I’m six pages into A Store of Common Sense: Gnomic Theme and Style in Old Icelandic and Old English Wisdom Poetry by Carolyne Larrington3, and I’ve run into a swamp. Scholars from 50 years ago got themselves wrapped around the axle, trying to figure out the difference between maxims that have “bið” in them and those that have “sceal” in them. “Bið” is a fancy word for “is”. “Sceal” is our modern word “shall”, among other things. Those other things are making a me...
