Thanks Eysteinn; that makes much more sense. Just the sort of remark
we'd expect from Skarpheðinn, in fact.

LN


--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Eysteinn Bjornsson"
<eysteinn@...> wrote:

>
> It is true that the expression has often been
> interpreted as referring to death (i.e. a "falling"
> to (mother) earth), but as Einar Ólafur Sveinsson
> has pointed out (in the ÍF edition) this is not at
> all necessary. Also, it is rather difficult to see
> how the expression could really mean that.
>
> In fact the expression is well known in modern
> Icelandic (at least it was well known to me when
> I was a child), and means "to lie on one's back"
> as opposed to "í föðurætt", which means to lie on
> one's stomach. I hardly need to explain to the
> group why mother lies on her back and father on
> his stomach.
>
> If we accept this, then Skarphéðinn is simply saying:
> "you're going to lie on your back (like a woman) ere
> I'm through with you!"
>
> Personally I don't for a minute think this has anything
> to do with "Mother Earth" or "ancestors in the mountain".
> I have, since I was a child, understood this instinctively
> to refer to a position "appropriate to the mother", i.e
> the "submissive" position. Think of "ætt" as "átt", and
> I think you'll come to the same conclusion. There's a
> couplet in a ríma, which goes:
>
> Bersi féll í brúðar átt [i.e. on his back]
> og bar sig lægra,
>
> where "brúðar átt" (the bride's direction) is synonymous
> with "móðurætt". It's about lying on one's back, nothing
> more, nothing less.
>
> Regards,
> Eysteinn