Viennese dog blessing
The Viennese dog blessing is an Old High German blessing that invokes St. Martin to protect dogs from danger, especially from wolves. This blessing belongs to a series of similar blessings in Old High German. Originally it may have been a pastoral blessing that was rewritten.
Lore
The dog blessing is an entry on fol. 107 r handed down in a manuscript from the 10th century, which contains Latin Passiones and comes from the court of Ludwig the German . This is under the signature Codex 552 in the Austrian National Library in Vienna .
Old high German text
Christ uuart gave. he uuolf ode deiob. do uuas sancte marti christas hirti. the holy christ unta sancte marti, the gauuerdo uualten hiuta dero hunto. dero zohono. daz in uuolf. noh uualpa za scedin uuerdan nemegi. se uuara se geloufan uualdes. or uueges. ode heido. the holy christ unta sancte marti de frumma me sa hiuto hera heim gesunta.
Translation into New High German
Christ was born, more like a wolf or a thief. There was Saint Martin, Shepherd of Christ. The holy Christian and the holy Martin, the venerable, they care for the dogs and bitches today so that neither wolf nor she-wolf can harm them, wherever they run, in the forest or on the path or the heather. Saints Christian and Saint Martin, who may make sure that we all come home here today healthy.
literature
- Stephan Müller (Ed.): Old High German Literature . Reclam, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-15-018491-2
- Elias von Steinmeyer (ed.), The Smaller Old High German Language Monuments , Berlin 1916 (Reprint Dublin / Zurich 1971), pp. 394–396 Digitized version of the University and State Library in Düsseldorf
Individual evidence
Web links
- Entry on Viennese dog blessing in the Austria Forum (in the AEIOU Austria Lexicon )
- Entry on the dog's blessing in the manuscript census