Leidener Willeram

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The Leidener Willeram or Egmonder Willeram (also Williram ) is an Old Dutch adaptation of Willirams von Ebersberg Hohenlied commentary. The text contains around 9500 words, making it the most extensive text in Old Dutch that has survived .

About the designation

The manuscript containing the text has been in the Leiden University Library since the end of the 16th century , hence the name Leidener Willeram . The other name, Egmonder Willeram , comes from the presumed place of origin of the manuscript, from Egmond Abbey near Egmond in what is now the Dutch province of North Holland . The manuscript was created towards the end of the 11th century.

Editions of the text

In 1598 the Dutch scholar Paulus Merula published the text for the first time. Later there were other editions, for example in 1827 by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben and in 1971 by Willy Sanders.

For processing

Williram's von Ebersberg Hohelied commentary was probably written between 1059 and 1065, in an East Franconian- tinged Late Old High German . The Dutch editor of the text was fairly free to use his template. He tried to adapt the text to his own dialect, which led to an idiosyncratic mixed language. He adopted some of the Old High German (East Franconian) language components, such as the consonantism of the High German phonetic shift , which is why the text appears to be High German at first glance. In other places he has adapted the language, for example in the choice of words and inflection . So the editor writes ande instead of unde ("and"). Where the language is not Old East Franconian but Old Dutch , there is a western form of the language that has points of contact with West Flemish and Frisian .

Text example

Willeram

The text is quoted from Inleiding Oudnederlands by A. Quak and J. van der Horst. Latin passages are shown in italics . Before the double slash is the verse from the Song of Songs, followed by the commentary.

Section 22 ( Vox Christi ad ecclesiam ):

Sino, scona bistu, friundina min - sino, scona bistu; thin ougan sint duvan ougan. //
Scona bistu to guoden werkan, scona bistu to reynan gethankon. Thin eynualdigheyd skinet an allan thinan werkon, wanda thu ueychenes ande gelichnis niet neruochest.

Section 23 ( Vox ecclesiae ):

Sino, scone bistu, wine min, ande eerlich. //
Thu quithes, thaz ich scona si, auor al mina sconheyd thiu is mer uan thich cuman. Thu are sunderlicho scone pre filiis hominum , beythe et per diuinitatem et per uirgineam natiuitatem .

Williram von Ebersberg interprets this passage from the Song of Songs as a dialogue between Christ and the Church. See also Ekklesia .

Modern translation

Terms from the Leiden Willeram (Old Dutch, East Franconian or Latin) are shown in italics .

Section 22 (Christ speaks to the Church):

You are beautiful, my friend, you are beautiful; your eyes are dove eyes. //
You are beautiful in good deeds, you are beautiful in pure thoughts. Your purity / sincerity ( eynualdigheyd ) becomes clear ( skinet ) in all your deeds, because ( wanda ) you do not strive ( niet neruochest ) for deceit and hypocrisy ( ueychenes ande gelichenisses ).

Section 23 (the Church speaks):

You are beautiful, my beloved, and honest. //
You say that I am beautiful, but my beauty came to me through you. You are especially beautiful in front of the human children , both because of your divine nature ( per diuinitatem ) and because of your virgin birth ( per uirgineam natiuitatem ).

Annotated Bible passage

The biblical passages commented on in the Willeram text come from Song of Songs 1, 15-16: The German Bible text comes from a modern Catholic translation.

Yes you are beautiful my friend, yes you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves (same)!
Yes, you are beautiful, my beloved, really lovely!

literature

  • Willy Sanders, article "Leidener Williram", in: Autorlexikon 5 (1985), Sp. 680-682.

swell

  1. ↑ a b c d A. Quak and JM van der Horst, "Inleiding Oudnederlands", Leuven 2002, ISBN 90-5867-207-7
  2. ^ Herman Vekeman and Andreas Ecke, "History of the Dutch Language" (= Lang's Germanist Textbook Collection , Volume 83), Peter Lang, Bern 1993, ISBN 3-906-750-37-X
  3. ^ The Bible, Herder-Verlag, 25th edition, Freiburg 1965, ISBN 3-451-01495-5