Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Page 149

135
It is strange that the word descendent, which is frequently used in the
French poem, and correctly translated in many cases (v. 1136: Frankis-
menn stigu af hestum stnum, p. 5084"5; v. 2013: sté hann af baki hesti
sinum, p. 52025) has not led the translator to the correct interpretation of
the verse, but apparently he had already got the idea of the thousand
pagans killed by the three peers so firmly rooted in his mind that he did
not understand the remaining words of this verse.
Other words which the translator did not understand are: un cunte
cataignie in v. 2320: Kms: (senda) jarlinum af Katanie (p. 5241-2; this
phrase was misunderstood by P too, cp. P v. 2640:--------------au prince de
Chastaingne); amurafle in vv. 894 and 1269: Kms: frjålslendingr (above,
p. 91); and in v. 1967, the saga has a strange rendering of the term
cume her:
En la grant presse or i fiert cume ber,
translated:
Oliver rei5 fram å millum heiSinna manna sem dyrit uarga er olmligat (sic) a,
ferr olmligast millum annarra dyra, Bh (p. 5201®"17)
Oliuer rende myt giømen hedninge heren, D (p. 16917”18), diff. S.
Even though D and S have no trace of the comparison with the lion,
the faet that there is a comparison in the Icelandic MSS probably shows
that it is meant to be a translation of the expression cume ber in the French
text. M. Aebischer27 thinks that it is the word or which has led to the
misunderstanding, but this word is correctly rendered nu or på in other
places (cp. p. 133). Anyway it is unlikely that the translator would not
have known a common word like or. The word ber, on the other hånd, is
never translated in the saga; the Norseman apparently does not realize
that it is another form of the word baron2S. Usually ber is used as an
epithet, Carlemagnes li ber (v. 430), reis Marsilies, li bers (v. 125), and in
most cases the meaning of the verse is clear even if the word ber is not
understood. In v. 1967, where ber is part of a comparison, the translator
could not just disregard it, and he has groped for an explanation, and
found it, apparently, with the aid of stock phrases like fiers cume leuns
(v. 1888) and plus se fait fiers que leon ne leupart (v. llll)29.
” Rol. Bor. p. 204.
*s This form he knows well; it is translated baron in v. 275, riddari in vv. 467
and 750, drengmadr in v. 1280, etc.
” The word fier is correctly translated in v. 895, harSligt, and lion occurs quite
frequently (vv. 30, 128, 183, etc.) and is correctly rendered, as we might expect.