Re: [tied] Phol and Balder

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 28005
Date: 2003-12-05

05-12-03 15:21, Joao wrote:

> Could anybody translate this text?
> Is it Old High German?

Yes, it is.

Here's an almost word-for-word English translation:

Phol and Wodan rode into the forest.
Then was for Balder's foal its foot wrenched.
Then encharmed it Sinthgunt, (and) Sunna her sister;
Then encharmed it Frija, (and) Volla her sister;
Then encharmed it Wodan, as he the best could:
As the bone-wrench, so the blood-wrench,
(and) so the limb-wrench:
Bone to bone; blood to blood;
Limb to limb -- so be glued!

[ http://www.geocities.com/medieval_music/leechcraft/charms.html ]

and a freer one, easier to understand:

Phol and Wodan rode into the woods,
There Balder's foal sprained its foot.
It was charmed by Sinthgunt, her sister Sunna;
It was charmed by Frija, her sister Volla;
It was charmed by Wodan, as he well knew how:
Bone-sprain, like blood-sprain,
Like limb-sprain:
Bone to bone; blood to blood;
Limb to limb -- like they were glued.

[ http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/merseburg.html ]

Piotr


> ----- Original Message -----
> *From:* tgpedersen <mailto:tgpedersen@...>
> *To:* cybalist@yahoogroups.com <mailto:cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
> *Sent:* Friday, December 05, 2003 10:38 AM
> *Subject:* [tied] Phol and Balder
>
>
> Second Merseburg charm:
>
> Phol ende uuodan uuorun zi holza
> du uuart demo balderes uolon sin uuoz birenkit
> thu biguol en sinhtgunt. sunna era suister
> thu biguol en friia uolla era suister
> thu biguol en uuodan so he uuola conda
> sose benrenki sose bluotrenki.
> sose lidi renki
> ben zi bena bluot zi bluoda
> lid zi geliden sose gelimida sin.
>
> Everyone agrees that Phol and Balder is the same person.
> Is it possible that they are old nom. and gen. stems respectively (in
> which case Phol would have lost a -d- or -d- in Balder inserted in
> -dr-? Old Norse does have some masculines ending in -ar in the
> genitive. Is this the case for OHG too?
>
> 'balderes' doesn't seem right in the meter either.
>
> And yes, I have noticed the initial ph- vs. b-. That would translate
> into PIE p- vs bh-, a Noreen alternation.
>
> Torsten
>
>
>
>
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