Selma (Ossian)
Selma is a fictional royal castle in the work of Ossian by the Scottish poet James Macpherson . The name is derived from the Scottish Gaelic sealladh math ("good view") (Macpherson Seláma, "beautiful to behold" ).
In this supposedly traditional Celtic epic, which was actually written by Macpherson himself, Selma is mentioned as the castle of King Fingal . The singer Minona sings about the suffering of Colma in Selma's harp-rushed festival hall , whose brother was slain by her lover Salgar. Macpherson names the alleged Scottish Gaelic words Min-ónn ("gentle air"), Cul-math ("beautiful-haired woman") and Sealg-'er ("hunter") as an etymological explanation of the name.
- “My Selma, My Selma! Your towers float before my eyes! your walls float before my eyes, shaded by oaks! " (Ossian: The Songs of Selma )
The Songs of Selma ("Die Gesänge von Selma") are the most famous poems from the Ossian because of their lyrical and elegiac character. They were translated into prose form by Goethe for Friederike Brion in 1771 and used extensively by him in this form in the novel “ The Sorrows of Young Werther ” .
Selma Castle is an invention of Macpherson and is not mentioned in Celtic lore.
literature
- Helmut Birkhan : Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7001-2609-3 .
- Helmut Birkhan: Post-ancient Celtic reception. Praesens Verlag, Vienna 2009, ISBN 978-3-7069-0541-1 .
- Bernhard Maier : Lexicon of Celtic Religion and Culture (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 466). Kröner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-520-46601-5 , p. 288.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Celts. Attempt at a complete representation of their culture. P. 7.
- ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Nachantike Keltenrezeption. P. 356.
- ↑ James Macpherson, Michael Denis (trans.): The poems of Ossian, an ancient Celtic poet . P. 173.
- ↑ Helmut Birkhan: Nachantike Keltenrezeption. P. 362 f, 366 f.