The Wessobrunn Prayer (, also , "Wessobrunn Creation Poem") is among the earliest known poetic works in Old High German, believed to date from the end of the 8th century.
Provenance and reception The poem is named after Wessobrunn Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Bavaria, where the sole manuscript containing the text was formerly kept. The abbey was dissolved in 1803 and its library incorporated into the Bavarian Royal Library in Munich, where the manuscript was given the identifier "Clm 22053". The script of the Latin title is uncial, that of the text Caroline minuscule. Paleographic characteristics of the script support production in Bavaria, with some Swabian influence, consistent with an origin in southern Bavaria, likely in the Diocese of Augsburg. The manuscript was probably not written at Wessobrunn, however (the original monastery at Wessobrunn having been destroyed in a Magyar raid in 955). Suggestions for the origin of the manuscript include Regensburg, Benediktbeuern, Staffelsee and Augsburg itself.Katharina Bierbrauer, Die vorkarolingischen und karolingischen Handschriften der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek vol. 1 (1990), 83f.; München, Staatsbibl., Clm 22053 (handschriftencensus.de): "Erwogen wurden Regensburg, Benediktbeuern, Staffelsee und Augsburg (Steinhoff, Sp. 962)."
The manuscript is a convolution of five parts, with a total of 98 folia (numbered to 99, fol. 8 missing). The poem is contained at the end of the second fascicle (foll. 22-66), on foll. 65v/66r, following a collection of Latin excerpts on theology, geography and metrology.München, Staatsbibl., Clm 22053 (handschriftencensus.de): 21rv excerpts of Beda; 22r-35v Theodosius, De locis sanctis; 35v-47v theological excerpts; 47v-65r glosses for Isidore's Etymologies, geographical and metrological terminology; 65v-66r Wessobrunn Prayer; 66v manumission certificate from Hesilinloh (Hessellohe, Neuburg an der Donau). Library catalogue: Karl Halm, Catalogus codicum latinorum Bibliothecae Regiae Monacensis. Tomi 2 Pars 4.: Codices latinos (Clm) 21406-27268 complectens / secundum Andreae Schmelleri indices composuerunt Carolus Halm et Gulielmus Meyer (1881). The date of composition is put in the reign of Charlemagne, roughly in the 790s (estimates range from "shortly after 772" to "shortly after 800").München, Staatsbibl., Clm 22053 (handschriftencensus.de): "bald nach 772 verfasst (Petzet/Glauning), um oder bald nach 800 (Steinhoff, Sp. 961)" The manuscript itself was written in the early 800s, most likely the years just predating 814.The year number 814 (death of Charlemagne) is mentioned on the final page (fol. 99v). Bernhard Bischoff, Die südostdeutschen Schreibschulen und Bibliotheken in der Karolingerzeit, Teil I: Die bayrischen Diözesen (3rd ed. 1974), 18–21.
The language has some Bavarian characteristics (, , ) besides traces of Low German or Anglo-Saxon influence, specifically in the first line ( is Low German; parallels OS and AS ).Kartschoke (1975:21) Anglo-Saxon influence is further suggested by the scribe's representation of the word "and" (with one exception) by Tironian et (⁊), and by the use of a "star-rune" (a bindrune combining g and i) to represent the syllable Wackernagel (1827:47) insists on the value ga; Grimm (1812), following Docen (1809), had rendered the sign as chi, supposing a ligature of Greek chi and iota. shared by only one other manuscript, also Bavarian, viz., Arundel MS 393 in the British Library. This rune is analogous to the gilch rune in the so-called "Marcomannic runes" of Hrabanus Maurus (De Inventione Litterarum); also comparable in shape is the Old English io rune () and the Younger Futhark h rune ()."Dass dasselbe Zeichen, welches im nordischen Runenalphabete unter dem Namen hagol den Laut h (ch) ausdrückte, ᚼ, auch in unserm Gebete vorkömmt und zwar nicht in Bedeutung eines einzelnen Buchstaben, sondern gleich einer ganzen Sylbe, ga (und nicht chi noch cha[...)] beiläufig als Merkmal und Überbleibsel des Heidenthumes angeführt." Wackernagel (1827:30), disapprovingly of Massmann's view of a pagan character of the poem. Perrett (1938) went as far as attempting the reconstruction of an Anglo-Saxon original of the poem."On the Wessobrunner Gebet, II" LMS i (1938).
The text was printed, without attempts at an interpretation, by Bernhard Pez in 1721,Thesaurus Anecdotorum Novissimus t. i (1721), col 418 (Ex Cod. Biblioth. Wessobrunens. O.B. exarato saec. IX. in 8.) again in Monumenta Boica in 1767, under the title De Poeta * Kazungali,Monumenta Boica 7 (1767), p. 377. and again by Johann Wilhelm Petersen, Veränderungen und Epochen der deutschen Hauptsprache (1787).
The first edition of the text with philological commentary and translation is due to F. D. Gräter (1797). Gräter also included a facsimile of a copy by Wessobrunn librarian Anselm Ellinger (1758–1816).F. D. Gräter in Bragur (1797), 118–155. Gräter's edition was improved upon by the Brothers Grimm in 1812.Das Lied von Hildebrand und Hadubrand und das Wessobrunner Gebet (1812). Hans Ferdinand Massmann, Erläuterungen zum Wessobrunner Gebet (1824).
The word printed in the 1767 transcription was interpreted as the name of the poem's author, but this was recognized as mistaken by Docen (1809). Rather, the word (equivalent to modern German ) is a gloss for "poetry".Fortsetzung und Ergänzungen zu Christian Gottlieb Joechers allgemeinem Gelehrten-Lexicon ... Dritter Band [K bis Lub] (1810), 143f. It is not found on the page of the poem, but four pages earlier (fol. 63rFolio 63r of manuscript BSB Clm 22053 at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek.), where is glossed with " " (with an "asterisk" symbol reminiscent of the "star-rune" but with horizontal bar). The editors of Mon. Boi. were thus inspired to transfer the Old High German gloss for "poetry" to the poem's Latin header.Johann Christoph Freiherr von Aretin, Beyträge zur Geschichte und Literatur: vorzüglich aus den schätzen der pfalzbaierschen Centralbibliothek zu München (1806), p. 137.
Text The poem is in two sections: the first is a praise of creation in nine lines of alliterative verse. This is followed by a prayer in prose: Grimm (1812) and Massmann (1824) made attempts at the reconstruction of alliterating verses in the second part, but following Wilhelm Wackernagel (1827:9), the second part is now mostly thought to be intended as prose with occasional alliteration.
Some features in the first section reflect the language and idiom of Germanic epic poetry, using alliteration and poetic formulae known from the Norse, Anglo-Saxon and Old Saxon traditions (, , ).
The cosmological passages in the poem have frequently been compared to similar material in the Völuspá, and in the Rigvedic Nasadiya Sukta. Against this, Wackernagel (1827:17ff) holds that the emphasis of a is genuinely Christian and not found in ancient cosmogonies.
Close transcriptionKrogmann (1937:129); represents letters marked with dots in red ink.Normalized textThe normalization follows Wackernagel (1827:11f). Alliterating words are underlined.English translationKarl Blind, "An Old German Poem and a Vedic Hymn", Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country 15 (1877), p. 726.[65v]
5
10
[66r] 15
20 a. at ᚷ⃒ fregin ih mit firahim firi uuizzo meiſta. Dat ero ni uuaſ· noh ufhimil. noh paum noh perecniuuaſ. ninohheinig noh ſunna niſtein· noh mano niliuhta. noh der maręoſeo. o dar niuuiht niuuaſ enteo ni uuenteo. ⁊ do uuaſ der eino al mahtico cot manno miltiſto. ⁊ dar uuarun auh manake mit inan: cootlihhe geiſta. ⁊ cot heilac. ot almahtico· du himil ⁊ erda ᚷ⃒ uuorahtoſ. ⁊ du mannun ſomanac coot forᚷ⃒pi· for gipmir indina ganada rehta galaupa: ⁊ cotan uuilleon· uuiſtóm· enti ſpahida. ⁊ craft· tiuflun za uuidar ſtantanne. ⁊ arc zapi uuiſanne. ⁊ dinan uuil leon za ᚷ⃒ uurchanne:De poetaThe Latin header is most likely to be understood in the sense of announcing the following as "from a poem", or "from the works of a poet". Wilhelm Wackernagel, Wessobrunner Gebet und die Wessobrunner Glossen (1827), 14ff.; Dieter Kartschoke, Altdeutsche Bibeldichtung (1974), p. 23. Dat gafregin ih mit firahim firiuuizzô meista, Dat ero ni uuas noh ûfhimil noh paum noh peregpereg was corrected from perec by the scribe ni uuas ni [sterroA word alliterating in s- was omitted by the scribe; the substitution of sterro "star" is a conjecture.] nohheinîg noh sunna ni sceinscein is emendated from stein. noh mâno ni liuhta noh der mareo-sêo. Dô dar niuuiht ni uuas enteô ni uuenteô, enti dô uuas der eino almahtîco cot, manno miltisto, enti (dar uuârun auh)Grimm (1812) excises dar uuarun auh as a spurious addition, grouping the verses as enti do was der eino almahtico cot / manno miltisto, manake mit inan. manakê mit inanMassmann (1824:21) defends the reading mitman (Engel — Gottes Mitmannen), or "fellow-men" (Blind 1877:726). Wackernagel (1827:59) refers to this as a locus vexatissimus. Grimm (1812) simply emended the plural pronoun inan with singular imo. cootlîhhê geistâ.
Enti cot heilac,The phrase enti cot heilac is taken by Wackernagel as the beginning of the prose portion, but by most other editors as the end of the poem. cot almahtîco, dû himil enti erda gauuorahtôs, enti dû mannun sô manac coot forgâpi,
forgip mir in dînôdino emended to dinero by Grimm (1812) for a reading of "in your mercy [secundum tuam clementiam], give me right belief", but Wackernagel (1827:65) insists on the reading dino as accusative plural, for a reading "give me right belief in your mercies". ganâdâ rehta galaupa enti côtan uuilleon uuîstôm enti spâhida, [tugida]Grimm (1812) conjectured tugida "virtue" following spahida, for alliteration with tiuflun (Massmann 1824:12). enti craft tiuflun za uuidar stantanne enti arc za piuuîsanne enti dînan uuilleon za gauurchanne.
This I found, from men,mit firahum — ab, cum hominibus (Wackenagel 1827:48), cognate with OS firihos, AS firas, ON fírar "men, people". as the foremost wisdom,Wackenagel (1827:48): sapientiarum maximam, viz. "the greatest of knowledges", "the sum of all wisdom" (d.i. die Summe aller Weisheit). That neither earth there was, nor sky above; Nor tree, nor hill there was. Nor stars there were; nor shone the sun. Nor moon-light there was, nor the salty sea.mareo-sêo is read as a compound, as it were "mere-sea" (Gothic marisaivs); sometimes also read as marjô sêo "the great sea". Nothing there was: neither end, nor limit.Wackenagel (1827:57): finium nec terminorum "without end or limit". And there was the One Almighty God, The mildest of men;Many have commented on God being referred to as a "man" in this passage. Grimm disliked the passage and attempted emendations for a reading of "mildest towards men". Massmann (1824:21f) adduces parallels where God is referred to as a "man" in German poetry (often in reference to the incarnation, e.g. Jesus being called manno liobosta "dearest man" by Mary in Otfrid). For Blind (1877:726) both the reference to God as "man" and the use of the plural pronoun in mit inan is "evidently a pagan phrase". Wackenagel (1827:58) argues that the proper translation of OHG milti is "generous" (freygebig). and many were with them, Godlyusually rendered "goodly" ("good spirits", OHG cuatlîh) not "godly" ("divine spirits"), as the scribe exceptionally marks the long vowel (cootlihhe) to avoid the reading of "godly" (Wackernagel 1827:60f: gloriosi spiritus). Ghosts: and God the Holy.
God Almighty! Thou wroughtest Heaven and Earth; And to men Thou gavest so much good.coot read as substantive, "so many goods" (so viele Güter, tam multa bona) by Wackernagel (1827:61). Give me the right belief in Thy grace; And a good will, wisdom, and also prudence; Virtue wherewith to withstand the Devils, to drive away Evil, and to work Thy will.