[Ads-l] Yale Grammatical Diversity Project - Slate

[Amy West]

The concept is actually pretty old:

There's a verse in the Old Norse gnomic (wisdom/advice) poem Hávamál 
that it is the foolish man who lies awake worrying all night, because 
when he gets up, nothing's been done about it:

23. Ósviðr maðr

vakir um allar nætr

ok hyggr at hvítvetna;

þá er móðr

er at morni kømr;

allt er víl, sem var.

(David A. H. Evans, ed. /Hávamál. /London: Viking Society for Northern 
Research, 1986.) (available online)

23. The foolish man lies awake all night

and worries about things;

he's tired out when the morning comes

and everything's just as bad as it was.

(Carolyne Larrington, trans. /The Poetic Edda./Oxford: Oxford U P, 1999. 
14-19; 266.)

--Amy West

Larrington, Carolyne, trans. /The Poetic Edda./Oxford: Oxford U P, 1999. 
14-19; 266.

Carolyne, trans. The Poetic Edda. Oxford: Oxford U P, 1999. 14-19; 266.



On 7/1/15 12:00 AM, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> Date:    Tue, 30 Jun 2015 14:26:14 -0400
> From:    Theresa Fisher<fisher.theresa at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: Yale Grammatical Diversity Project - Slate
>
> Hi -
>
> I'm a journalist writing a short piece on topics/concerns that people say
> "keeps them up at night," and was wondering if anyone had insight on the
> phrase's etymology or evolution of usage. Also, I'd be curious to learn
> more about the phrase "lose sleep over," which I believe (but am not sure)
> comes from "Lion doesn't lose sleep over opinion of sheep."
>
> Thanks!


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