Abstract
Whereas the discussion of textual culture in the previous chapter focused on the fallibility inherent to the processes of reading and writing, this chapter will concern itself with the way in which the J.T. reflects more broadly on the reliability and interpretability of language. Language is here understood in the widest possible sense covering the interplay between the “first” language of ordinary verbal communication between human beings and the “second” language used by God to communicate with humans by means of created objects.1
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Notes
Cf. Eckhard Hegener, Studien zur “zweiten Sprache” in der religiösen Lyrik des zwölfen Jahrhunderst. Adam von St. Victor. Walter von Châtillon, Beiheft 6 zum Mittellateinischen Jahrbuch (Wuppertal: Kastellaun, 1971), p. 11: “Die erste Sprache ist die Sprache in der zwischenmenschlichen Begegnung, die ‘zweite Sprache’ ist die Sprache dessen, der nicht nur durch Worte, sondern auch durch Taten und Dinge als Folgen seiner Taten spricht.” [The first language is that used in human interaction, the “second language” is the language of him who speaks not only through words, but also through actions and through the things which result from his actions.] However, for the present discussion, divine communication through actions (beyond the act of creation itself) is of subordinate importance.
See also the following studies by Hennig Brinkmann: “Die ‘Zweite Sprache’ und die Dichtung des Mittelalters,” in Methoden in Wissenschaft und Kunst des Mittelalters, ed. Albert Zimmermann, Miscellanea Mediaevalia 7, (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1970), pp. 155–171; “Die Zeichenhaftigkeit der Sprache, des Schrifttums und der Welt im Mittelalter,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie 93 (1974): 1–11; “Die Sprache als Zeichen im Mittelalter,” in Gedenkschrift für Jost Trier, ed. Hartmut Beckers and Hans Schwarz (Cologne: Böhlau, 1975), pp. 23–44; Mittelalterliche Hermeneutik (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1980).
On the exegesis of the pelican, see Christoph Gerhardt, Die Metamorphosen des Pelikans: Exempel und Auslegung in mittelalterlicher Literatur. Mit Beispielen aus der bildenden Kunst und einem Bildanhang, Trierer Studien zur Literatur 1 (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1979).
Augustine, AADe doctrina christiana, ed. Joseph Martin, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 32 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1962), II, i (2), pp. 32–33 distinguishes between signa data [given signs] and signa naturalia [natural signs]: the former are used intentionally by rational beings in order to communicate (e.g., words; or in the case of God, created objects), whereas the latter merely occur in nature (e.g., smoke denotes a sign of a fire). In De doctrina christiana II, x (15), p. 41, Augustine also distinguishes signa translata [transferred signs] from signa propria [proper signs] for example, the term pecus [head of cattle] is the signum proprium for the animal, and the signum translatum for the Evangelist Matthew, to whom the animal refers. Cf. Hegener, Studien, pp. 7–8;
Traude-Marie Nischik, Das volkssprachliche Naturbuch im späten Mittelalter. Sachkunde und Dinginterpretation bei Jacob von Maerlant und Konrad von Megenberg, Hermaea 48 (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1986), p. 52.
There are numerous examples of this commonplace. The following statement, taken from Alexander Neckham’s prologue to the second book of natural history, is particularly apposite given its scientific context (quoted by Roswitha Klinck, Die lateinische Etymologie des Mittelalters, Medium Aevum 17 (Munich: Fink, 1970), p. 166): Mundus ergo ipse, calamo Dei inscriptus, littera quaedam est intelligenti, repraesentans artificis potentiam, cum sapientia eiusdem et benignitate. Sicut autem totus mundus inscriptus est, ita totus littera est, sed intelligenti et naturas rerum investiganti, ad cognitionem et laudem Creatoris. [The world itself, inscripted with the pen of God, is to the intelligent mind, like a piece of lettering that represents the power of the creator, together with his wisdom and benevolence. Since the whole world is inscripted, it all constitutes lettering that furthers the understanding and praise of the creator, but only for the man who is intelligent and bent on investigating the natures of things.] For other examples of this topos, see chapter 1, nn21–23; Rausch, Methoden, pp. 13–14;
Michael Stolz, “Tum”-Studien. Zur dichterischen Gestaltung im Marienpreis Heinrichs von Mügeln, Bibliotheca Germanica 36 (Tübingen: Francke, 1996), pp. 236–237.
For the account of etymology offered by Peter Helias, see Klinck, Etymologie, pp. 13–14, 35–36, and 67; Klaus Grubmüller, “Etymologie als Schlüssel zur Welt? Bemerkungen zur Sprachtheorie des Mittelalters,” in Verbum et Signum. Beiträge zur mediävistischen Bedeutungsforschung. Festschrft für Friedrich Ohly, ed. Hans Fromm, 2 vols. (Munich: Fink, 1975), 1:220–221 [1:209–230];
Uwe Ruberg, “Verfahren und Funktionen des Etymologisierens in der mittelhochdeutschen Literatur,” in Verbum et Signum. Beiträge zur mediävistischen Bedeutungsforschung. Festschrift für Friedrich Ohly, ed. Hans Fromm, 2 vols. (Munich: Fink, 1975), 1:299–300 [1:295–330];
Suzanne Reynolds, Medieval Reading: Grammar, Rhetoric and the Classical Text (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), pp. 83–84.
For examples of expository etymologies, see n56 below. For etymological statements in Middle High German, see Willy Sanders, “Grundzüge und Wandlungen der Etymologie,” Wirkendes Wort 17 (1967): 361–384; and
Willy Sanders, “Die Anfänge wortkundlichen Denkens im deutschen Mittelalter,” Zeitschrift für deutsche Philologie 88 (1969): 57–78.
Friedrich Ohly, “Vom geistigen Sinn des Wortes im Mittelalter,” in Friedrich Ohly, Schriften zur mittelalterlichen Bedeutungsforschung (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1983), p. 29 [pp. 1–31]; originally published in Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur 89 (1958): 1–23.
Klaus Zatloukal, “Erzählwelt in der Nußschale. Die Bildungsweise der Eigennamen Albrechts und die Großform Jüngerer Titurel,’” in Namen in deutschen literarischen Texten des Mittelalters. Symposion Kiel 9–12.9.1987, ed. Friedhelm Debus and Horst Pütz, Kieler Beiträge zur deutschen Sprachgeschichte 12 (Neumünster: Karl Wachholtz, 1989), pp. 173 [pp. 173–187]. See also
Klaus Zatloukal, “Eigennamen und Erzählwelten im Jüngeren Titurel,’” Wolfram-Studien 8 (1984), 96 [94–106].
Wolfgang Haubrichs, “Namendeutung in Hagiographie, Panegyrik—und im ‘Tristan.’ Eine gattungs-und funktionsgeschichtliche Analyse,” in Namen in deutschen literarischen Texten des Mittelalters. Symposion Kiel 9–12.9.1987, ed. Friedhelm Debus and Horst Pütz, Kieler Beiträge zur deutschen Sprachgeschichte 12 (Neumünster: Karl Wachholtz, 1989), pp. 205–224. Medieval texts often make no distinction between common nouns and proper nouns (names); for example, in Heinrich von Mügeln’s Der meide kranz 168a–218, ed. Karl Stackmann, Die kleineren Dichtungen Heinrichs von Mügeln. Zweite Abteilung, Deutsche Texte des Mittelalters 84 (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2003), pp. 47–203, Gramatica exemplifies the noun with solely personal names. On the use of the term nam [noun, name] more generally in Middle High German, see Huber, Wort, pp. 22–45 and
Rudolf Voß, “Die Idee des Namen in der höfischen Dichtung um 1200,” in Vox Sermo Res. Beiträge zur Sprachreflexion, Literatur—und Sprachgeschichte vom Mittelalter bis zur neuzeit. Festschrift Uwe Ruberg, ed. Wolfgang Haubrichs (Stuttgart: Hirzel, 2001). pp. 21–34.
J.T. 1059,3–4: ich flurhte, daz ich mere nu verliese / Herzelouden, mines bru o der kint, daz die den tot vor herzeleide kiese. [I fear that I might also lose Herzeloude, the child of my brother, as a result of her dying of heartache.] However, the narrator also introduces a number of apparently meaningful names into the text, with no glossing and no clear connection between meaning and identity: for example the names Penitenz (J.T. 439,1) and Terribilis (J.T. 2071,4). Cf. Zatloukal, “Nußschale,” in Namen in deutschen literarischen Texten, p. 177. On the “mathematical” names Abacus and Algorismus (J.T. 2051,2–3), see Wolfgang Wegner, Albrecht, ein poeta doctus rerum naturae? Zu Umfang und Funktionalisierung naturkundlicher Realien im ‘Jüngeren Titurel,’ Europäische Hochschulschriften 1.1562 (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1995), pp. 70–73.
Translation (originally interpretatio ex Graeco) is one of three standard forms of etymology listed by Isidore, the other two being derivations and compositions; see Herbert Backes, Die Hochzeit Merkurs und der Philologie: Studien zu Notkers Martian-Übersetzung (Sigmaringen: Jan Thorbecke, 1982), p. 80. For etymological translation involving languages other than Greek and Latin, see also
Wolfgang Haubrichs, “Veriloquium nominis. Zur Namensexegese im frühen Mittelalter. Nebst einer Hypothese über die Identität des ‘Heliand’-Autors,” in Verbum et Signum. Beiträge zur mediävistischen Bedeutungsflorschung. Friedrich Ohly Festschrift, ed. Hans Fromm, 2 vols. (Munich: Fink, 1975), 1:241–242 [1:231–266].
Within the genre of heroic epic, the names Hildebrand/Hadubrand and Hugdietrich/ Wolfdietrich constitute striking father-son pairings. For further discussion of names within this genre, see George T. Gillespie, A Catalogue of Persons Named in German Heroic Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973); and Haubrichs, “ Veriloquium,” in Verbum et Signum, p. 234. Within courtly romance, Tristan may be deemed to bear a French translation of his father’s name, on the grounds that the form Riwalin may be understood as Riuwalin (i.e., “small sorrow”), an equivalent to the element triste in the son’s name. See Ruberg, “Verfahren,” in Verbum et Signum, p. 311 and Lambertus Okken, Kommentar zum Tristan-Roman Gottfrieds von Straßburg. Amsterdamer Publikationen zum sprache und Literatur 57–58, 2nd edn., 2 vols. (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1996), p. 56.
For critical literature discussing this particular approach to letters of the alphabet, see Johannes de Tepla, Epistola cum Libello ackerman und Das büchlein ackerman. Nach der Freiburger Hs. 163 und nach der Stuttgarter Hs. HB X 23, ed. and German trans. Karl Bertau, 2 vols. (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1994), 2:97. For the notion that certain letters might really “belong” to individual persons (including members of the Trinity), see the formulation (quoted by Ruberg “Verfahren,” in Verbum et Signum, p. 304) which is used by Heinrich von Kröllwitz in his Vater-Unser commentary 856–859, ed. Gottfried Christian Friedrich Lisch, Bibliothek der gesammten deutschen National-Literatur 19 (Quedlinburg: G. Basse, 1839) to argue that the term sunne [sun] is sanctified because it contains letters properly belonging to the Son: Sô ist der name ouch ûzgenumen / unde an deme beginne irgraben / mit des suns bu o chstaben; / nâch dem hât er ouch heilicheit. [So the name has been set apart and inscribed at the beginning with the letters of the Son. As a result, it too possesses sanctity.]
Karl Bertau, Wolfram von Eschenbach. Neun Versuche über Subjektivität und Ursprünglichkeit in der Geschichte (Munich: C. H. Beck: 1983), pp. 166–189 discusses the extent to which Wolfram may be said to deconstruct or otherwise pun on his own name and lists the possible meanings of the two component elements; however, it should be noted that none of Wolfram’s own works contain an example as direct as the one in the J.T. quoted above. For the ram element, Bertau lists raven, dirt, goal, frame, branch, and ram [=aries] as possible meanings. This proliferation of possible meanings makes the translation of J.T. 3598,1 particularly difficult. For examples of the etymological interpretations of other names involving the element ram, see Haubrichs, “ Veriloquium,” in Verbum et Signum, p. 247 (.Ramwold) and p. 253 (Adalram); in both of these cases, ram taken to mean aries.
Kundrie has been sent from the land of Secundille to Munsalvæsche. For the way in which the encounter between these two worlds in signaled in Parzival 782, see Almut Suerbaum, “Siben sterne si dô nante heidensch. Language as a Marker of Difference in Wolfram’s Parzival and Adolf Muschg’s Der Rote Ritter,” Oxford German Studies 33 (2004): 37–50. In the J.T., the three masters addressing Tschinotulander waren geleret in Arabie (J.T. 2683,2) [were trained in Arabia] but seem to have a Christian perspective on interpreting the planets; indeed, the contents of their discourse coincides with that of the Berthold von Regensburg sermon ‘Von den siben planêten.’ See Röll, “Berthold,” 73–74; Wegner, Albrecht, pp. 60–62; and the Introduction, n16. By contrast with these hermeneutically sophisticated masters, purely heathen astrologers who seek to predict specific outcomes are often presented rather negatively in the J.T., as Wegner, Albrecht, pp. 63–64 points out. Christian astronomers/astrologers do not fare very much better when faced with practical problems: although the physicians and astronomers who are summoned to assess the plight of Pelaie in J.T. 6013–6014 give a correct diagnosis (i.e., Pelaie’s indisposition is not caused by magic, but is related to the imbalance of her humors), they are unable to provide a solution and thus to prevent the death of Loherangrin.
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© 2007 Annette Volfing
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Volfing, A. (2007). First and Second Language: Names, Etymologies, and Natural Phenomena. In: Medieval Literacy and Textuality in Middle High German. Arthurian and Courtly Cultures. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230607224_3
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