The Old High German Tatian is a translation of

Tatian Tatian of Adiabene, or Tatian the Syrian or Tatian the Assyrian, (; ; ; ; – ) was an Assyrian Christian writer and theologian of the 2nd century. Tatian's most influential work is the Diatessaron, a Biblical paraphrase, or "harmony", of the ...

Diatessaron The ''Diatessaron'' (; c. 160–175 AD) is the most prominent early gospel harmony. It was created in the Syriac language by Tatian, an Assyrian early Christian apologist and ascetic. Tatian sought to combine all the textual material he fou ...

from Syriac to Old High German. The translation was created in the

Abbey of Fulda The Abbey of Fulda (; ), from 1221 the Princely Abbey of Fulda () and from 1752 the Prince-Bishopric of Fulda (), was a Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine abbey and Hochstift, ecclesiastical principality centered on Fulda, in the present-day Ger ...

under

Rabanus Maurus Rabanus Maurus Magnentius ( 780 – 4 February 856), also known as Hrabanus or Rhabanus, was a Frankish Benedictine monk, theologian, poet, encyclopedist and military writer who became archbishop of Mainz in East Francia. He was the author of t ...

' supervision around the year 830 and has been located at the

Abbey of Saint Gall The Abbey of Saint Gall () is a dissolved abbey (747–1805) in a Catholic religious complex in the city of St. Gallen in Switzerland. The Carolingian-era monastery existed from 719, founded by Saint Othmar on the spot where Saint Gall had er ...

since the 10th century, where it is classified as the Codex Sangallensis 56.

The manuscript and its transmission

The Old High German Tatian is one of the most significant translations created during

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

's reign, next to the Old High German Isidor. It contains the text in both Latin and

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

. During its creation, the Diatessaron, a gospel harmony written around 170 AD, was combined with a transcript of the

Codex Fuldensis The Codex Fuldensis, also known as the Victor Codex (, ''Codex Bonifatianus I''), designated by F, is a New Testament manuscript based on the Latin Vulgate made between 541 and 546. The codex is considered the second most important witness to the ...

(Codex Bonifatianus I), turning it into a

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

. Though the manuscript G (St. Gallen's Cod. Sang. 56) is the only known surviving one, the existence of other manuscripts is suspected. This assumption is based on the fact that there are references to another manuscript in excerpts from the margins of the Paris Conversations (Paris, Bibl. Nat., Ms. Lat. 7461) and in text samples from the "De literis et lingua Getarum siue Gothorum" (1597) by Bonaventura Vulcanius. An incomplete copy of said manuscript is currently at the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

(Ms. Jun. 13).

Stylistics

The Old High German Tatian is a

literal translation Literal translation, direct translation, or word-for-word translation is the translation of a text done by translating each word separately without analysing how the words are used together in a phrase or sentence. In translation theory, anoth ...

split into two columns, with the Latin text on the left and the Old High German text on the right. The two texts are written in the same line and word order, and the verbatim translation is only occasionally replaced by a freer translation technique. Furthermore, the structuring of the paragraphs and the highlighting of the Latin texts through the use of

initial In a written or published work, an initial is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter (books), chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is ultimately derived from the Latin ''initiālis'', which means '' ...

s makes the German text appear subordinate to the Latin text. The manuscript appears to have been compiled by six scribes, each with different abilities and writing styles, which makes the overall text seem inconsistent. However, the Fulda style of writing largely dominates.

Text sample

Section 97 Luke 15:11-31: The Parable of the Prodigal Son:

Purpose

The intentions were two-fold: 1. The multilingualism of the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Franks, Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as List of Frankish kings, kings of the Franks since ...

is the background to the Bible translations from the 8th and 9th century. It posed a challenge to the rulers of that time, as the principles of the Christian faith needed to be conveyed in a language that all Christian inhabitants of the

Frankish Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lomba ...

could understand. Additionally, the situation must be viewed in the context of the regulations on the teaching of faith issued by Charlemagne (

Admonitio generalis The ' is a collection of legislation known as a capitulary issued by Charlemagne in 789, which covers educational and ecclesiastical reform within the Frankish kingdom. Capitularies were used in the Frankish kingdom during the Carolingian dynasty b ...

, 789 AD), the

Saxon wars The Saxon Wars were the campaigns and insurrections of the thirty-three years from 772, when Charlemagne first entered Saxony with the intent to conquer, to 804, when the last rebellion of tribesmen was defeated. In all, 18 campaigns were fou ...

, and the

Council of Frankfurt The Council of Frankfurt, traditionally also the Council of Frankfort, in 794 was called by Charlemagne, as a meeting of the important churchmen of the Frankish realm. Bishops and priests from Francia, Aquitaine, Italy, and Provence gathered in '' ...

(794 AD). These events all led to a number of translations of texts on faith as well as of functional texts for church life at the beginning of the 9th century. Considering these circumstances, the Old High German Tatian may have served to support and accelerate the

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

work of the Christian rulers in the West. 2. In regard to the training of clerics, the Old High German Tatian may have served as a precursor to the study of the individual

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

s. For those whose knowledge of the Latin language was limited or nonexistent, it would have helped cultivate a better understanding of the original texts. For those who knew Latin, the manuscript could have served as a way to check the veracity of translations.

Significance

Along with the works of Notker the German and

Otfrid of Weissenburg Otfrid of Weissenburg (; ; 800 - after 870 AD) was a monk at the abbey of Weissenburg (modern-day Wissembourg in Alsace) and the author of a gospel harmony in rhyming couplets now called the ''Evangelienbuch''. It is written in the South Rhine ...

, the Old High German Tatian is one of the greatest Old High German manuscripts. In terms of language history, its significance lies in the fact that it constitutes the first documented example of a uniform German text. Furthermore, it provides insights into linguistic-historical developments, as well as into Old High German vocabulary. Additionally, the Old High German Tatian influenced the

Heliand The ''Heliand'' () is an epic alliterative verse poem in Old Saxon, written in the first half of the 9th century. The title means "savior" in Old Saxon (cf. German and Dutch ''Heiland'' meaning "savior"), and the poem is a Biblical paraphrase ...

, particularly regarding its choice of subject matter.

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * {{Cite book , last=Wesseling , first=Klaus-Gunther , title=Tatian der Syrer , publisher=Verlag Traugott Bautz , year=1996 , isbn=3-88309-064-6 , series=Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon , volume=11 , location=Nordhausen , pages=552–571 , language=de , trans-title=Tatian the Syrian

External links

Entry on the Tatian in the ''Handschriftencensus''

Standard description of the Codex Sangallensis 56 on e-codices

Digitalised facsimile of the Codex Sangallensis on e-codices

9th-century manuscripts Abbey library of Saint Gall