Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Síða 91
led him straight to gangandi greidi. But this is a term to which the translator
committed himself more as a linguist than as a commentator with clear ideas as to
the interpretation of Chrétien’s poem.36
The link between textus and the otherwise unattested term gangandi
greidi as explained by Foote would require the ingenuity of a medieval
grammarian. The author’s talents may in faet have lain in that direction.
Nonetheless, it is unlikely that the average reader or listener, upon hear-
ing textus and gangandi greidi would have entered upon as complicated a
thought process as a medieval grammarian or a modern critic might
enjoy: “graal, gradale, quasi gradiens alimentum - or gangandi greidi in
Norwegian or Icelandic” (Foote, p. 57). The mystery of the grail is in faet
conveyed by the very unintelligibility of the passage, so that a Norwegian
or Icelandic audience would have reacted with as mueh puzzlement as we
upon hearing:
She bore in her hånds something just as if it were a textus, and they
call it braull in the French language, but we may call it gangandi
greidi.37
Although it gives every appearance of being an explanatory text, the
explication of braull serves in faet to obfuscate further the nature and
funetion of the graal.
In general the translators succeeded in clarifying ambiguous or obscure
French passages, however- as in the shortest French work in Norwegian
translation, Chievrefueil (Norwegian Geitarlauf). The source of Geitar-
lauf is unique in the collection of lais attributed to Marie de France:
Chievrefueil is not a self-contained tale, but presupposes familiarity with
the Tristan legend; it commences in medias res to relate one incident
from the tragic love story.38 The focal point and erux of the lai as well as
the subject of controversy is the message Tristram inscribes on a piece of
hazelwood to apprise Isolt of his presence. Verses 61-78 of Chievrefueil
have been a source of intermittent speculation for nearly a century. Schol-
36 “Gangandi greidi,” in Einarsbok... p. 58.
37 I have emended P. M. Mitchell’s translation (p. 594) by substituting “something just as
if it were a textus" (suggested by Foote, p. 53) for “what most nearly resembled a book of
the Gospels.”
38 See Reinhold Kohier, “Vergleichende Anmerkungen,” in Karl Warnke, Die lais der
Marie de France (Halle: Niemeyer, 1900), pp. CXLI-CXLIII.
77