Norway's delight - Midnight Sun

[Jan Ivarsson]

Here's a quote from the ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA:
DICUIL,

 fl. 825, Ireland

monk, grammarian, and geographer whose work is important to the history of science and is a testament to Irish learning in the 9th century....Completed in 825, his De mensura orbis terrae ("Concerning the Measurement of the World") contains the earliest mention of Irish hermits having visited Iceland (795), where they marveled at the midnight sun.... Dicuil quotes from, or refers to, 30 Greek and Latin writers as well as to the poet Sedulius, his Irish contemporary. The best edition of De mensura was made by G. Parthey in 1870.

This goes to show the the phenomenon was known and certainly got a name very early.

Jan Ivarsson, Simrishamn, Sweden

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/attachments/20000821/95db0706/attachment.htm>