Bilingual Alba of Fleury-sur-Loire

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The bilingual Alba of Fleury-sur-Loire is a three-verse Latin morning song that was written around the year 1000 on a half-blank page of a code of the French Benedictine abbey of Fleury-sur-Loire . Neumen , a medieval musical notation, reproduce the melody belonging to the poem. The specialty of this Alba lies in its bilingualism, in the code switching . The three Latin stanzas end with an identical two- verse refrain in an early Romanesque language.

This enigmatic vernacular refrain text represents one of the oldest lyrical testimonies of Romania . According to the Swiss Romanist Gerold Hilty , it is the oldest Romance love poem , written in an old Occitan (old Provencal) dialect.

The poem in full

The rendering of the poem follows Gerold Hilty's transcription and interpretation.

Phebi claro nondum orto iubare,
fert aurora lumen terris tenue.
Spiculator pigris clamat: surgite!
L'alba par, ume mar, atra sol.
Poy pas, a bigil, mira clar tenebras.

En incautos ostium insidie
torpentesque gliscunt intercipere,
quos suadet preco clamat surgere.
L'alba part, ume mar, atra sol.
Poy pas, a bigil, mira clar tenebras.

From arcturo disgregatur aquilo
poli suos condunt astra radios,
orienti tenditur septemtrio.
L'alba part, ume mar, atra sol.
Poy pas, a bigil.

Before the rising of the bright star of Phoebus
, the dawn pours a faint light onto the earth.
The guard calls out to the lazy: Stand up!
The dawn appears. Oh mother! He approaches alone.
As I go to him, oh watchman, see the light as darkness!

Behold, the enemies' pursuits are eager to
intercept the unwary and numb;
the warner yells them to get up.
The dawn appears. Oh mother! He approaches alone.
As I go to him, oh watchman, see the light as darkness!

The Pole Star separates from Arcturus ,
the stars in the sky hide their rays,
the seven stars strive towards the east.
The dawn appears. Oh mother! He approaches alone.
As I go to him, oh watchman.

After the third stanza, the text breaks off in the middle of the chorus after the word bigil . The following spellings differ from classical Latin: Phebi instead of classical Phoebi ( Phoebus , this means Apollon as sun god), Spiculator instead of Speculator (guardian) and preco instead of classical praeco (crier).

The neumes are visible in the digitized original manuscript Codex Vaticanus Reginensis Latinus 1462, folio 50v.

“To infer from the neumes, there is a sharp musical contrast between the body of the poem and the refrain. The long Latin verses are all sung in the same way, repeated three times in each stanza. The whole chorus, on the other hand, has a single continuous melody ... "

The researchers are at odds

Fleury-sur-Loire abbey

The poem keeps its secret. The researchers are divided, both as to the essence of the entire poem and as to the interpretation of the vernacular chorus text. There is also no agreement in which early Romanesque language it is written.

Different interpretations of the entire poem

Gerold Hilty discusses four theses advocated by Romanists:
Is it real?

  1. A worldly Alba, who is about secret lovers who should guard against the ambush of the enemy and are warned by the guard to get up?
  2. about the Provencal morning call of a watchman, translated half into Latin, without reference to the daily song situation?
  3. about a Latin spiritual morning hymn with an originally vernacular refrain?
  4. a spiritual morning song, the refrain of which is the twisted remnant of a Latin tower guardian song ?

As Gerold Hilty explains in the cited article, in his opinion (third view) it is a spiritual morning hymn with a popular refrain, a thesis that Philipp August Becker has already advocated:

"It is obvious that we are dealing with a spiritual morning song here, namely with an Antelucanus  ... The Alba of Fleury-sur-Loire stands on the border, where the spiritual morning hymn breaks away from its original worship service, to serve an aesthetic need. "

Different interpretations of the chorus text

The French Romanist and Medievalist Philippe Walter reports that no fewer than 17 different translations of this two-line refrain have been proposed: “  On a proposé pas moins de dix-sept traductions différentes de ces deux vers.  »

Philippe Walter reproduces Paul Zumthor's translation of the refrain:

“L'aube paraît, le soleil frappe la mer humide, puis passe le veilleur, les ténèbres se changent en clear. »

"The dawn appears, the sun shines on the damp sea, then the guard comes by, the darkness turns into light."

Gerold Hilty gives a detailed glossary of every word of his old Provencal reading of the refrain text in his "birthday gift" for the Austrian Romanist Mario Wandruszka , who was " interested in multilingualism and linguistic comparison":

L'alba part, ume mar, atra sol.
Poy pas, a bigil, mira clar tenebras.

The dawn appears. Oh mother! He approaches alone.
As I go to him, oh watchman, see the light as darkness!

  • par (t) : in the handwriting there is once "par" and twice "part". "Part" would be correct (from Latin partire ), here in the sense of 'to break' ( the dawn is breaking )
  • ume : oy me = interjection, ( oh )
  • mar : Latin matre (m) ( mother )
  • atra : Third-person singular present tense from Occitan atraire (to approach)
  • sol : Occitan sol ( alone )
  • po-y : this form can be read as a two-syllable po y , "which is proven beyond doubt by the neumes". po conjunction ( da ), cf. Spanish pues . i an adverb that often refers to people. ( to him )
  • pas : First person singular of Occitan pasar ( I go [to him] )
  • a : Old Occitan interjection of lament ( ach )
  • bigil : vigil ( guardian ). The spelling with b indicates Gascony , where b and v coincide.
  • mira : The imperative of mirar is constructed here with a double accusative ( consider as )
  • clar : clar , used here as nouns ( brightness )
  • tenebras : a Latinism ( darkness ) widespread in Altocitan . The girl wants to ensure that the guardian does not see what he could see in the light of the dawn: the meeting of lovers.

Gerold Hilty's reading of the Alba von Fleury is not without controversy.

The Alba is reminiscent of Muwaschschahat with Romanesque chardscha

The Alba de Fleury is reminiscent of another form of bilingual poetry, the Hispanic Arabic and Hispanic Hebrew Muwashschahat with Romanesque Chardscha :

“A literary text - written Arabic or Hebrew in one case, Latin in the other - is followed by a vernacular - Romance - refrain. For the Muwaššaḥas this refrain is Mozarabic , for the bilingual Alba it is Old Provençal. "

The Alba von Fleury resembles the bilingual Muwaschschahat also because of the similar motifs: Dawn (aurora) and guardian (crier). This is what it says in the Mozarabic Chardscha of the anonymous Muwashshaha No. IV:

¡Alba de mi fulgor!
¡Alma de mi alegría!
No estando el espía
Esta noche quiero Amor.

Dawn of my shine!
Soul of my joy!
The guardian is not there
Tonight I want love.

This structural relationship between the Alba and the Muwaschschahat with Romanesque Chardscha places this poem in the tradition of early Romanesque women's songs , which also include the old Galician- Portuguese Cantigas de amigo and the Spanish villancicos .

literature

  • Philipp August Becker : From morning hymn to day song. I. The spiritual morning song. and II. The Alba of Fleury-sur-Loire. In: On the history of Romance literature. Selected studies and essays. Munich 1967, pp. 149/160 and 160/164.
  • Barbara Frank: The text shape as a sign. Latin manuscript traditions and the writing of the Romance languages. Gunter Narr Verlag, Tübingen 1994, ISBN 3-8233-4557-5 , ( pages 58 and 101/106 in the Google book search).
  • Gerold Hilty : The oldest romance love poem. In: Annual report 1980/81 of the University of Zurich. Archive of the University of Zurich, speech by Rector Prof. Dr. Georg Hilty held the 148th foundation ceremony of the University of Zurich on April 29, 1981 ( archiv.uzh.ch PDF, full text).
  • Gerold Hilty: The bilingual Alba. In: Wolfgang Pöckl (Ed.): European multilingualism. Festschrift for Mario Wandruszka on his 70th birthday. Max Niemeyer, Tübingen 1981, ISBN 3-484-50168-5 , pp. 43-51.
  • Gerold Hilty: L'énigme de l'aube de Fleury est-elle déchiffrée? In: Revue de linguistique romane. Volume 62, 1998, pages 321-330 ( e-periodica.ch ).
  • Philippe Walter: Naissances de la littérature française. IXe – XVe siècle. Anthology. Ellug Éditions, Eybens / Grenoble 1998, ISBN 2-902709-83-8 , pp. 17/18.
  • Michel Zink: Littérature française du Moyen Age. 2e édition revue et mise à jour, PUF, Paris 2001, ISBN 2-13-051478-2 , pp. 34/35.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ «  Un copy a note au Xe ou XIe siècle dans the column de droite restée libre du f. 50v, cette aube latine avec son refrain roman.  »(German:“ In the 10th or 11th century, a copyist wrote this Latin Alba with its Romanesque refrain in the column that remained free on the back of Folium 50. ”) - U. Mölk: À propos de la povenance du Codex Vaticanus Reginensis Latinus 1462, contenant l'aube bilingue du Xe ou XIe siècle. In: Mélanges offerts à Rita Lejeune. Editions J. Duculot, Gembloux 1969, Volume I, pp. 37/43.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Gerold Hilty : The oldest Romanesque love poem. Speech by the Rector given at the Dies academicus of the University of Zurich on April 29, 1981. P. 11 ( archiv.uzh.ch , PDF, full text).
  3. ↑ Gerold Hilty: L'énigme de l'aube de Fleury est-elle déchiffrée? (Has the riddle of the Alba by Fleury been deciphered?) In: Revue de linguistique romane. Volume 62, 1998, pp. 321-330 ( e-periodica.ch ).
  4. ^ Philipp August Becker: The Alba of Fleury-sur-Loire. In: On the history of Romance literature. Selected studies and essays. Munich 1967, pp. 161 and 164.
  5. ^ A b Philippe Walter: Naissances de la littérature française. IXe – XVe siècle. Anthology. Ellug Éditions, Eybens / Grenoble 1998, ISBN 2-902709-83-8 , p. 18 ( books.google.de ).
  6. ^ Paul Zumthor: Un trompe l'oeil linguistique? Le Refrain de l'aube bilingue de Fleury. In: Romania. 105, 1985, pp. 171-192
  7. ↑ a b Gerold Hilty: The bilingual Alba. In: Wolfgang Pöckl (Ed.): European multilingualism. Festschrift for Mario Wandruszka on his 70th birthday. Max Niemeyer, Tübingen 1981, ISBN 3-484-50168-5 , pp. 43-51.
  8. ↑ Joseph Anglade: Las leys d'cupid. Toulouse 1919 ( archive.org ).
  9. ^ Maria Louisa Meneghetti: L'alba di Fleury: un Easter song. In Jean Claude Faucon, Alain Labbé, Danielle Quéruel (eds.): Miscellanea Mediaevalia. Mélanges offerts à Philippe Ménard. Volume II. Champion, Paris 1998, pp. 969-983.
  10. ^ Emilio García Gómez: Las jarchas de la serie arabe en su marco. Madrid 1965, pp. 106/107.
    Antología de Jarchas . Linkgua Ediciones, Barcelona 2016, ISBN 978-84-9897-009-8 , p. 99 ( p. 99 in the Google book search - here called "Jarcha 26").