Lacnunga
P10.10 – See Leechdoms, Wortcunning and Starcraft of Early England
Vol
III, P10 line10
'In
case a man or a beast drink an insect'
Other
possible translations
Further
to my proposed possible translation of this charm (See my blog
December 2015)
I
reproduce here two somewhat more scholastic attempts at a
translation, for comparison. These are attempts by students as part
of their thesis’s.
The
Galdor (charm)
Gonomil
orgomil marbumil
marbsai
marbsai tofethtengo docuillo biran cuithaer
caefmiil
fcuiht cuillo scuiht cuib duill marbsiramum
My
proposed translation:
I
wound the animal, I strike the animal, I kill the animal.
Brine
of death, brine of death (with) wind (and) tongue I destroy the thorn
from the sky, belonging to fine lovely honey, suck the wound/ wound
(like) a love bite/suck if (it be) split, sing to kill the long
(worm).
Additional
note: the implied use of saliva.
Belief
in the medicinal usefulness of saliva is very ancient: see e.g. Opie
& Tatem [1989: 373-41, Bonser [1963: 22 1-21, Chowdharay-Best
[1975], Nicolson [1897] and Selare [19391. Its use in a remedy for
wyrm is also derived from the belief recorded by Pliny that: Omnium
vero in primis ieiunain salivam contra serpentes praesidio esse
docuimus.
[NH 28.3 5].
Chowdharay-Best
[1975: 197] also notes instances of the use of saliva against
venomous
creatures in the works of Galen, Paulus Aegineta, and Oribasius.
Heather
Lesley Stuart (1973:
A Critical Edition of Some
Anglo-Saxon Charms and Incantations. 802-9)
proposes this
reconstruction of the galdor:
Gono
mil, orgo mil, marbu mil.
Marb
sir [n]-amus. Do-foth tengo do. Guillo biran co [n]-ith ar
cach
miil scucht co n-ibdaich. Marb sir [n]-amus.
Stuart's
translation:
I
wound the animal, I slay the animal, I kill the animal.
Kill
the long-lived hireling. Its tongue will fall out. I destroy the
little spear with fat
for
each animal an end with a sorcerer. Kill the long-lived hireling
However
duill "creature" has been removed, and the amendments do
not produce readily intelligible sense.
Perhaps
with the application of strict lexical and syntactical sense damage
is done to the sound-patterns of the galdor.
With
this in mind Harley (1996 A critical edition of the Anglo-Saxon
Lacnunga in BL MS Harley 585 P315-318) suggests
Gono
mil orgo mil marbu mil
marb
sair amum tofeth tengo do cuillo biran cuuthaer
cufinnl
scuiht cuillo scuiht cuib-.duill, marb sir amum.
Harley's
translation:
I
wound the animal, I hut the animal, I kill the animal.
Kill
the long/lasting creature! The beast's tongue will fall out. I
destroy the little
spear
with verse.
Against
the (?)dear-beast (?)An ending. I destroy. (?)An ending.
(?)dear-beast. Kill the long/lasting creature!
So
my previous conclusion remains and is reprinted thus:
Of
course one could also arrive at alternative variations in the
translation and perhaps this ambiguity is exactly what the charm
intended to achieve, after all it is unlikely the Anglo-Saxons would
have had any understanding of Old Irish. What would have been
important was the distinct incantatory sound patterning resulting
from the alliteration, rhyming and repetition.
