{"title":"Þistil, mistil, kistil: Plants of Death, Rebirth, and Magic in Medieval Scandinavian Runic Inscriptions","authors":"Lara E. C. Harris","doi":"10.5406/21638195.95.2.01","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The þistil mistil kistil inscription and its variants is one of the most cryptic magic runic inscriptions in the Old Norse corpus.1 Despite its having been researched by various scholars, its meaning, uses, and purposes are still largely unknown. In its original form, as illustrated on the Gørlev stone, the first two words that figure are the popular plants “thistle” (Þistil) and “mistletoe” (mistilteinn). Plantrelated formulas are not uncommon in the runic corpus, such as lina laukar alu (“flax/linen, leek, ale”)2 found in the Fløksand knife (Spurkland 2005, 46; MacLeod and Mees 2006, 103) and were believed to have magic properties and aid in childbirth (MacLeod and Mees 2006, 102; Heizmann 1992, 374–6). This theory has been put forward because leeks and linen are known to have been used as ingredients to heal and revive in Old Norse and AngloSaxon records.3","PeriodicalId":44446,"journal":{"name":"SCANDINAVIAN STUDIES","volume":"95 1","pages":"133 - 165"},"PeriodicalIF":0.3000,"publicationDate":"2023-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"SCANDINAVIAN STUDIES","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5406/21638195.95.2.01","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"0","JCRName":"HUMANITIES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The þistil mistil kistil inscription and its variants is one of the most cryptic magic runic inscriptions in the Old Norse corpus.1 Despite its having been researched by various scholars, its meaning, uses, and purposes are still largely unknown. In its original form, as illustrated on the Gørlev stone, the first two words that figure are the popular plants “thistle” (Þistil) and “mistletoe” (mistilteinn). Plantrelated formulas are not uncommon in the runic corpus, such as lina laukar alu (“flax/linen, leek, ale”)2 found in the Fløksand knife (Spurkland 2005, 46; MacLeod and Mees 2006, 103) and were believed to have magic properties and aid in childbirth (MacLeod and Mees 2006, 102; Heizmann 1992, 374–6). This theory has been put forward because leeks and linen are known to have been used as ingredients to heal and revive in Old Norse and AngloSaxon records.3
古挪威语料库中最神秘的魔法符文铭文之一是“þistil mistil kistil”及其变体尽管许多学者对它进行了研究,但它的含义、用途和目的在很大程度上仍然是未知的。正如Gørlev石碑上所示,在其最初的形式中,前两个词是流行的植物“蓟”(Þistil)和“槲寄生”(mistilteinn)。与植物相关的配方在北欧语料库中并不罕见,例如在flo øksand刀中发现的lina laukar alu(“亚麻/亚麻,韭菜,麦酒”)2 (Spurkland 2005,46;MacLeod and Mees 2006, 103),并被认为具有神奇的特性,有助于分娩(MacLeod and Mees 2006, 102;Heizmann 1992, 374-6)。这一理论之所以被提出,是因为在古斯堪的纳维亚和盎格鲁-撒克逊的记录中,韭菜和亚麻被用作治疗和复苏的成分
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