Search results for " Anglo-Saxon Medicine and Magic"

Incantesimi in inglese antico contro un dweorg

2021

The word dweorg with the meaning ‘dwarf’ was certainly available in Anglo-Saxon England, as attested to by the earliest glossaries, such as those of Épinal and Erfurt, where it is used to render the Latin nanus and pumilio. OE dweorg also occurs in a group of five charms and medical recipes, where it seems to designate an ailment, characterized by a strong and sudden onset of fever. Particularly, in the remedies contained in the Medicina de quadrupedibus and in the Peri didaxeon – both translations of Latin medical treatises – OE dweorg means ‘fever’. In the Old English period, the semantic value of the term shifted, ending up to denote the pathological condition itself. More specifically, …