OHTFRID'S LETTER TO LIUDBERT
[Provided courtesy of James Marchand, University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign, 24 December 1992]
Dignitatis culmine gratia divinas praecelso Liutberto Mogontiacensis urbis
archiepiscopo Otfridus quamvis indignus tamen devotione monachus presbyterque
exiguus aeternae vitae gaudium optat semper in Christo.
Vestrae excellentissimae prudentiae presentis libri stilum comprobare
transmittens in capite causam qua illum dictare praesumpsi, primitus vobis
enarrare curavi, ne ullorum fidelium mentes, si vilesceret, vilitatis meae
praesumptioni deputare procurent. Dum rerum quondam sonus inutilium pulsaret
aures quorundam probatissimorum virorum, eorumque sanctitatem laicoirum
cantus inquietaret obscenus, a quibusdam memoriae dignis fratribus rogatus,
maximeque cujusdam venerandae matronae verbis nimium flagitantis, nomine
Judith, partem evangeliorum eis theotisce conscriberem, ut aliquantulum hujus
cantus lectionis ludum saecularium vocum deleret, et in evangeliorvm propria
lingua occupati dulcedine, sonum inutilium rerun noverint declinare;
petitione quoque jungentes queremoniam, quod gentilium vates, ut Virgilius,
Lucanus, Ovidius caeterique quam plurimi suorum facta decorarent lingua
nativa, quorum jam voluminum dictis fluctuare cognoscimus mundum, nostrae
etiam sectae probatissimorum virorum facta laudahant, Juvenci, Aratoris,
Prudentii caeterorumque multorum, qui sua lingua dicta et miracula Christi
decenter ornabant; nos vero, quamvis eadem fide eademque gratia instructi,
divinorum verborum splendorem clarissimum proferre propria lingua dicebant
pigrescere. Hoc dum eorum caritati importune mihi instanti, negare nequivi,
feci, non quasi peritus, sed fraterna petitione coactus; scripsi namque eorum
precum suffultus juvamine evangeliorum partem francisce compositam, interdum
spiritalia moraliaque verba permiscens, ut qui in illis alienae linguae
difficultatem horrescit, hic propria lingua cognoscat sanctissima verba,
deique legem sua lingua intelligens, inde se vel parum quid deviare mente
propria pertimescat. Scripsi itaque in primis et in ultimis hujus libri
partibus inter quattuor evangelistas incedens medius, ut modo quid iste
quidqve alius caeterique scriberent, inter illos ordinatim, prout potui,
penitus pene dictavi. In medio vero, ne graviter forte pro superfluitate
verborum ferrent legentes, multa et parabularum Christi et miraculorum
ejusque doctrinae, quamvis jam fessus (hoc enin novissime edidi), ob
necessitatem, tamen praedictam pretermisi invitus et non jam ordinatim, ut
caeperam, procuravi dictare, sed qualiter meae parvae occurerunt memoriae.
Volumen namque istud in quinque libros distinxi, quorum primus nativitatem
Christi memorat, finem facit baptismo doctrinaque Jobannis. Secundus jam
accersitis ejus discipulis refert, quomodo se et quibusdam signis et doctrina
sua praeclara mundo innotuit. Tertius signorum claritudinem et doctrinam ad
Judaeos aliquantulum narrat. Quartus jam qualiter suae passioni propinquans
pro nobis mortem sponte pertulerit dicit. Quintus ejus resurrectionem, cum
discipulis suam postea conlocutionem, ascensionem et diem judicii memorat.
Hos, ut dixi, in quinque, quamvis evangeliorum libri quatuor sunt, ideo
distinxi, quia eorum quadrata aequalitas sancta nostrorum quinque sensuum
inaequalitatem ornat, et superflua in nobis quaeque non solum actuum, verum
etiam cogitationum vertunt in elevationem caelestium. Quicqvid vistu,
olfactu, tactu, gustu, audituque delinquimus, in eorum lectionis memoria
pravitatem ipsam purgamus. Visus obscuretur inutilis, inluminatus evangelicis
verbis; auditus pravus non sit cordi nostro obnoxius; olfactus et gustus sese
pravitate constringant Christique dulcedine jungant; cordisque praecordia
lectiones has theotisce conscriptas semper memoria tangent.
Hujus enim linguae barbaries ut est inculta et indisciplinabilis atque
insueta capi regulari freno grammaticae artis, sic etiam in multis dictis
scriptio est propter literarum aut congeriem aut incognitam sonoritatem
difficilis. Nam interdum tria u u u, ut puto, quaerit in sono, priores duo
consonantes, ut mihi videtur, tertium vocali sono manente; interdum vero nec
a, nec e, nec i, nec u vocalium sonos praecavero potui: ibi y grecum mihi
videbatur ascribi. Et etiam hoc elementum lingua haec horrescit interdum,
nulli se caracteri aliquotiens in quodam sono nisi difficile, jungens; k et z
sepius haec lingua extra usum latinitatis utitur, quae grammatici inter
litteras dicunt esse superfluas. Ob stridorem autem interdum dentium, ut
puto, in hac lingua z utuntur, k autem ob faucium sonoritatem. Patitur
quoque metaplasmi figuram nimium (non tamen assidue), quam doctores
grammaticae artis vocant sinalipham (et hoc nisi legentes praevideant,
rationis dicta deformius sonant), literas interdum scriptione servantes,
interdum vero ebraicae linguae more vitantes, quibus ipsas litteras ratione
sinaliphae in lineis, ut quidam dicunt, penitus amittere et transilire moris
hahetur; non quo series scriptionis hujus metrica sit subtilitate constricta,
sed schema omoeoteleuton assidue quaerit. Aptam enim in hac lectione et
priori decentem et consimilem quaerunt verba in fine sonoritatem, et non
tantum per hanc inter duas vocales, sed etiam inter alias literas saepissime
patitur conlisionem sinaliphae; et hoc nisi fiat, extensio sepius literarum
inepte sonat dicta verborum. Quod in communi quoque nostra locutione, si
sollerter intendimus, nos agere nimium invenimus. Quaerit enim linguae
hujus ornatus et a legentibus sinaliphae lenem et conlisionem lubricam
praecavere et a dictantibus omoeoteleuton (id est consimiiem verborum
terminationem) observare. Sensus enim hic interdum ultra duo vel tres versus
vei etiam quattuor in lectionc debet esse suspensus, ut legentibus (quod
lectio signat) apertior fiat. Hic sepius i et o ceteraeque similiter cum
illo vocales simul inveniuntur inscriptae, interdum in sono divisae vocales
manentes, interdum conjunctae (priore transeunte in consonantium potestatem).
Duo etiam negativi, dum in latinitate rationis dicta confirmant, in hujus
lingtiae usu pene assidue negant; et quamvis hos interdum praecavere valerem,
ob usum tamen cotidianum, ut morum se locutio praebuit, dictare curavi.
Hujus enim linguae proprietas nec numervm nec genera me conservare sinebat.
Interdum enim masculinum latinae linguae in hac feminino protuli, et cetera
genera necessarie simili modo permiscui; numerum pluralem singulari,
singularem plurali variavi et tali modo in barbarismum et soloecismum sepius
coactus incidi. Horum supra scriptorum omnium vitiorvm exempla de hoc libro
theotisce ponerem, nisi inrisionem legentium devitarem; nam dum agrestis
linguae inculta verba inseruntur latinitatis planities, cachinnum legentibus
prebent. Lingua enim haec velut agrestis habetur, dum a propriis nec
scriptura nec arte atiqua ullis est temporibus expolita; quippe qui nec
historias suorum antecessorum, ut multae gentes caeterae, commendant
memoriae, nec eorum gesta vel vitam ornant dignitatis amore. Quod si raro
contigit, aliarum gentium lingua, id est latinorum vel Grecorum, potius
explanant; cavent aliarum et deformitatem non verecundant suarum. Stupent in
aliis vel litterula parva artem transgredi, et pene propria lingua vitium
generat per singula verba. Res mira tam magnos viros, prudentia deditos,
eautela praecipuos, agilitate suffultos, sapientia latos, sanctitate
praeclaros cuncta haec in alienae linguae gloriam transferre et usum
scripturae in propria lingua non habere. Est tamen conveniens, ut
qualicumque modo, sive corrupta seu lingua integrae artis, humanum genus
auctorem omnium laudent, qui plectrum eis dederat linguae verbum in eis suae
laudis sonare; qui non verborum adulationem politorum, sed quaerit in nobis
pium cogtationis affectum operumque pio labore congeriem, non labrorum inanem
servitiem.
Hunc igitur librum vestrae sagaci prudentiae probandum curavi
transmittere et quia a Rhabano venerandae memoriae, digno vestrae sedis
quondam praesule, edueata parum mea parvitas est, praesulatus vestrae
dignitati sapientiaeque in vobis pari commendare curavi. Qui si sanctitatis
vestrae placet optutibus, et non dejiciendum judicaverit, uti licenter
fidelibus vestra auctoritas concedat; sin vero minus aptus parque meae
neglegentiae paret, eadem vsneranda sanctaque contempnet auctoritas.
Utriusque enim facti causam arbitrio vestro decernendam mea parva commendat
humilitas.
Trinitas summa unitasque perfecta cunctorum vos utilitati multa
tempora incolomem rectaque vita manentem conservare
dignetur. Amen.
1- dcicieiidtim V. 132 deccnienium Y.
From: James Marchand <
[email protected]>
Subject: Otfrid's ad Liutbertum, English
To: LYNN NELSON <
[email protected]>,
"Richard W. Clement" <
[email protected]>
The mention of grammar and translation and the like, along with the fact
thatI am teaching him in the Old High German class at this very moment, led
me to dig out this old translation of Otfrid's preface to his Gospel Harmony,
the first _long_ rhyming poem in any language, written about 870. There is a
better translation of it in PMLA 58 (1943) 869-890, but Frank Magoun was
unfortunately ignorant of technical grammar of the 9th century. Every line
of this cries out for commentary. To see the Latin (I have followed
Duemmler), look at Magoun or at Erdmann's edition (never mind; I'll send out
a Latin version I have scanned in). A small example: Otfrid explains that z
sounds like "stridor dentium". Since this collocation is found so frequently
in the Bible ("gnashing of teeth" in the KJV), it is not likely that Otfrid
missed this. I should point out also that Martianus says (Dick, p. 96): Z
uero icdirco Appius Claudius detestatur, quod / dentes mortui, dum
exprimitur, imitatur. Otfrid writes in in centonic kind of manner, weaving
together strands he has gotten from others, as one was supposed to do:
culling the ancients. Otfrids Evangelienbuch, ed. Oskar Erdman, 6th ed., by
Ludwig Wolff. Altdeutsche Textbibliothek 49 (Tuebingen: Niemeyer, 1973). For
bibliography: Johanna Belkin and Ju"rgen Meier, Bibliographie zu Otfrid von
Weissenburg und zur altsaechsischen Bibeldichtung (Heliand und Genesis).
Bibliographien zur deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters, Heft 7 (Berlin:
Schmidt, 1975). Note the mention of Hebrew.
Otfrid's Ad Liudbertum
To the peak of merit, Liutbert, Archbishop of Mainz, outstanding by divine
grace, Otfrid, although unworthy, nevertheless by calling a monk and lowly
priest, wishes the joy of eternal life evermore in Christ. Handing the
present book over to your most excellent good sense, so that you may judge
its style, at the outset I have taken care to tell you the reason why I
presumed to write it, so that, if it is worthless, the minds of any of the
faithful might not try to attribute it to the presumption of my
worthlessness.
When at times the sound of useless things beat on the ears of some
well-tested men, and the obscene song of laymen disturbed their sanctity
(Quid Hinieldus cum Cristo?), asked by certain brothers worthy of memory, and
especially when the words of a certain reverend lady, by the name of Judith,
urged me to write for them in German part of the Gospels, so that a small
amount of the reading of this song might cancel out the play of worldly
voices and, occupied with the sweetness of the Gospels in their own language,
they would be able to forego the sound of useless things (adding to their
petition the complaint that the poets of the pagans, such as Virgil, Lucan
and Ovid and many others, embellished their deeds in their native language --
by the sayings of whose works (pun) we know the world to be now in peril
(shipwreck metaphor, naufragium) -- they praised the deeds of the most-tried
men of our religion, of Juvencus, Arator, Prudentius and many others, who
embellished the sayings and miracles of Christ properly in their tongue, we,
on the other hand, although instructed by grace in that same faith, were,
they said, lazy in putting forth the most brilliant splendor of the divine
words in our own language.
Therefore, since through love of those who were spurring me on, I could not
refuse (topos), I acted, not as a skilled person, but as one forced by
brotherly petition. I wrote, you see, supported by the demand of their
prayers, a portion of the Gospels set down in Frankish, mixing in now and
then spiritual and moral (4 senses) words, in order that whoever is put off
by the difficulty of a foreign language as to them, might comprehend the most
holy words here in his own language, and understanding the law of God in his
own language, might shrink from deviating from it evan a little through his
own thinking. I wrote therefore in the first and the last parts of this
book as a mediator between the four gospel writers, in order that now
whatever this one then whatever that one wrote, as far as I was able, I set
down in order.
In the middle, however, so that the readers might not suffer greatly because
of verbosity, I omitted many things, of the parables of Christ and His
miracles and His teaching, though quite weary already (for I put this out
last), spurred by the above mentioned need; and now I did not try as I
started out to set them down in order, but just as they occurred to my poor
memory.
I have, then, divided this book into five books. Of them the first
commemorates the birth of Christ; it ends with the baptism and the teaching
of John. The second, His disciples already having been called together,
tells how He revealed Himself to the world both by by certain signs and by
His most brilliant teaching. The third tells a little about the brilliance
of the signs and the teaching to the Jews. The fourth tells then how,
approaching His passion, He willingly suffered death for us. The fifth
callsto memory His resurrection, His conversation afterwards with His
disciples, His ascension and the Day of Judgment. I have divided these into
five, as I said, although there are four books of the Gospels, because their
fourfold evenness decorates the oddness of our five senses and turn the
superfluous things in us, not only of actions but also of thoughts, towards
the exaltation of heavenly things. Whatever sins we commit by sight, by
smell, by touch, by taste or by hearing, we purge that depravity in the
memory of that reading: let useless sight be obscured, illuminated by the
gospel words; let evil hearing not be harmful to our hearts; let smell and
taste restrict themselves from depravity and join in the sweetness of Christ,
and let the innermost parts of the heart ever be touched by the memory of
these readings written in German.
The barbarism (term. tech., see Springer) of this language you see, for it is
uncultivated and undisciplined and unaccustomed to being held in by the
curbing rein of the art of grammar; thus, for example, in the writing of many
words it is difficult to spell because of the piling up of letters (e.g. vvv)
or the unknown sound. For sometimes, it requires three u u u, as I think, in
its sound, the first two consonants, it seems to me, the third remaining a
vowel sound. Sometimes again I have been unable to avoid the sounds of the
vowels a, e, i or u, where y seemed to me to be appropriate. And even this
element this language spurns sometimes, joining itself to no character at all
in any sound except with difficulty. K and z are frequently extended in this
language beyond the usage of good Latin; the grammarians often say that these
letters are superfluous; because of the grinding of the teeth (cf. Vulgate;
Martianus) z is used in this language, k because of the sound of the throat.
Quite often, though not always, it permits that figure of metaplasm (cf.
Donatus) which those learned in the grammatical arts call synaloephe (he
means ellipsis, but we, too, are careless with such terms) (and unless the
readers (listeners) pay attention to this, the words of a sentence sound
wrong), now preserving the letters in writing, now leaving them off in the
manner of the Hebrew language, among whom there is the custom of leaving off
or passing over the very letters in a sentence by synaloephe within lines, as
some call it. Not that the flow of this writing is held in by metrical
subtlety, but it requires always the scheme of homoeoteleuton. For in this
book the words at the beginning require a fitting and proper and similar
sound at the end. And not only because of this between two vowels, but also
between other letters does it permit the collision of synaloephe, and unless
this is done, the saying of the words sounds frequently inelegant in the
stretching out of the sounds. Which we will find that we also do in our
ordinary speech, if we but listen carefully. For the poetics of this
language requires from the readers that they avoid a soft and slippery
collision of synaloephe and that authors observe homoeoteleuton, that is, the
like ending of words.
The sense, then, must be suspended here for two or three verses or even four
in reading, so that is made clearer to the readers what the reading means.
Here often i and o and other vowels like them are found written together,
sometimes remaining in distinct vowel sounds, sometimes joined, the first
going over into the force of consonants.
Two negatives, as you know, when found in the words of a sentence in Latin,
affirm; in the use of this language they almost always negate. And though
now and again I might have avoided this, because of daily usage, I took care
to write as the rule of custom has it. The propriety of this language
permitted me to preserve neither number nor gender, for sometimes I have
rendered a masculine of Latin by a feminine, and I have mixed the other
genders as needed in a similar way. I have varied the plural with the
singular, the singular with the plural, and thus have been forced to commit a
barbarism and a soloecism (see Donatus, Barbarismus). I could set down from
this book examples in German of all the above written vices, if I did not
want to avoid the laughter of the readers, for when the uncultivated words of
a country language are placed in the smoothness of Latin, they give rise to
laughter among the readers. This language, you see, is considered to be
country, because by its own speakers it has never been polished in writing
nor by any art at any time. Indeed, they do not commit to memory the stories
of their forbears, as many other peoples do, nor do they embellish their
deeds or life for love of their worth. On the other hand, if, though rarely,
this does happen, they expound rather in the language of other peoples, that
is, Latin or Greek. They guard against errors in the others, but are not
ashamed of them in their own, they are shocked to transgress grammatical rule
in others even by a little letter, and in their own language they make errors
almost in every word. A remarkable thing: that such great men, given to good
judgment, outstanding in carefulness, supported by quick wit, known for
wisdom, famous for sanctity, should translate all these things into the glory
of a foreign language and not have the custom of writing in their own
language.
It is fitting, however, that in whatever way, be it in corrupt or in language
of perfect grammar, that mankind praise the author of all things, Who
gave them the instrument of the tongue (Alcuin & Pippin) to sound the word of
His praise among themselves, Who seeks in us not the worship of polished
words but the pious mood of thought, the piling up of works in pious labor,
not useless lip-service.
This book, therefore, I have taken care to transmit to your wise judgment for
approval -- because my humble self was educated by Rhaban of blessed memory,
formerly worthy Bishop of your see -- I have taken care to commend it to the
dignity of your Bishopness and to the equal wisdom in you. If it pleases the
vision of Your Holiness and should it not judge it to be to be rejected, may
your authority grant that it be used freely by the faithful; but, if indeed
it appears less fitting and is commensurate with my carelessness, may that
same venerable and holy authority condemn it. My humble little person,
indeed, recommends that the judgment of either action be left up to your
will. May the Supreme Trinity and the Perfect Unity of all things deign to
keep you for a long time in an office of value, remaining in upright life.
Amen.
