Sjö plánetur í ljóðmælum: Ein isländisches Gedicht über die Planetenkinder. : Mit einem Exkurs: Kritische Anmerkungen zur Laienastrologie und Laienphilologie.
The Icelandic paper manuscript JS 392 8vo, written in the middle of the eighteenth century, contains among other texts a poem titled “Sjö plánetur í ljóðmælum” (‘The seven planets in verse’), in which the influences of each of the seven classical planets – Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury...
| Published in: | Scripta Islandica: Isländska Sällskapets Årsbok |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | German |
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Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)
2019
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| Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-400604 https://doi.org/10.33063/diva-400604 |
| Summary: | The Icelandic paper manuscript JS 392 8vo, written in the middle of the eighteenth century, contains among other texts a poem titled “Sjö plánetur í ljóðmælum” (‘The seven planets in verse’), in which the influences of each of the seven classical planets – Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and Moon – on the looks and character of people born under their respective reign are listed. This article gives a transcription of the manuscript text of the poem as well as a normalised version in modern Icelandic orthography plus a German prose translation. The fifteen eight-line stanzas follow the rules of traditional Icelandic poetry with alliterations and internal rhymes. The manuscript JS 392 8vo contains also a prose text on the influences of the planets on people’s looks and character, but it is obvious that there is no direct relationship between the poem and this prose text. There are, however, very close affinities between the poem and a prose text preserved in the manuscript JS 74 8vo, written in Iceland around the year 1740, and there can be no doubt that the poem’s author used a prose source closely related to the text in JS 74 8vo. This prose text, as preserved in JS 74 8vo, is a literal translation from a Danish printed book (En skiøn Planete-Bog, ed. 1625, 1686, 1710 and later), which in turn goes back to the German Planetenbuch tradition (printed editions from 1544 onwards). The excursus is based on a critical reading of Alessia Bauer’s Habilitationsschrift (Laienastrologie im nachreformatorischen Island. Studien zu Gelehrsamkeit und Aberglauben, 2015), in which the author tackles a very interesting theme – but apparently without the necessary philological skills, so that the outcome is sadly disappointing. https://doi.org/10.33063/diva-400604 |
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