"Uuir enti luft": il lessico dei quattro elementi nel "Muspilli"

The OHG "Muspilli" is a poem preserved in the manuscript Clm 14098 of the National Library of Munich, dated approximately to the second half of the 9th century and handed down in Bavarian dialect. The fragment deals with the fate of the soul after death, but it also takes eschatological motifs into account. This paper specifically focuses on the lexicon of the Four Elements used in two specific passages of the poem, namely the dispute over the soul of the deceased between the hosts of angels in Paradise and those of devils in Hell (vv. 4-29) and the description of the fire that causes the destruction of the whole world (vv. 37-61, especially vv. 50b-61). The aim of the investigation is to assess the way in which these words are used in the text to create a coherent vision of what awaits the soul after death and all humanity when the time of the Last Judgement arrives and, therefore, to incite the readers to lead a life free from sin.