Abstract
The medieval corpus of Frisian laws has attracted scholarly attention for many centuries, first for their intrinsic value, but since the Romantic period also for their style. Jacob Grimm was the first of a long line of scholars who was intrigued by the frequent use of alliteration in these law texts, and suggested that before literacy came to the Frisians these laws had been handed down orally. Later scholars, such as Moritz Heyne and Rudolf Kögel, even claimed that Old Frisian laws had once been recited as Germanic alliterative verse. With some mitigation, this claim has persisted to well into the twentieth century. This chapter seeks to demonstrate by an analysis of some selected text passages that alliteration in the Frisian laws was as much inspired by Latin literacy, whether ecclesiastical or administrative, as by native orality. The conclusion is drawn that alliteration in the Frisian laws is a sign of a nascent stylistic phenomenon rather than the dying end of a formerly fully developed indigenous tradition. The availability, however, of time-honoured alliterative collocations, many of which are also found in the related Germanic dialects, such as Old English, Old Saxon, Old High German and Old Norse, contributed to the shaping of this remarkable aspect of the Old Frisian legal diction.
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Notes
See my Hir is eskriven. Lezen en schrijven in de Friese landen rond 1300, Hilversum and Leeuwarden, 2004; cf. my An Introduction to Old Frisian. History, Grammar, Reader, Glossary, Amsterdam and Philadelphia, 2009, Ch. 1; M. Mostert, ‘The Early History of Written Culture in the Northern Netherlands’. In Rankoviæ, S. (ed.) with Melve, L. and Mundal, E. Along the Oral — Written Continuum: Types of Text, Relations and Their Implications, Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy 20, Turnhout, 2009, pp. 435–74 (459–74).
On the primacy of Frisian for the laws, see A. Popkema, ‘Het Oudfries: rechtstaal in beginsel’, Us Wurk 56, 2007: 38–62.
W. J. Buma and W. Ebel, Das Rüstringer Recht, Altfriesische Rechtsquellen 1, Göttingen, 1961, item XIV.4a (‘The General Register of Compensations’). Unless otherwise mentioned, all translations are mine.
M. Janda, Über ‘Stock und Stein’: die indogermanischen Variationen eines universalen Phraseologismus, Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft, Beiheft 18, Dettelbach, 1997, pp. 128–9, takes the phrase of stokke ieftha of stene here as a merism, to mean ‘from any (elevated) place’.
Cf. D. O’Donnell, ‘The Spirit and the Letter: Literary Embellishment in Old Frisian Legal Texts’. In Bremmer, R. H. Jr, Johnston, T. S. B. and Vries, O. (eds), Approaches to Old Frisian Philology, Amsterdam and Atlanta, 1998, pp. 245–56.
J. Grimm, ‘Von der Poesie im Recht’, Zeitschrift für geschichtliche Rechtswissenschaft, 2, 1815: 25–99, repr. in his Kleinere Schriften, Vol. VI: Recensionen und vermischte Aufsätze, Berlin, 1882, pp. 152–91; cf. W. Frühwald, ‘“Von der Poesie im Recht”. Über die Brüder Grimm und die Rechtsauffassung der deutschen Romantik’, Jahres- und Tagesbericht der Görres-Gesellschaft 1986, Cologne, 1987, pp. 40–60.
M. Heyne, Formulae alliterantes ex antiquis legibus lingua frisica conscriptis extractae et cum aliis dialectis comparatae, Halle, 1864. Slightly elaborated, this slim doctoral thesis also appeared in the same year in translation, with some modifications, as ‘Alliterierende Verse und Reime in den friesischen Rechtsquellen’, Germania, 9, 1864: 437–49. R. Kögel, ‘Stabreimende Rechtspoesie’, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur bis zum Ausgange des Mittelalters, Strasbourg, 1894–7, II, 1, pp. 242–59.
C. Borchling, Poesie und Humor im friesischen Recht, Aurich, 1908.
F. A. Wood, ‘An Old Frisian Poem’, Modern Philology, 12, 1914–15: 477–80; endorsed by E. Sievers, Metrische Studien IV. Die altschwedischen Upplandslagh nebst Proben formverwandter germanischer Sagdichtung, Abh. phil.-hist. Klasse der Königl. Sächs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, Vol. 35, 1–2, Leipzig, 1918, pp. 220–2 and 615–18. Sievers seems to have remained ignorant of Siebs’s and Borchling’s part in the discussion.
D. Bethurum, ‘Stylistic Features of the Old English Laws’, Modern Language Review, 27, 1932: 263–79.
G. Baesecke, ‘Die altfriesischen Gesetze und die Entwicklung der friesischdeutschen Stabverskunst’, Deutsche Vierteljahrschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistegeschichte, 21, 1943: 1–22; repr. in his Kleine metrische Schriften, ed. W. Schröder, Munich, 1968, pp. 188–206.
W. Krogmann, ‘Altfriesische Literatur’. In Schmidt, L. E. (ed.), Kurzer Grundriss der germanischen Philologie bis 1500, 2 vols, Berlin, 1969–70, II, pp. 164–85 (165).
Cf. H. Ehrhardt, ‘Rechtssprecher’. In Erler, A. and Kaufmann, E. (eds), Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte, Berlin, 1990, I V, cols 360–3.
Romantic notions of the Icelandic lawspeaker, however, are questioned today, see e.g. M. P. McGlynn, ‘Orality in the Old Icelandic Grágás: Legal Formulae in the Assembly Procedures Section’, Neophilologus, 93, 2009: 521–36 (524–5).
M. Szadrowsky, ‘Stil und Syntax der altfriesischen Rechtssprache’, Beiträge zur deutschen Sprache und Literatur, 81, 1959: 131–60 (159–60). Buma includes Szadrowsky’s article in the bibliography of his 1961 edition of the First Rüstring Manuscript (see n. 11), but does not seem to have responded to its contents.
For alliteration in Latin versions of the Frisian laws, see F. W. Schulze, ‘Stabungen und verwandte Bindungen in den Lateinversionen der altfriesischen Gesetze’, Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur, 91, 1961/1962: 85–107. Significantly, perhaps, no attention is paid to the style of Old Frisian legal prose in the compendious Handbuch des Friesischen/ Handbook of Frisian Studies, eds H. H. Munske et al., Tübingen, 2001.
B. Sjölin, ‘Friesen’. In Beck, H. et al. (eds), Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, 10, Berlin, 1996, pp. 6–14 (12). ‘Man hat sich bemüht, Alliteration, Rhythmisierung, Rechtsparömien und Formelhaftigheit als Anzeichen hohen Alters und als Reste der ursprünglichen mündlichen Rechtsvortrag zu werten. Die Funktion dieser Stilmittel wurde jedoch bisher kaum systematisch untersucht.’
B. Baum, Der Stabreim in Recht. Vorkommen und Bedeutung des Stabreims in Antike und Mittelalter, Frankfurt a.M., 1986.
Also see, for example, R. Matzinger-Pfister, Paarformel, Synonymik und zweisprachisges Wortpaar. Zur mehrgliedrigen Ausdrucksweise der mittelalterlichen Urkundensprache, Zurich, 1972
G. Köbler, ‘Von dem Stabreim im deutschen Recht’. In Kroeschell, K. (ed.), Festschrift für Hans Thieme zu seinem 80. Geburtstag, Sigmaringendorf, 1986, pp. 21–36. For a concise survey of the phenomenon, see R. Schmidt-Wiegand, ‘Paarformeln’, Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte, III, cols 1387–93.
K. von See, Altnordische Rechtswörter: Philologische Studien zur Rechtsauffassung und Rechtsgesinnung der Germanen, Tübingen, 1964, esp. pp. 84–92
H. Ehrhardt, Der Stabreim in altnordischen Rechtstexten, Heidelberg, 1977. ‘Magic’, however, is still often (and regrettably) associated with the use of rhythm and alliterative phrases, e.g.
Cf. E. G. Stanley, ‘Alliterative Ornament and Alliterative Rhythmical Discourse in Old High German and Old Frisian Compared with Similar Manifestations in Old English’, Beiträge zur Geschichte der deutschen Sprache und Literatur, 106, 1984: 184–217 (216–17).
On the nature of medieval legal language, much has been written. For brief surveys, see e.g. H.-P. Naumann and R. Wiegand-Schmidt, ‘Rechtssprache’. In Beck et al. (eds), Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde, 10, 2003, pp. 268–76, and R. Wiegand-Schmidt, ‘Rechtssprache’, Handwörterbuch zur deutschen Rechtsgeschichte, I V, cols 444–60, both with extensive bibliographies.
On formal aspects of word pairs, see e.g. S. Häusler, ‘Zwillingsformeln im altsächsischen Heliand’. In Fritz, M. and Wischer, I. (eds), Historisch-vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft und germanische Sprachen, Innsbruck, 2004, pp. 35–48.
W. J. Buma and W. Ebel, Das Rüstringer Recht, AF 1, Göttingen, 1961, no. I.1.
R. Schmidt-Wiegand, ‘Recht und Gesetz im Spannungsfeld zwischen Schriftlichkeit und Mündlichkeit’, Frühmittelalterliche Studien, 27, 1993: 147–66 (157–8).
B. Stock, The Implications of Literacy. Written Language and Modes of Interpretations in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries, Princeton, 1983, p. 522.
W. J. Buma and W. Ebel, Das Hunsingoer Recht, AF 4, Göttingen, 1967, no. III. 2.
W. J. Buma and W. Ebel, Das Fivelgoer Recht, AF 5, Göttingen, 1972, no. IV.2.
Cf. E. Schubert, Essen und Trinken im Mittelalter, Darmstadt, 2006, pp. 37–9, on the disruptive effects of famine on social order in all respects.
R. H. Bremmer Jr, ‘Saxon Loans in Rüstring Old Frisian’. In Dekker, K., MacDonald, A. A. and Niebaum, H. (eds), Northern Voices: Essays on Old Germanic and Related Topics, Offered to Professor Tette Hofstra, Paris, Louvain and Dudley, 2008, pp. 191–201 (199); cf. F. Kluge, Etymologische Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, ed. E. Seebold, 23rd edn, Berlin and New York, s.v. Zins.
On baer, see O. Vries, ‘Die Terminologie des schiedsgerichtlichen Verfahrens in der altfriesischen Urkundensprache’. In Faltings, V. F., Walker, A. G. H. and Wilts, O. (eds), Friesische Studien I, Odense, 1992, pp. 29–52 (36–7).
Cf. R. Schmidt-Wiegand, ‘“Haus und Hof”. Zu Alter und Kontinuität einer Paarformel’. In von Nahl, A., Elmevik, L. and Brink, S. (eds), Namenwelten. Orts- und Personennamen in historischer Sicht, Berlin and New York, 2004, pp. 706–13.
S. Sonderegger, ‘Die Sprache des Rechts im Germanischen’, Schweizer Monatshefte, 42 (3), 1962: 259–71
E. Buhofer, Stabende Komposita in Rechtstexten und poetischen Denkmälern der altgermanischen Sprachen, Zurich, 1992 (with ample attention paid to Old Frisian).
The last time a fairly comprehensive comparative survey of alliterative coordinated phrases was made is in a doctoral dissertation by O. Hoffmann, ‘Reimformeln im Westgermanischen’, Darmstadt, 1885. Concentrating on Old English, Hoffmann adduced cognate (near-)parallels from Old Frisian, Old Saxon and Old High German.
For a close study of OE ‘habban and healdan’, see P. Acker, Revising Oral Theory: Formulaic Composition in Old English and Old Icelandic Verse, New York, 1998, pp. 6–14.
Cf. R. Lühr, Studien zur Hildebrandslied, 2 vols, Frankfurt a.M. and Bern, 1982, II, pp. 594–5.
Cf. R. H. Bremmer Jr, ‘Old English feoh and feorh, Old Norse fé ok fjor, ergo: Old Frisian fia and ferech “money and life”’, Us Wurk, 32, 1983: 55–62.
P. Lendinara, ‘Tradurre dall’anglosassone: il mare “salato”’. In Cammarota, M. G. and Molinari, M. V. (eds), Testo medievale e traduzione, Bergamo 27–28 Ottobre, Testo medievale e Traduzione 1, Bergamo, 2001, pp. 237–70 (263).
Cf. R. H. Bremmer Jr, ‘Old Frisian fule and felo “much, many”: an Idiosyncrasy in Germanic and Frisian Perspective’. In Nielsen, H.F. et al. (eds), Papers on Scandinavian and Germanic Language and Culture, Published in Honour of Michael Barnes (= NOWELE 46/47), Odense, 2005, pp. 31–40 (34).
For the profit reaped by a program such as WordSmith, see M. Markus, ‘Bed & Board: the Role of Alliteration in Twin Formulas of Middle English Prose’, Folia Linguistica Historica, 26, 2005: 71–93.
In order not to overburden this chapter with notes, I have refrained from giving precise references to most of the words and phrases. For a useful entrance into the world of the Old Frisian lexis, see D. Hofmann and A. T. Popkema, Altfriesisches Handwörterbuch, Heidelberg, 2008.
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Bremmer, R.H. (2011). Dealing Dooms: Alliteration in the Old Frisian Laws. In: Roper, J. (eds) Alliteration in Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230305878_6
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