Old High German lullaby

The Old High German lullaby, sometimes also called Lullaby, is a 1859 made ​​known by the Viennese scholar Georg Zappert Old High German poem. The rich information on Germanic paganism poem to date from the 10th century, allegedly, is the opinion of most experts who have commented on it, a fake.

The lullaby

Zappert writes that he had in 1852 on a strip of parchment, which to a paper manuscript of the 15th century (the Vienna Court Library Codex Suppl. No. 1668) was, noticed some Old High German words. The manuscript in 1858 Zappert have acquired since the disentanglement of the strip from the back of Buck necessitated its destruction. On the leached parchment he had found a five-line Old High German lullaby, whose writing he dated to the 9th or 10th century:

Zappert reading this than seven alliterative verse:

His translation reads: " ( 1) poppet, may you sleep hastily, crying the same thou mayest be. ( 2) Triwa defends vigorously the wolf to the choking. ( 3) May you sleep until morning man is he a pleasant little son. ( 4) Ostara represents the child honey, eggs sweet. ( 5) Hera breaks the child flowers blue red. (6 ) Tanfana sends tomorrow white sheep small, ( 7) And Wuotan, herra hurt! , Rapid spears hard. "

Notes: skein shall be a term of endearment with which a child was addressed. Triuwa stands for personalized loyalty, Ostara for a hypothetical goddess of spring. That she is here mentioned in connection with eggs, would be a remarkable testimony of a pagan origin of the Easter egg tradition. Quite exceptionally also would be the testimony of Tanfana, a goddess who otherwise found only in Tacitus in the 1st century. With the " one-eyed " is undoubtedly meant Odin, which is represented in the North Germanic culture as one-eyed ( an attribute that this God otherwise not have in the West Germanic sources).

The Old High German text is preceded by a list of seven Hebrew words, קשת רוח רנל רנע רנש רזון רחץ. On the back of the parchment strip is still a line in Hebrew, חכמה ואדם יפיק תבונה לך אל, a fragment of two verses of Proverbs ( end of 3:13 and the beginning of 6:6 ). It is evidently the spring samples. Based on suspected Zappert (p. 12) that the registration of a German Jew, perhaps a rabbi or a doctor comes, who may have heard the lullaby of a nurse.

Some vowels of slumber song are listed in the form of the Hebrew vowel signs.

Debate about the authenticity

If the text was genuine, he would be a rich source of the Germanic paganism. Its importance value would exceed perhaps even those of the Merseburg Incantations, have been discovered in 1841.

Kelle (1860 ) had left only biting criticism for Zapperts analysis and disagreed with him practically all his conclusions and improvements, but did not doubt the authenticity of the source. Jacob Grimm referred in Berlin meeting reports, 1859, 254-58 on Zapperts publication as an independent witness to the name Zanfana, apparently without doubting its authenticity. Edwards ( 2002, p 150) even writes that J. Grimm planned a defense of slumber song to publish, and have enthusiastically promoted this ("[ J. Grimm ] Stood out from the beginning Because of his enthusiastic advocacy of the lullaby " ).

Grohmann (1861 ), however, came in a 46- page essay to the conclusion that it was a clear forgery. Since Zappert died in 1859, he could no longer defend its position.

Kletke (1867 ) looked at the text still to be genuine, but the prevailing opinion since the late 19th century and until today remains that of Grohmann. Nevertheless, some scholars have even in the 20th century defended the authenticity of the poem (see Diamond 1960, Howard 1976).

Fichtenau (1970 ), in turn, comes to the conclusion that poem was undoubtedly a fake. Edwards ( 2002, p 158) noted that of six essays, which were published in the 20th century to the lullaby, argue three for and three against the authenticity of the poem. Edwards himself (p. 161) concludes that the evidence which he has given in his essay against the authenticity of the slumber song, pointing to a fake, but not sufficient, to one may find those with security.

Arguments for the authenticity:

• Howard (1976, p.34 ) argues that the text presupposes linguistic knowledge, the Zappert at that time could not have been known. He mentioned particularly the case of a sound e in uuerit with the Hebrew Sere, which represents a closed / e / sound. According to Howard, the researchers looked at the time the / e / sound, which had emerged from the i- umlaut, as open, and one would expect that a forger would therefore chosen the Hebrew Seggol instead of Sere.

Arguments against the genuineness:

• After Fichtenau (1970 ) Zappert is suspected yet another forgery. The text of one of them, an old map of Vienna is, flashy palaeographical similarities to the Old High German lullaby have ( Edwards 2002, p 156).
• According to Edwards (p. 160f. ) F. Mairinger has investigated and found that, in contrast to the Hebrew spring samples have not been written in the typical medieval russ -containing iron gall ink, the ink of the lullaby text and the Hebrew line. This indicates a counterfeit. ( The parchment and Hebrew spring samples, however, appear to have medieval age).
• It is known that the unusual connection between Germanic and Hebrew culture, as witnessed this strip of parchment, was an area that Zappert - himself Jewish - Located particular concern has ( Edwards 2002, p 160. ). Thus, a credible motive for forgery would be found.
• The new information about the Germanic deities in the lullaby fit flashy job in J. Grimm's German Mythology book ( first publication in 1835 ) to which Grimm comment on this deities and repeatedly lamented a lack of sources. This suggests that Zappert has searched for " holes" in Grimm's German Mythology, and wanted to fill this ( Edwards 2002, p 157).