Skáldskaparmál - 01.01.1992, Page 247

Reykjahólabók
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“To ener tijd was eyn koster” (lxi, b).14 After this initial appearance in the
context of a defining collocation, the loan word recurs several times, but
without an explanation (cf. I, 68:26, 29; 69:27). A similar case of transmitting
a word in Low German but then defining it occurs in Servatius saga, where
we encounter the word nap, etymologically the same as High German
Napf. The first time the word occurs in the Passionael - ”enen schonen nap”
(xxvii, c) - it is transmitted in Icelandic as part of a defining tautology: “einn
dyrlegann napp edr silfr ker” (II, 198:32). At its next occurrence, the word
nap is transferred into Icelandic with the postposed article and without a
clarifying synonym: nappen þann (199:25) and nappen (205:13). Similarly,
the loan spéari occurs in the legend of St. Rochus as part of a defining
collocation: “og vard handtheken fyrer annann speara og niosnarmann” (I,
148:16-17). The Icelandic corresponds to the Passionael’s “Dar wart sunte
Rochus geuanghen vor enen vorsperer” (CCii,d). In the legend of St.
Dominic a similar use of a loan word occurs, but instead of appending a
synonym, the word is circumscribed. St. Dominic’s ascetic practices included
sleeping in uncomfortable places and positions. Thus he slept “vp eneme
breede. eder vp deme astrake” (xcviii, d). The Low German astrak, that is,
“stone- or tile-covered floor,” is transmitted together with a definition of the
word: “aa einhveria fiol eda steinvm þeim er astrak heita og lagder erv nidr j
golf” (II, 291:29-30).
The impact of Low German on Reykjahólabók goes beyond the intro-
duction of loan vocabulary; it even extends to syntax and to word-for-word
translation of idiomatic expressions; these can be meaningless, however, or
even misleading. Occasionally the translator transfers or adopts - perhaps
because of haste or carelessness - Low German syntax. The sentence “allt
þitt land hefvr forþienat yfer sigh ens hæsta kongsens reide” (II, 197:33-34)
from the legend of St. Servatius contains not only the semantic loan forþéna
but also a syntactic loan imitative of the preposed noun in the genitive case
corresponding to the Passionael’s: “Dyn gancze lant vnde dyn volk dat haft
vordenet des ouersten konninges torne” (xxvii, d). A similar employment of
German syntax in Icelandic occurs in the legend of Emmerencia, Anne, and
Mary, where the latter is called “ens blezada kongs Davidz moder og dotter”
(II, 345:10), thereby mimicking a Low German word order similar to “des
gebenedigeden dauites des groten konninghes moder vnde dochter” in the
St. Annen Biichlein (d viii, v).15 A Low German legend of St. Dominic has
contributed both a loan word and an unidiomatic expression to the Icelandic
of Reykjahólabók. A sentence resembling “Up ene tijd bad sunte Dominicus
enen ketter. dat he de ketterye vorlete” (xcix,a) is presumably the model for
Icelandic “<V>ppa einn thima bad sancte Dominicvs einn kettera at hann
14 Quotations from the Passionael are taken from the Liibeck imprint of 1492 by
Steffan Arndes.
15 St. Annen-Búchlein (Braunschweig: Hans Dorn, 1507).