Medieval poem, c. 7th century England

[NubusLatinae1770]

[I realize I posted this in the wrong forum, sigh, so here reposting. Hopefully the former will be deleted]

Salvete Omnes!

This is my first post, so please be gentle, hehe.

Anyhow, I was attempting to translate a little medieval poem from around the 7th century, and was having a bit of trouble. However, I have sketched a rough prose translation, and was wondering if anyone could speak to the accuracy of it, though not to say of it's rudeness.

Here is the poem:

Quando profectus fueram
Usque diram Domnoniam
Per carentem Cornubiam
Florulentis cespitibus
Et foecundis graminibus,
Elementa inormia
Atque facta informia
Quassantur sub aetherea
Convexi caeli camera,
Dum tremet mundi machina
Sub ventorum monarchia.
Ecce, nocturno tempore,
Orto brumali turbine,
Quatiens terram tempestas
Turbabat atque vastitas
Cum fracto venti federe
Bacharentur in aetere
Et rupto retinaculo
Desevirent in saeculo.

My prose translation:

"When I had left, always fearful, to Devon, through Cornwall, lacking grassy flowering fields and fertile plants, immoderate elements and ugly happenings are shaking under the sky, [under] the chamber of vaulted heaven, while the [whole] machine of the world trembles under a monarchy of winds.
[then] behold! At nighttime, while a wintry whirlwind arose,
The storm quaking the earth
And the vast disturbing,
When [subito] the winds, in a broken band, were raging in the sky
And in a broken tether raged [away] across the earth"

Is this an accurate translation?

Also I couldn't really find a translation for the word "federe" anywhere, so I assume it has the same meaning as "retinaculum".

Thank you for reading!

Si vales, valeo!

 

[NubusLatinae1770]

I realize I misspelled, the third to last line should be "in aethere"

 

[lepus]

"Federe" is a variant spelling of "foedere", the ablative case of the word "foedus" = a treaty, alliance. Here is a translation of the poem by Maryann Corbett.

 

[NubusLatinae1770]

Salve, Iepus,


Thank you, however I found that translation already and it is a very loose imagining. I was hoping to find the accuracy of my more literal translation.

Be well!

 

[lepus]

Yes, of course. My comment referred only to your uncertainty about "federe" - very rare, indeed, in this spelling - and in that particular aspect Mrs. Corbett's translation is quite literal and straightforward. Anyway, Google supplies many examples of the expression "fracto foedere" in both Classic and post-Classic texts, from Livy through Augustine to medieval historians, so we actually don't need to rely here on her authority as a medievalist and poet

 

[Aurifex]

"federe" - very rare, indeed, in this spelling

Perhaps you mean by the standards of Classical Latin. It's very common in Medieval Latin.

 

[NubusLatinae1770]

Hello Aurifex,

I realize I am a beginner in all sorts of latin, both classical and medieval. I wonder if you would know, in the above poem does "profectus fueram" have the same force as "profectus eram"? I realize perhaps the author changed it to fit the syllable count, and myself have understood it in the pluperfect first person singular, of proficisci.

Many thanks!

 

[Dantius]

"profectus fueram" is indeed the same as "profectus eram".

In later Latin this form is very common.

 

[cinefactus]

Does diram not go with Domnoniam?

 

[NubusLatinae1770]

Hello Cinefactus,

I understood the clause "usque diram Domnoniam" as "always fearful to Devon" as in "I set out to Devon, alway fearful."

 

[NubusLatinae1770]

Used perhaps in apposition to "Domnoniam".

 

[cinefactus]

Hello Cinefactus,

I understood the clause "usque diram Domnoniam" as "always fearful to Devon" as in "I set out to Devon, alway fearful."

It is the wrong gender though, if he is describing himself.

 

[NubusLatinae1770]

Hello Cinefactus,

Good point. That's why I assumed it was in apposition, relating to the destination of Devon, in the feminine.

What would you say the understanding should be?

Perhaps "continuously to ominous Devon"?

Vale!

 

[cinefactus]

I read it as:
When I had set out
up to awful Devon

 

[NubusLatinae1770]

I read it as:
When I had set out
up to awful Devon

Hello,

Yes that definitely makes sense grammatically.

Gratias ago tibi!

 

[cinefactus]

Reminds me of the Australian stereotype of the whinging Pom
"I went to Devon and Cornwall, but it wasn't as good as back home like" :ducks:

 

[NubusLatinae1770]

Reminds me of the Australian stereotype of the whinging Pom
"I went to Devon and Cornwall, but it wasn't as good as back home like" :ducks:

Ha! I wouldn't have understood you if not for my good friend from Tasmania instructing me on what a "Pom" is!

Yeah, whoever wrote this poem, likely a saxon from Wessex or around about, really hated Devon from what I can tell.

 

[cinefactus]

The site linked above gives the author as Adhelm.

 

[NubusLatinae1770]

Yes, I found the poem in a 1966 edition of "Oxford Book of Medieval Latin Verse" which discusses the provenance of the piece, mentioning that alleged author. However, the authors of the Oxford anthology find the allegation to be incorrect and attribute it to "Anonymous"