medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Dear Bill.
Thank you very much for pushing on and discussing this hymn as well.
Herewith a few supplementary points.
On Sunday, September 10, 2006, at 7:20 am, you wrote:
> The hymn for Matins on the feast of the Nativity of the Virgin is
> 'Quem terra, pontus, aethera.'
> Quem terra, pontus, aethera
> colunt, adorant, praedicant,
> trinam regentem machinam
> claustrum Mariae baiulat.
>
> Neale's translation:
>
> The God whom earth, and sea, and sky,
> Adore, and laud, and magnify,
> Who o'er their threefold fabric reigns,
> The Virgin's spotless womb contains.
In its search for brevity and for rhyme words Neale's translation
obscures a point that will not have been lost on readers of ancient
Latin: 'aethera', a late antique plural form of 'aether' chosen because
it fits the metre**, preeminently signifies the _upper_ air, where
divinity resides, and not the grosser lower air that we breathe (the
'aer'). It can mean 'sky' in a general way and certainly does so here,
where it used along with 'terra' and 'pontus' to convey the threefold
division of the physical world. But, appropriately for the divine
mystery that the hymn is about to unfold, it carries with it as well
this connotation of the pure, upper reaches.
Ovid's description of the creation of the earth out of Chaos
(_Metamorphoses_ 1. 5-75) leaves the 'aether' out altogether but uses
'aer' regularly. At 1. 15, '... et tellus illic et pontus et aer', some
manuscripts substitute 'aether' for 'aer'. Interference from the
remembered words of hymn, perhaps?
> The second stanza expresses much the same paradox in a slightly
> different way:
> Cui luna, sol et omnia
> deserviunt per tempora,
> perfusa caeli gratia
> gestant puellae viscera.
>
> Neale:
>
> The God whose will by moon and sun
> And all things in due course is done,
> Is borne upon a Maiden's breast
> By fullest heavenly grace possest.
<SNIP>
> 'Viscera' is a fairly visceral word: the flesh, the entrails,
> the vital organs, the womb. This very physical organ contains
> the one whom the moon, the sun, and all things obey.
Without in the least disputing the physicality of 'viscera', it may be
added that the word is also commonly used to denote the seat of one's
emotions, including (but not limited to) very strong love. Biblical
examples of its occurrence in this latter sense would be Gen. 43:30,
'festinavitque [Ioseph] quia commota fuerant viscera eius super fratre
suo', and 3. (or 1.) Reg. 3:26 (in the Judgment of Solomon}, 'dixit
autem mulier cuius filius erat vivus ad regem commota sunt quippe
viscera eius super filio suo'. In the present circumstances, 'viscera'
could thus also be thought a not inappropriate reminder of John 3:16,
'sic enim dilexit Deus mundum ut Filium suum unigenitum daret'.
> Moreover, it is the womb of a 'puella', a little girl. The word
> is a diminutive in form, a feminine equivalent of the masculine
> 'puellus' which is a contraction of 'puerulus' iteself a diminutive
> of 'puer.' This little girl's very fleshly organs ...
You've lost me here, I'm afraid. 'puella' is merely the feminine
equivalent of 'puer'. Though morphologically it is, as you point out, a
diminutive, semantically the word has no diminutive force beyond what's
in its base meaning. Mary is not a '_little_ girl'; indeed, being
married, she's at the upper end of the age spectrum for a 'puella'.
Best,
John Dillon
** and used by Venantius Fortunatus (_Carm_. 3. 9. 7), whom our author
seems to be imitating.
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