[2] höfuðskepnur ‘the chief elements’: Lit. ‘the main creations’, i.e. earth, air, fire and water. This term occurs as early as in the ON Elucidarius (c. 1200) and it is also used in SnE (Fritzner: höfuðskepna 2.; see also Clunies Ross 1987, 134-7, 155-73 on the knowledge of encyclopedic literature in the Scandinavian Middle Ages).
References
- Bibliography
- Clunies Ross, Margaret. 1987. Skáldskaparmál: Snorri Sturluson’s ars poetica and Medieval Theories of Language. VC 4. [Odense]: Odense University Press.
- Internal references
- Edith Marold 2017, ‘Snorra Edda (Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál)’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols [check printed volume for citation].
- Not published: do not cite (RunVI)