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Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Menologium Isoldei Beati
Something a little out of the ordinary for the Valve. I’m curious what people make of this; or to slip into what I take to be an American idiom for a moment, ‘what’s wrong with this picture?’ I havn’t been able to make the Valve software register those attractive lacunae or gaps you find in the middle of lines of Old English poetry, I’m afraid. You’ll have to take those as read.
Prologa
Cumeþ in gêaras æl-mihtig Godes Cometan
wundorlic ond fæger in heofunhrôfe
lihteð stæp-mælum ofer stræt imperium
Aryana cynedôm CRISTES BLÆD.
I
Cumeþ se Cometa in Liþa midsumere
êac mann æl-gylden wyrneþ trêowe seolfores
In lif þêoden meahtig ac dêad mann lýtil.
Nigonhund ond ân ond fiftig þa monþas gêares firmest.
II
Cumeþ se Cometa in Hærfestmônþe
Nemne monþas fif ond þrīetig in gêare sace
Scêawa! Bera of-slegen be norðan wulf.
Nigonhund ond eahtatiene þa monþas gêares ôðerne.
III
Cumeþ se Cometa in Hreþmônþe
Tídrieþ háligwares blod hlanceþ ond ádrúwieþ.
Ea! hopas imperium ingéotaþ intó hafelum goldtorht.
Nigonhund, an ond þrietig þa monþas gêares þridda.
IV
Cumeþ se Cometa in Winterfyllþe
Ía, ábégeþ se cyning æt ánbúendes fêt
Ná íegland ac íegland ná scild ac scild.
Nigonhund ond siofan þa monþas gêares fêorþa.
V
Cumeþ se Cometa in Þrimilce monþe
gêares æl-mihtig midsumer nigon lýtlieþ siofanes
ofergífre clifer dracan priceþ sálnes, sceaðieþ word.
Nigonhund ond an ond twêntig þa monþas gêares fifta.
VI
Cumeþ se Cometa in se æfterra ġêole.
Dædbéte fifhund fif blod spillede, blod mecgede
Éac se draca lecgeþ æt Crístesmæles fót.
Nigonhund ond fif þa monþas gêares siexta.
VII
Cumeþ se Cometa in Gíuling monþe.
Lýtlie monþas siex ond þritig draca fléogeþ weste
Kalend Magna áswilteþ Mundus novum incumeþ.
Nigonhund, siex ond twêntig þa monþas gêares seofoþa
VIII
Cumeþ se Cometa in Hærfestmônþe
A má healf-hund monþes, æt worulde heortan
Manig carres castel into flód lígbrynes.
Nigonhund ond eahtatiene þa monþas gêares eahtoþa.
IX
Cumeþ se Cometa in Hreþmônþe
Ende bróðorlíf æt brêðer. Se cempa cépeþ
Nemne coróna ælfscíene æðele Bróðor clyppeþ bróðor.
Norð cumeþ æt súðan blod spillan æt portwealle.
Endespræc
Ábet gán fífelstréam east ond fífelstréam west
Mancynn Romae Novae! segl æt cildhame beran.
Ea! Imperium Aryanes! Blod norðan ond clæne
Níwanácenned woruld cáf! lagu géares tien-þusend!
As well as I can make it, this is what it means:
The Menologium of the Blessed Isolde
Prologue
These the Great Years of the Comet of God
Whose awe and beauty in heaven’s roof
Lights step by step the road to empire
An Aryan realm THE GLORY OF CHRIST
I
The Comet comes in the month of June.
Each man of gold spurns loyalty of silver.
In life a great king in death a small man.
Nine-hundred and fifty-one the months of the first Year
II
The Comet comes in the month of September
Number months thirty-five of this Year of war.
See the Bear laid low by the Wolf of the north.
Nine-hundred and eighteen the months of the second Year
III
The Comet comes in the month of March
The blood of the holy one thins and dries.
Empire dreams pour into golden heads.
Nine-hundred and thirty-one the months of the third Year
IV
The Comet comes in the month of October
In homage a king bows at hermit’s feet.
Not an island, an island not a shield but a shield.
Nine-hundred and seven the months of the fourth Year
V
The Comet comes in the month of May
Great Year’s midsummer less nine of seven.
Old claw of dragon pierces silence, steals words.
Nine-hundred and twenty-one the months of the fifth Year
VI
The Comet comes in the month of February
Deny five hundred months five Blood spilled, blood mixed.
Even the dragon must lie at the foot of the Cross.
Nine-hundred and five the months of the sixth Year
VII
The Comet comes in the month of July
Less thirty-six months the dragon flies west.
Know a Great Year dues Know a new world born.
Nine-hundred and twenty-six the months of the seventh Year
VIII
The Comet comes in the month of September
A half-hundred months more. At the hub of the world.
Much fastness of rock against tides of fire.
Nine-hundred and eighteen the months of the eighth Year
IX
The Comet comes in the month of March
End brother’s life at brother’s hand A fighting man takes
Noble elf-wise crown. Brother embraces brother.
The north comes from south to spill blood on the wall
Epilogue
Across ocean to east and ocean to west
Men of new Rome sail from the womb of the bear.
Empire of Aryans blood pure from the north.
New world of the strong a ten-thousand year rule.
One of the unusual things here is simply that the poem is a prophecy. Is that in itself enough to make it un-Old-English, I wonder? In Anglo-Saxon Verse (2000) Graham Holderness classifies Old English poetry under four headings: ‘Heroic Poetry’; ‘Elegaic Poetry’; ‘Christian Poetry’ and ‘Love Poetry’. This, obviously, isn’t any of those.
I really am interested in people’s responses to this, especially negative, point-picking, sneering and dismissive responses. I’m bracing myself, of course, for commentators to raise a quizzical eyebrow and move on to other posts without leaving comments of any kind.
Comments
It strikes me as less difficult than most OE poetry, and thus possibly a forgery. The “Aryan” term does not strike me as OE at all. So I say, it’s by a Nazi crank.
It’s bogus. There is no reason why an actual Anglo-Saxon poem would use a Sanskrit word ("Aryan") which wasn’t known in Europe until the 19th century. (The OED gives its first citation only in 1839.) Where on Earth did you dredge this up?
The last time I read any Anglo-Saxon poetry was as a first-year undergrad, so I may be completely wrong here… But “Aryana cynedôm” struck as being REALLY out of place. I’m with John and Cosma on this.
“See the Bear laid low by the Wolf of the north.
“? Hmm…
It sounds like a hyperactive 6 year old on psylocibin.
Agree with Cosmas. What’s the provenance of this?
Excellent. Yes, obviously it’s a hoax; I was assuming that was pretty unmissable. ‘Aryan’ is an glaring giveaway, as Cosma quite rightly points out. But let’s say one wanted to make it less hoaxy? The Sanskrit term comes from a geographical region, and people from that region were known to the Romans, who called them Ariani. I wonder if that word would make the text slightly less obvious? The text can only get by on a bit of Latin anyway (and, Kalend,a bit of Greek too), so perhaps a little more Latin could be added?
These responses, though, are very pleasing. Not to be coy, the hyperactive 6 year old Nazi Crank on psylocibin is Stephen Baxter. Or rather, Stephen wrote the English text, for a forthcoming novel, and he asked me to translate it to OE, which I did. It’s the second novel in a four-book sequence, none of which have yet been published, and I’ve not read 3 and 4 (I got to read this one because I was translating the prophecy), so I’m not a hundred per cent on all the details; but I understand that the Nazis invent a time machine and send this prophesy back in time to try and alter the course of Dark Age history. Or something. Hence the unpleasant idiom of the piece. There’s also an acrostic (though you have to ignore the first and last stanzas and the refrains throughout to get it).
I don’t think my translation is especially good, mind; it’s in a language, as John E points out, less difficult than most OE poetry for the very good reason that that’s the best OE I can muster on my memories of undergraduate classes oh so many years ago. But what I’m interested, what makes this post in a manner of speaking an OE bleg, is how to make it better.
I felt idly justified in translating as feebly as I do here, imagining that the young Nazi who supposedly renders the lines probably didn’t have much better command of the language than I do. But let’s say you really wanted to send back a poem to the culture of the Anglo Saxons in England filling them with a desire to preserve the Aryan race by sailing off to America … given how little those concepts would mean to the target audience, what do you do?
I would have said it’s a riddle, rather than a prophesy - and riddles are a bona fide form of Old English verse.
Adam never claimed any provenance for this poem, so we can’t really say it’s a fake. The language used leads the reader to expect it to be from a certain historical period, but there’s nothing to say you can’t (for example) translate the instruction manual for a washing machine into Old English.
Stephen Baxter eh? I know this, he uses my line in the book I get a contributor’s copy.
Alan: ‘hyperactive 6 year old on psylocibin’, yes ... but only if you translate it into Old Mercian.
Probably an AS word for “Alan” exists—“Alan” was cognate with Aryan, and the Alans were contemporary with Attila and the Goths. A Gothic word certainly existed, but a Bible translation is all the Gothic we have.
The Alans (Scythian mercenaries in Roman service) reached Brittany (Armorica) about the same time as the Bretons. The two groups intermarried, and the name “Alan” traces back to them. (The other big Alan name, “Gaor” was less successful).
Does this violate Godwin’s Law? Or something?
As a substitute for “Aryan”, how about “Hellene” (Έλληνες)? You’ve already assumed that the pretend reader knows some Greek. There is some danger that the hypothetical Anglo-Saxon reader might seriously misunderstand which group of people was meant, but this seems hard to avoid.
AS has “Greecisc, Greecas”. The “Hell-” words are hellish. “Ellen-” means “strong, noble, brave”. “Elle, ellende” mean “others, foreigners”.
Or you could try awrigenesse.
Actually, “Aryan” in this poem should probably be some kind of honorific self-referent used by the Anglos-Saxons.
Instead of “Aryan” use “Frisian” or “Goth”
Where “Alan” is concerned, that was the name given to a tribe in the Sarmatian confederacy. Which was not a true ethnic group, but an alliance of different tribes from different ethnic groups. A more recent example of this would be the Sioux-Cheyenne alliance of the 19th century.
When “Alan” became a personal name instead of a tribal name is not known to me. I do know that in many name books “Alan” is considered Welsh and means “graceful or handsome”. Which would indicate that the locals thought that Alans were good looking fellows. :)
Most tribes were mixed groups—the Goths were led by Goths but included non-Goths and half-Goths. They were military-political units.
Which comet does it refer to? From the looks of it, seems to be Hailey’s - coz it passes through once in every 70-odd years, which is the time period given.
This “Menologium of Isolde’ is the subject of a series of books called “Time’s Tapestry” by Stephen Baxter (an Ace Book published by Berkley Publishing Group. I find them to be very interesting and enjoyable reading and a great follow on to the Arthur series of Jack Whyte and many other historical novels.
I read another novel called “Attila’s Treasure”, in which the author refers to Aryans. He may have spelled it Arians. Very interesting to have found this site; I searched Monologium of Isolde” to see if Baxter made it up or what… Thanks for all the info.