín. Þat er gott við
blǫðrusótt.” (The plant which is called fennel – mash it with wine. That
is good for disease of the bladder.) The pharmacology is heavily abridged
compared to Harpestræng’s pharmacology, which also contains the above
clause on fennel. There, however, the clause is included among explana-
tions of various other effects of the plant in over two hundred words,
compared to only fourteen in 655.30
The brevity of the articles, along with the selection of remedies be-
ing grounded in their usefulness in everyday situations, highlights the
practicality of the medical book. Supporting this aspect of functionality,
Norse words are written for some of the medicinal plants mentioned.
Among examples are læknisgras (lit.: healing-plant, possibly a small plant
called the plantain), skógarsúra (sorrel), mynta (mint), malurt (wormwood),
and the Latin word rubea is further explained by reference to the word
roðagras (rubia tinctorum, or rose madder), a plant also used to dye cloth.
Thus, the translated material was adjusted to better fit the target audience.
Furthermore, the arrangement of the manuscript’s layout, characterised
by gaps in the writing field that arise from starting new articles on sepa-
rate lines, implies that the scribe’s primary concern was not to maximise
the use of the expensive vellum. The writing field of the parchment is
not completely filled, but the text is laid out in such a way that primarily
facilitates quickly finding the desired information. This implies that the
29 On the contents of medieval medical texts in the vernacular, specifically in German and
English contexts, see essays in Margaret R. Schleissner, ed., Manuscript Sources of Medieval
Medicine: A Book of Essays (London: Routledge, 1995). A good overview of English texts is
provided by Faye Getz, Medicine in the English Middle Ages (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1999), 35–64.
30 Kristensen, Harpestræng, 15. Pharmacology was sometimes organised alphabetically by plant
names, such as in AM 696 I 4to.