Merigarto

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Illustration from sheet 1v

The not entirely accurate title Merigarto (cf. ahd. Merikerte , merigarten , land surrounded by the sea) for the poem, which has only survived in fragments, comes from August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben , who discovered the parchment double sheet that has survived the text in 1834 in the Fürstlich Fürstenberg library in Prague. Today it is kept in the Badische Landesbibliothek Karlsruhe under the signature Cod. Donaueschingen A III 57. The text itself was written in the last quarter of the 11th century; Würzburg, Regensburg or Passau are named as possible places of origin. Due to the language, the manuscript points to the Bavarian region and is dated to the first quarter of the 12th century.

content

The first part reports on the separation of land and sea in the creation of the world, followed by a representation of the Red Sea, the Liver Sea and news about Iceland. The second part contains reports on wonderful waters (springs, rivers, lakes) of the Mediterranean area based on the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville. Merigarto offers the first geographical representation in German - whether the fragment belonged to a description of the world or a description of water cannot be clarified. The function of poetry can lie in the glorification of God's creation and can also be described as memorial poetry.

literature

  • Endermann, Heinz: Merigarto - the first geographical representation in German. In: Scientific journal of the Wilhelm-Pieck University Rostock, social and linguistic series, 27th year. Rostock 1978, pp. 99-104.
  • Eis, Gerhard: To Merigarto. In: Contributions to the history of German language and literature (Tübingen) 82 (1960), pp. 70–76.
  • Hoffmann (von Fallersleben), August Heinrich: Merigarto. Fragment of a previously unknown German poem from the XI. Century. Prague 1834 online
  • Simpson, Georgiana Rose. "The Phonology of Merigarto." MA thesis, University of Chicago, 1920. General Collections.
  • Spazzali, Paola: Il Merigarto. Edizione e commento. Milan 1995.
  • Voorhaben, Norbert: Merigarto. A philological-historical monograph. Leiden 1973 (German and English series of the University of Leiden 11).
  • Voorhaben, Norbert: The Regensburger Merigarto. In: Amsterdam Contributions to Older German Studies 8 (1975), pp. 21–31.

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