Old High German Tatian
The Old High German Tatian is a translation of Tatian's Gospel Harmony into Old High German. The translation was made around the year 830 in the Fulda monastery under the direction of Hrabanus Maurus and has been in the St. Gallen monastery since the 10th century .
The work and its tradition
Alongside the Old High German Isidor , the Old High German Tatian is the second major translation achievement from the time of Charlemagne . The Old High German Tatian is bilingual: Latin - Old High German . The Diatessaron , a gospel harmony by the Syrian Tatianus (around 170 AD), was combined with a copy from the Bonifatius Codex (Cod. Bonifat. I) to form a bilingual .
In addition to the only surviving manuscript G, which is now in St. Gallen (Cod. Sangall. 56), other manuscripts are suspected. This is indicated by excerpts on the margins of the “Old German Conversations” (Paris, Bibl. Nat., Ms. Lat. 7461) and also text samples from “De literis et lingua Getarum siue Gothorum” (1597) by Bonaventura Vulcanius . These text samples refer to a manuscript, the incomplete copy of which can be found today in the Bodleian Library in Oxford (Ms. Jun. 13).
stylistics
The Old High German Tatian is mainly a word-for-word translation that is divided into two columns as a bilingual text. On the left is the Latin text, on the right the Old High German translation in the same line and word order.
This word-for-word translation is only partially replaced by a freer translation technique. The German text appears subordinate to the Latin text. This is indicated by the structure of the paragraphs and the emphasis of the Latin text with initials . Research distinguishes six writers with different abilities and writing styles, which makes the tradition appear inconsistent. The Fulda writing style predominates.
Reading sample
Section 97
Luke 15: 11-31: The Prodigal Son :
Latin |
Old High German |
14. Et postquam omnia consummasset, facta est fames valida in regione illa, et ipse coepit egere. 15. Et abiit et adhaesit uni civium regionis illius, et misit illum in villam suam, ut pasceret porcos. 16. Et cupiebat implere ventrem suum de siliquis quas porci manducabant, et nemo illi dabat. |
Inti after thiu her iz al uorlós, uuard hungar strengi in thero lantscefi; fro bigonda tho poor. Inti gieng inti zuoclebeta eino thero burgliuto thero lantscefi, inti santa inan in sin thorf, thaz her fuotriti suuin. Inti girdinota gifullen sina uuamba fon siliquis theo thiu suuin azzun, inti nioman imo ni gab. |
Intention of the work
1. Background of the Bible translations in the 8th and 9th centuries is the multilingualism in the Carolingian Empire . For the rulers of that time, this brought with it the challenge of making Christian beliefs available in an understandable language for all Christian residents of the Franconian Empire . This fact must be seen in connection with the regulations issued by Charlemagne to convey beliefs ( Admonitio generalis , 789 AD), the Saxon Wars of that time and the Synod of Frankfurt (794 AD). This led to the creation of many translations of religious and practical texts for church life around 800. Thus this writing from the Fulda monastery could ultimately have contributed to supporting or accelerating the missionary intentions of the Christian rulers of the West.
2. In the training of clerics, the Old High German Tatian could have served as a preliminary stage for the study of the individual Gospels . Those who had little or no command of Latin could understand the original better. For those familiar with Latin, the original may have served as a control over the translation.
Importance of the work
The Old High German Tatian is one of the great Old High German works, next to Notkers des Deutschen and Otfrids von Weißenburg . The linguistic significance lies in the fact that a uniform German text is documented here for the first time and provides insights into developments in the history of linguistics and the Old High German vocabulary. In addition, the Old High German Tatian influenced the Heliand (especially with regard to the choice of fabrics).
See also
literature
- Horst Brunner: An overview of the history of German literature in the Middle Ages. Reclam, Stuttgart 2005 (UB 9485). ISBN 3-15-009485-2
- German Literature Lexicon. 3., completely reworked. Ed. (Ed.) Bruno Berger u. Heinz Rupp. Vol. 1. Bern, Munich: Francke Verlag 1968, pp. 84f.
- Ernst Hellgardt : Old High German Tatian. In: Literature Lexicon. Authors and works of German language. (Ed.) Walther Killy. Vol. 2. Gütersloh, Munich: Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag 1991, p. 307 f. ISBN 3-570-04672-9
- D. Kartschoke: Tatian, ahd . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 8, LexMA-Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-89659-908-9 , Sp. 490.
- Hans Jürgen Koch (Hrsg.): The German literature in text and representation. Medieval I. Reclam, Stuttgart 2006 (UB 9601). ISBN 3-15-009601-4
- Meineke / Schwerdt: Introduction to Old High German. Paderborn: Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh 2001. S. ISBN 3-8252-2167-9
- Stefan Sonderegger: Linguistic aspects of European Christianization. In: History of Language. A handbook on the history of the German language and its research. 2.2., Completely reworked u. exp. Ed. (Ed.) Werner Besch [u. a.]. Vol. 2. Berlin, New York: Walter de Gruyter 2000, pp. 1030-1061. ISBN 3-11-015882-5
- Klaus-Gunther Wesseling : Tatian the Syrian. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 11, Bautz, Herzberg 1996, ISBN 3-88309-064-6 , Sp. 552-571.