III. "CHRISTE QUI LUX ES ET DIES" AND ITS GERMAN, DUTCH, AND ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS. A CONTRIBUTION TO HYMNOLOGY. PART II. The Translations. In Germany, the Netherlands, and England, the three countries in which our hymn has been traced, it has met with varying fortune. In none of the three have I found any trace in translation of types I and II; Germany has preserved III, III' and III2; England, III and III1; and the Netherlands, with the Rhine districts, have developed a form of their own, which has lasted down to the present day and for which no corresponding version in the Latin has as yet been found, if indeed one existed. We shall consider the several translations as far as possible in their chronological order. A. Interlinear versions and those connected with them. I. The earliest German translation, and indeed the only one of its time yet discovered, is found in the Junius MSS No. 25; it is an interlinear version of type III, belonging to the 8th or 9th century, and runs as follows1: Christ dû der leoht pist inti take derâ naht finstri intdechis leohtes ioh leoht kala[u] pit pist pittimês uuiho t[ruh]ttin scirmi nahte ioh tage 1S. No. 16; Gr. No. 16; W1. I, No. 75. I have followed S. rather than Gr. or W., though they differ from him only in details. nî suârrêr slâf anapleste nec hostis unsih untarchrisse noh imu kahenge unsih dir sculdi[ge] kasezze oucun sc[1]af intfâhên herza simbulum za dir uuachee zesema diniu scirme scalchâ dea dih minnont scirmanto unser sih lagôntê kadhiu stiuri dina scalchâ dea pluate archauftos gihugi unser t[ruh]tin in suârrem desamo lichamin The language as well as the place2 in which the MS containing this hymn originated show that it belonged to the Alemanian dialect of Old High German. While the Latin version to which this belongs seems to have found its way to England, I have met with no Anglo-Saxon version corresponding to it; nor, indeed, did this version have any other followers in German territory. II. The next translation in point of time is one found in the Vienna MS No. 2682, and placed by Kehrein, who here follows Hoffmann, in the 12th century. The version' is an interlinear translation of type III'. Christ dv lieht bist vn tach Wir bitten heilich herre behvte vns in der naht si vns an dir rvwe 1On this line S. remarks: "Ueber hostis steht von neuer hand, wie es scheint von Junius geschrieben, ni fiant." Braune, Ahd. Lesebuch, p. 164: "Die aus dem Kloster Murbach stammende hs.," etc. 2 V. S., p. 14. 3 K., Vorrede, p. xvii. 4 K., No. XI. niht svaerre slaf anvalle noh der viant vns verzveche div ovgen slaf gevachen daz herre1 ze dir alzit wache div zesewe din bedeche die scalche die dich minnent. scermaer vnser scouwe her die mit blvte gechovet hast. gehvge vnser herre in svarem disem libe dv bist bescirmaer der sele zv wis vns herre. III. Between these two, resembling the latter rather than the former, stands the Anglo-Saxon interlinear of the Durham ritual. Mr. Stevenson (S. Soc., p. 12) remarks that the Durham MS originally had geðafigende here, but that the termination is erased. on swarran pisum lichoman gode faeder sy wuldor.1 IV. In connection with the 12th-century version, perhaps influenced by a similar translation and depending upon the same Latin original, should be mentioned the versified translation given by Wackernagel from the Sigmundslust Hymarius of 1524. This he considers older than a version found in the Salus Anime, Nuremberg, 1503, which latter also belongs here. The former is certainly a very crude attempt at versification, yet it is not on that account alone to be accredited with greater age, for with equal reason we may assume it to have been the rude efforts of a later unpoetical though earnest scribe. Here also belongs the prose version found in a MS in Ghent. This latter translation bears the inscription "Dese ymen selmē lesen des aunts alsmē gaet slapen." The lines corresponding to st. I run as follows: "Criste du biste een licht ende dach, du ondeckeste die dunsternissen des nachtes, die sys ghelouet een lichte des lichtes predikende dat salighe licht." Hoffmann' gives the first stanza of a German translation from the Hortulus Animae (Strasburg, 1500), which also seems to be connected with the interlinear. I have been able to find nothing more than the one stanza which he gives: Christe der bist das liecht und tag B. So-called hymn of the Monk of Salzburg. The next set in order of time is the one which has commonly been ascribed to the Monk Hermann' of Salzburg. The hymn 1 For a faulty prose A. S. version found in two MSS in Br. Museum, v. p. 187. 2 W2. III, No. 567. 3 Bibl. Gand. Cod. MS 206; Katal. No. 521; "in 8° velin belle écriture du XVe siècle." *Hoff., p. 269, remarks: "In dieser bisher noch vollig unbekannten übersetzung des lateinischen Hortulus Animae der erst in 1500 (Strazburg) erschien." Cf. Riederer, II, p. 158: "Herr Freytag beschreibt in apparatu literaris, To. II, p. 821, einen solchen lateinischen ortulum anime von 1500 zu Strazburg gedruckt." 5 For a discussion of the name of the monk, see Ampferer, whose conclusions I have accepted. is found in four MSS': the Munich MS Cod. Germ. 715, A; a Vienna MS No. 2856, D, formerly called Cod. Lunalacensis 119; Vienna MS No. 2975, 18, fol. 159°, F; and a German-Latin gloss of the 14th (?) century from Udine." ... A, which contains in all thirty-seven hymns, bears an inscription to the effect that its songs were composed by Hermann "mit sampt ainem laypriester herrn Martein." Aside from this general designation but one hymn, the fifth, is ascribed to a specific author. In regard to MS F we have Wackernagel's testimony: "Gedichten 1, 10, 13-18 [this last the Christe] den Mönch nicht als Verfasser anführt, . . . darin streitet sie gegen D." D contains two versions of the Christe. In giving the hymn Wackernagel' mentions but one version, No. 64, MS D, p. 223; in the appendix, however, in describing the contents of the MS, he mentions both 64 and a second, unfinished hymn, No. 78, p. 242. Strangely enough that which he mentions in both places is not that which bears the superscription "des münichs." This is placed over No. 78 alone; indeed, in all of the MSS containing this hymn, this is the only copy that has such a heading, and upon it accordingly, in so far, the responsibility for the ascription depends. 8 We must then inquire into the character of the superscription and that of the copy to which it belongs. In regard to the superscription Kehrein remarks: "Die Ueberschriften der Lieder sind roth von älterer, die Worte des münichs schwarz von jüngerer Hand geschrieben." The completed hymn in MS D, No. 64, is the second of four, VIII-XI, not ascribed to the Monk by this later hand, while II-VII and XII-XXV, with one exception, have his name added to the part of the superscription which is written by the older hand. As for the character of this second versification, Wackernagel passes it over in the comparison which he makes of the versions of the three MSS, and Kehrein,” though giving No. 78 in the order belonging to it in the MS, does not mention it by cross-reference in any of the three other versions which he gives. It is indeed incomplete, and while in general it does not differ materially from No. 64, yet the work 1 For a description of three of the MSS, see W2. I, pp. 365-6, and K., Vorrede, pp. xvii-xix. 2 V. Germ. 23, p. 30. 4 W2. I, p. 370 g. 3 V. Altdeutsche Blätter, II, p. 327. 5 W2. II, No. 563. 6 K., Vorrede, p. xix; cf. W2. I, p. 368 e. The second D. version is No. XXIII in K. and in the MS. 8 No. XVIII, "von unser frowen." 9 Religiöse Lieder. |