Abecedarium Nordmannicum

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The Abecedarium Nordmannicum (" Nordmannisches Abc") is a rune poem from the 9th century. In terms of content, the runic alphabet of the 16-type so-called Younger Futhark is reproduced in the Abecedarium in connection with simple rhyming memorabilia based on the individual run names.

reception

Presumably of Nordic-Danish origin, the Abecedarium was written down through Low German mediation in Fulda by Walahfrid Strabo between 825 and his death in 849. It is the oldest of five surviving rune poems: Old English from 10/11, Old Norwegian 13th and Icelandic from the 15th century. In 1457 the manuscript was listed in the catalog of the cathedral library in Chur . In the 18th century, in 1768, it became the existence of the Abbey Library of St. Gallen of the monastery of St. Gall , where the runic poem found in the manuscript Codex Sangallensis 878 on the side of the 321st

Due to chemical treatments with reagents in the 19th century, the text corpus is difficult to read today. Receptions take place, among other things, on the basis of a signature by Wilhelm Grimm .

Mark Grimm's, 1821.
Illustration of handwriting with traces of chemical treatment

The text, written in Carolingian minuscule , explains the 16 runes of the younger Nordic Futhark in the usual order in three lines (rune rows) and in 11 short verses, some of them stabbing ( all abbreviations on F, U, Th, R, K, L) . The deviation consists in the insertion of the K, which usually closes the first row (Aet), in the first position of the second row. In the form and execution of the runes, the types correspond to those in the Futhark sequence of the Danish rune stone by Gørlev . Especially in lines 2 and 3 are respective five (six) on the Nordic runes Old English runes, and in such runic the lexeme wreat as past tense of wrītan to German Write inserted. The individual Old English runes and the rune word probably come from one and the same hand. The runes stand in front of the short verses in the form of acrostic stitches, these are separated from each other by so-called "separators", here by vertical lines. The language is a mixed language of Old Saxon , Old High German , Old English and Old Norse , which is why the Abecedarium is the object of numerous Old German and Medieval specialist works and discourses.

Only very few of the well-known runic scripts, which are always very short, come from the settlement areas of the German tribes, in contrast to Scandinavia. In the German tribes the use of the runes was apparently already abandoned in the time before the adoption of the Latin script. Only in very few manuscripts at the beginning of German writing and literature, such as in the Abecedarium or in the Wessobrunn prayer , are runic signs.

With the Abecedarium , the scribe pursued a contemporary scientific-grammatical, antiquarian interest, as indicated by the Hebrew and Greek alphabets and especially an Old English runic alphabet, which Futhorc titled Anguliscum , contained on the same manuscript page 321 immediately before the Abecedarium . A presumed function of the Abecedarium in the context of the Carolingian mission, the Christianization alongside Low German and especially Scandinavian populations, is scientifically accepted and first brought into the discussion by the Belgian Anglicist and Germanist René Derolez . The content and the form, however, still show the old magical-cultic layer of the Germanic-pagan rune magic through the use of terms (giants, gods) from Germanic mythology .

The history of reception of the Abecedarium Nordmannicum began in the early 19th century with Wilhelm Grimm's treatise: About the German Runes , 1821. In the following decades, the Abecedarium was received differently, depending on the perspective as either Old High German or Old Saxon written and language evidence. This fact persists in specialist science to this day and is reflected in a differentiated manner in the mutual reference to the Old Norse. Karl Müllenhoff and Johan Gallée published important technical papers in this regard at the end of the 19th century, some with facsimile images. In 1941, Georg Baesecke contributed a special paper to the Abecedarium in the specialist journal of runologist Helmut Arntz . After the Second World War, the work of Bernhard Bischoff and that of René Derolez brought new results to the state of research. With his palaeographic investigations, Bischoff emphasized Strabo's authorship. Derolez examined and refused to accept the older research regarding the authorship of the Abecedarium by Hrabanus Maurus ( Hrabanian runes ). Furthermore, Derolez brought the abecedarium in connection with the Carolingian mission to learn a writing system as a means of church politics.

transmission

  • line 1

F feu forman | U ur after | Th thuris thritten | A os is imo | R rat end
[runic wreat ] .................................. stabu | ......... oboro | os uuritan

Cattle first, Ur after, Thurse as third stick, Ase is to the right of writing Rad at the end.


  • line 2

K chaon thanne | H hagal N naut had | I is J ar S endi sol

torch (or ulcer) sticks to it , hail holds hardship , ice , (good) year and sun .


  • Line 3

T , B brica M endi man | L lagu the leotho | Y yr al bihabet

midi

Tiu = Tyr , birch and man in the midst, water (lake) that is clear, yew completes everything.

(based on Klaus Düwel and the reading by René Derolez )

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Krause: Runes . De Gruyter, Berlin / New York, 2nd unchanged. Edition 1993. ISBN 3-11-014042-X . P. 25.
  2. ^ Stefan Sonderegger: Abecedarium Nordmanicum , Col. 7f.
  3. ^ Stefan Sonderegger: Abecedarium Nordmanicum , Col. 7
  4. ↑ Klaus Düwel: Runenkunde , pp. 191ff., 198f.
  5. ↑ Dieter Kartschoke: History of German Literature in the Early Middle Ages , p. 19
  6. ↑ René Derolez: The "Hraban" runes. In: Journal for German Philology 78 (1959), pp. 1–19; here 15 f.
  7. ↑ Hans-Peter Hasenfratz: The religious world of the Germanic peoples , p. 78f.
  8. ^ Stefan Sonderegger: Abecedarium Nordmanicum , Col. 7
  9. ^ Klaus Düwel: Helmut Arntz 'magazine "Runenberichte" . In: Futhark. International Journal of Runic Studies 2 (2011), pp. 201-205; Here p. 202.
  10. ↑ Old Saxon form
  11. ^ Double "T" alignment to Old High German
  12. ↑ Anglo-Friesian origin.
  13. ↑ Klaus Düwel: Runenkunde , p. 192, can be considered in transfers
  14. ↑ Old High German spelling of the "w" analogous to the Alteng. Double U
  15. ^ Old high German approximation
  16. ↑ Old Norse form
  17. ↑ Old Norse form
  18. ↑ Klaus Düwel: Runenkunde , p. 192