Apropos of Les Trois Mors et Les Trois VisAuthor(s): H. A. ToddSource: Modern Language Notes, Vol. 3, No. 3 (Mar., 1888), pp. 58-59Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2918346 .

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II5 Marck. MIODERN LANGUAGE NOTES, i888. No. 3. ii6

let us give to these pioneers in Old Danisl study otur sympathy and encoturagement.

The publications issued during IS87 by the Danish Union comprise the following:

i. 0. Kalkar's " Ordbog til det aeldre danske Sprog (I300-I700)." This dictionary was begun in iSSi, and is being issued in semi-annual parts.

2. ' Tobiae komedie,' edited bv S. Birket Smith. A Danish drama from about i6oo.

3. 'Sprogarten pa Sejer,' by P. K. Thor- sen.

4. ' Bidrag til en Ordbog over jyske Almussmal,' by H. F. Feilberg.

5. ' Blandinger,' consisting of short papers on etymological and phonetic subjects.

DANIEL KILHAM DODGE. Colzumbia College.

APROPOS OF LES TROIS MfORS ET L ES TRO)IS VIS.

In a foot-note to his notice of my edition of the PanW/zre d'Amnours (cf. Buxile/in de la SociefW des antcienis fex/es franfais, I885, P. 96 and Biblio/lzque de l'Ecole des C/tar/es XLVII, p. i86), M. Paul Meyer calls attention to three MSS. of the poem of Les /rois inors e/ les frois vis, republished in the introduLctioll to the Pan/h?re, which were unknown to me at the time of preparing the edition mentioned. M. Meyer's note reads as follows: A propos du Dif de la Pan/lzre, je ferai remarquer que le Dit des trois morts et des trois vifs com- mengant par Comnpazins vois /u ce que je voi, dont M. TODD s'est occup6 p. xxx et xxxi de sa pr6face, se trouve encore dans deux ms. du Musee Britannique et dans un ms. qui na- gueres appartenait 'a M. Didot; voyez le Ezile- /in de la Soci6t6, I882, PP. 46, 71-2, et I884, p. 66.

Concerniing the last named of these MSS. I have no further information to offer, but hav- ing had an opportunity of consulting the two former in the library of the British Museum, I am in a position to indicate the few facts of interest disclosed by an examination of them.

The MSS. in questioni are catalogued Arun- del 83, folio I27 (given as I28, Bull. d. 1. Soc. d. anciens textes, I88I, P. 7I, according to a pagination since corrected) and Egerton 945, folio I2 (described Bull., ISSI, P. 44). The latter of these MSS. offers a text almost pre- cisely identical, excepting slight differences of orthography, with that of the fourth of the five versions of the poem, as given in Montaigloni's edition of the Alhpabe/ de la lkIor/ (Paris:

Edwin Tross, 1856), according to the MS. of the Paris Bib. Nat. there cited fonds de la Mare, No. 69882-2 The distinctive feature of this version is that it omits an introductioni of some lengtlh, which appears, from the abrupt- ness of the openinig lines as well as from the internal evidence of the fuller versions, to have formed an integral part of the original poem. Owing to the limitecl time at my dis- posal, I was able to copy from this MIS. only some forty lines of the poem, in all of whiclh portion, however, I filnd but two occasions for emending (except as regards punctuationi) the text of Montaiglon, viz., in 11. 8 and 9, fol. a 8, p. 7. Montaigloni here reads:

Li tiers mors dist qu'il est sechies "Je szui de moin lignage chies,"

the manifestly correct readinig of whiclh is given in Egerton 945 as follows:

Li tiers mors dist, qgi e' sechiez Jefuide inon lignage chiez.

The text of the other MS. (Arundel 83), which is closely related to that of Egerton 945, and begins at the same poinlt, is in every respect except that of caligraplhy far inferior to it. In fact, while the Egerton version numbers I44 verses, the poem has here been arbitrarily abridged in such a way as to occupy but the lower half of a single page, the upper portion of which is somewhat elaborately illu- minated with designs of the six personages introduced. In the left-hand columnn are ranged, in succession, the respective 'parts' of the three inorls (represented in the rubric and enluiniinure as three kings), ancd on the right-hand side, in the same order, the parts ol the three zvifs (as below), each part being limit- ed to the first six lines of the corresponding passages in the Egerton redaction. The text, as will be seen, is somewhat stupidly though by no means grievously corrupt, but its rery mediocrity and bluniderinig, togetlher with its Anglo-Normani irregularity of versification, afford, in consideration of its brexity and yet factitious completeniess, a motive for printing in full this versioni of the poem. The char-ac- ters i (j) and it (v) are reproduced as in the original, but the ordinary abbreviations, whicl are few ancl offer no embarrassment, are resolved, and the punictuationi regulated. By coomparison witlh Montaigloni's edition, it is casy to make the necessary textual emenlda tiolls.

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117 Mlar-chi. MODERN LANGUAGE NOTES, i888. No. 3. iI8

De uiuis regibucs Priomus rex vivus

Compayciouns, veez ceo ke ieo voy? A poy ke ieo ne me devoy; De granit pouir le quioer me tremble. Ueez la treis mors ensemble, Cuim il sunt hidotis et divers, Purriz et mangez des tiers."

Secuazdzus rex uiuus Le sectinde dist: " Teo ay enuie, Compaynotin, de amender ma vie; 'l'rop ay fet de mes volentez, Et mon quoer est enitalentez De fere tant ke m'alme acorde Al dieti rei de misericorde."

7'ertizcs rex atiznus Ly tierz uif, ki destreint ses meins, Dist: " Ptirqniei fuit fet homme humeins, Ptir ky deit receiuere tiele perte? Ceo ftust folie trop aperte; Ceste folie nie fist uinikes dietix, Si cotirte ioye et si grantz deduiitz."

De mzortltis regibus Pr-imzus rex mortluis

Ly premer mort dist: " Damoysel, Ne ubliez pas ptir sel oisel, Ne pur vos robes a orfreis, Qe vouis ine tiegnez bien les leys Qe Jhesu Crist ad ordinl, De sa seiinte volent6."

Secunzducs rex mo;rtlcs " Seignotirs," dis le seculDd mort, " Uerite est ke la mort Nouis ad fet tiels cum notis sumtis, E vous purirez cume lnouIs sulmtus,

Ttit seez ia si ptir ne si fin; Ore puLrueez vous devaint la fin."

Jertius mortuus Le tierz mort dit: " Sachez, leo f i de mon lynage chief, Princes, reys et conustables, Beals et riches, joyanz, mes tables; Ore sui si hidous et si ntuz Ke noy ver ne deigne nuls.

H. A. TODD.

A FRAGIENT OF OLI) ICELANDIC. WVheni in Icelanid, several years ago, a small

piece of old parchment wvas given to the writer by J6n Arnasoni, the collector of the legenids and folk-lore of Iceland.* Though not of great intrinisic worth, the gift was, in its way, cone of nio little rarity and value, intended, its recipient was happy to think, as a mark of especial esteem. Thanks to the indefatigabili- ty of early collectors, Arni Magndsson at their head, Icelanid has been as thorotughly stripped ' of her early vellums, and even of their paper transcripts, as thouiglh they had never existed; and beyond those preserved in the archives in Reykjavik and the few fragments possibly in the hands of some private indiv iduals wlho kinow their value, there are absolutely no parchments of any size, sort, or condition, left in the counitry. Wlheni, accordingly, the frag- ment here in questioni was prouLcdly exhibited to frienids in Reykjavik, no little wonder was expressed that it shouild have been given away to be takeen out of the land, anid the kind- i hearted donior was, nio dcoubt, taken to task for hiis indliscretioni.

The vellum is the leaf of a book, written on both sides, 3'2x458 inclhes in size; the top and bottom are straight; on the fronit is a sliglht rent which does not extend throuigh the mar-

gin; the back is ragged where it has been forcibly torn from the stitching, but the torn places do not affect the text. It is a palimp- sest manifestly cut down to its present size from a larger leaf; traces of the rubrics and of the original characters are plainly visible, but illegible; there is a small hole in the lower half of the page, whether in the original MS., or cut wheni it was scraped, it is impossible now to determiine. The parchmnenit is much discolored, buit cleaner than most Icelandic vellum, early or late. The inik is black and the hand rounLd and clear; the catch-words at the bottoms of the pages are cursive. The origin of the fragment is probably to be placed near the middle, or, possibly, in the first half of the I5th century.

From a literary point of viev the contents of the leaf are of no value. It is simply a part of a homily on the Lord's prayer-whether coincident or not witlh the one in the homily- book printed by Unger, Cod. A. M. 6i9?, the writer has no means of kinowitng, as that book is not at han(l. Philologically, however, the text is niot without value, anid as this fragmenit is in all probability, the onily scrap of Ice- landic vellunm in America, it is, perhaps, worthy of reproductioni here. Its pectiliarities of diction are those common to altmiost all Ice- landic MSS. It is, accordingly, first printed as nearly as possible veirbatim el li/era/imn and then extended, without, of course, any attempt at a niormalizationi of the orthography. *Islenzkar ThIo''sogur og zYfin/yiri. Lei>-

zig, 86.2 2 VOIS. tGammed norsk Homiliebog. Christiania, i864.

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