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320 E. Magnusson: Vilmpgum or vilmpgum?
that the fel lowship of locality is a fellowship of identity of condition
at the same time. That is to say, the belgr hängs together with
hides which themselves are han ging; dangles together with skins
which themselves are dangling, and Swings together with
rennet-maws which themselves are swinging — by cords from the
roof. So he, who sitr meS mpnnum, is one who sits among men
who themselves are silently taken to be sitting too; he, who sefr
mect svcitungum, one, who sleeps among companions who themselves
are tacitly supposed to sleep as well, etc. — The key to the
situation in the H()vam(Jl visa is held by the verb hangir, for all
the objects mentioned have this condition in common with each
other, that they are all hang ing. Therefore, if we read vilmpgum,
the translation must be: swings together with or among ’usle
inænd7, to use my critic’s own words; the full meaning being: whó
themselves are swinging. The locality must be an eldahús, the
only tannery that Iceland has ever known, where hides and skins
hanging in loosely tied bundles by a cord from the roof are
tan-ned by smoke besides belgir and magar (skptu-, sels-, kálfsmagar
— vibnagar). The tanning done, these things hang no longer, but
are stacked in a storehouse. I am not awäre that vilmegir, "usle
tnænd’, were ever hung up in lcelandic or Norwegian kitchens to
be smoke-tanned together with these objects.
If it be objected, that belgr, hides, skins could hang, dangle,
swing together with or among vilmegir, without these ’usle mænd’
themselves being in a hanging position; that the association of belgr,
hides, skins with vilmegir raight very well be stated as it is in the
passage in question, if these objects were suspended from the roof
of the Chamber that was the vilmegir’& special room in the
home-stead, I answer — impossible! In the first instance the proposition
before vilmpgum would, in that case, obviously not have been med
but o/. In the second, what husbandman would have been so
recklessly careless of such important items of household-goods as
belgir, hides, skins, as to leave them freely accessible and exposed
to the cupidity of the scum of the household?
Cambridge, 17th Nov., 1897.
P. S. Vil = hleypir = rennet, is a more common term in
Iceland than I anticipated: "still in use in Skaptafellssýsla"
(Solrun Eiríksdóttir, Mrs Thorarinsson, now in R:vik); forty ypars ago
in common use at KölfreyjustaSr■, Suftr-Múlasýsla (Jon Olafsson,
Journalist) at the same time "in ordinary use" at Grenjadarstactr,
þingeyjarsýsla (Jon Magnusson, Icel. Merchant, Copenhagen). Thus
far only my witnesses go at present.
Eirikr Magnusson.
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