| |
On Translation
''Yes, there's the whole insane comedy of your voice pretending to be Horace's or Virgil's. It's like dressing up and thinking you're Napoleon. Of course, you know you're not. But even if you don't get it right, maybe you learn something of their tones of voice, their wild vocal power, and that little that you learn makes you feel like you're on a wonderful ride."
-translator David Ferry, as quoted recently in the Boston Globe
|
The Metrical Epilogue to MS 41, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
I had a good deal of trouble with this epilogue, due to the fact that I do not have access to a decent OE lexicon. I was forced to infer meanings from references in other similar manuscripts, definitions of related terms in Mitchell & Robinson’s textbook, and the only partially digitized dictionary of Bosworth and Toller. Therefore, some inaccuracies are likely to be present in my translations of the poem, though it does seem to follow a typical approach, couching Christ in terms of pagan ancestor-worship and lordship. Notes follow as to sources for particular inferences.
Bidde ic eac æghwylcne mann,
brego, rices weard, þe þas boc ræde
and þa bredu befo, fira aldor,
þæt gefyrðrige þone writre wynsum cræfte
þe ðas boc awrat bam handum twam,
þæt he mote manega gyt mundum synum
geendigan, his aldre to willan,
and him þæs geunne se ðe ah ealles geweald,
rodera waldend, þæt he on riht mote
oð his daga ende drihten herigan.
Amen. Geweorþe þæt.
Without regard for sound:
And I bid every man
Lord, kingdom ward, they this book [would] read
And that they [who] were bred before the age of man
Extending their writer’s delightful craft
they this book wrote between [your] two hands
that he might yet many hands rid from sin.
his elders’ will, and this to him granted
that he would have them all in dominion,
Ruler of the heavens, that rightly on, he might,
Up to the end of his days, [be] lord of the sanctuary*
Amen. That is exalted.
*Alternately, fane (OED).
Made colloquially readable:
And I bid every man,
Lord or kingdom ward, to read this book
And they who were born before the age of man
Perpetuating their writer’s winsome craft,
They wrote this book between your two hands,
That he would yet rid many hands of sin,
His elders’ will, and granted this power to him,
So that he would hold all in dominion,
Ruler of the heavens, so as is right, he would
Up to the end of his days, be lord of the temple.
Amen. That is blessed.
*********
Notes
--- Meaning of “gefyrðrige” inferred from Bosworth and Toller:
fyrþran , fyrþrian; p. ede, ode; pp. ed, od [furðor further] To further, support, advance, promote; provehere, prom?v?re :- Ðæt ic eáðe mæg ánra gehwylcne fremman and fyrþran freónda mína that I may easily advance and further every one of my friends, Andr. Kmbl. 1867; An. 936. Ðæt hí mágen hénan ða yflan, and fyrþrian ða gódan that they may humiliate the evil, and further the good, Bt. 39, 2; Fox 212, 22. Friðaþ and fyrþraþ protects and supports, Bt. 34, 10; Fox 148, 29. Ealle Godes gerihto fyrþrie man georne let every one zealously further all God's dues, L. E. G. 5; Th. i. 168, 25, note 28, MS. B. DER. gefyrþran.
-- Meaning of “geendigan” inferred from Bosworth and Toller:
endian , ændian; p. ode; pp. od To END, make an end; f?n?re, d?s?n?re:-Hí hit endian sceoldon they should end it, Ps. Th. 9, 6. v. ge-endian.
-- Meaning of OE words for hands verified using The Monasteriales Indicia from British Library MS Cotton Tiberius A.III (online at http://www2.sjsu.edu/depts/english/Indicia.htm)
-- Meaning of “geunne” inferred from Metrical Charm 1: MS Cotton Caligula A vii (http://www.georgetown.edu/labyrinth/library/oe/texts/a43.1.html)
-- “Herigan”, cf. Paris Psalter: Psalm 116 in Bibliothèque Nationale, 8824 (http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ascp/a05_116.htm)
More to come... shall edit later. I have to find the MS #'s for some of the online material.
|
| | Posted 7/11/2005 5:06 PM - 4 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
