the old french interjection "aioire"

The Old French Interjection "Aioire"Author(s): Raphael LevySource: The Modern Language Review, Vol. 31, No. 1 (Jan., 1936), pp. 65-68Published by: Modern Humanities Research AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3715194 .

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Miscellaneous Notes 65

Sedibus eversum est, et majus utroque Latinum. 150 Elysii valles nunc agmine lustrat inani, Et veterum Heroum miscetur grandibus umbris Plebs parva: aut, si quid fidei mereatur anilis Fabula, Pastores per noctis opaca pusillas Saepe vident umbras, Pygmseos corpore cassos. 155 Dum secura Gruum, et veteres oblita labores, Laetitise penitus vacat, indulgetque choreis, Angustosque terit calles, viridesque per orbes Turba levis salit, et lemurum cognomine gaudet.

DOROTHY MOODY. NEW HAVEN, CONN., U.S.A.

THE OLD FRENCH INTERJECTION AIOIRE.

Not only the form and meaning of Old French aioire have been a bone of contention for decades, but its very existence has been challenged; yet it is found in no less than five texts assigned to the thirteenth century. The first step to a solution of the problem was contributed in 1856 by Escallier.1 His reading of the gloss ore az in MS. 62 of the Bibliotheque de Douai was an error for ore ai, but his comment is worthy of attention: 'Cela correspond a la locution des Latins nunc age! allons donc, courage, va donc, etc.' All the other examples of the interjection transpose and combine the two elements.

In 1860 Peigne-Delacourt annotated aioire in his edition of the Miracles de St Eloi, p. 49, as'courage !'2 When the first volume of Godefroy appeared in 1880, he listed this term as a hapax legomenon with the vague definition of 'exclamation exprimant la joie'. If he had been more

precise, a battle royal in the history of Romance philology might have been avoided.

The word occurs in a slightly different form in two poems by Jean Renart, le Lai de l'Ombre and l'Escoufle.3 Line 244 of le Lai de l'Ombre, the only one of the five texts extant in more than one manuscript, ends in a word which must rhyme with the name of the city Cairo.4 Two of the

1 This example was not included by M. Roques in his study of the subject in the Medanges de philologie offerts a J. J. Salverda de Grave (Groningen, 1933), pp. 266-71, but it was analysed subsequently by him in Romania, LIX (1933), pp. 426-31.

2 Here it is either a case of poetic licence riming with encore, or else aioire was pronounced aiore. Elsewhere in the text encore rimes with -ore, as was pointed out by E. Wirtz, Ausg. Abhl., xxxv (1885), p. 28. M. Roques, Me'anges...Salverda de Grave, p. 270, notes the dialectal form encoire.

3 L. A. Vigneras, Mod. Phil., xxx (1933), pp. 241 and 357, concludes that le Lai de l'Ombre was written before 1222 and l'Escoufle after 1241, but V. F. Koenig, ibid., xxxII (1935), p. 352, upholds the traditional terminus ad quem of 1202 for l'Escoufle. 4 Michel edited MS. A in 1836, Jubinal printed MS. F in 1846, while B6dier published a composite text in 1890, MS. A again in 1913, and MS. E in 1929. In addition, a facsimile of MS. A is found in Omont's Fabliaux, dits et contes (Paris, 1932), and of MS. D in Faral's Le Manuscrit 19152 du fonds franQais de la Bibliothfque Nationale (Paris, 1934). In MS. E the folios are misplaced and need to be read in the following order: 54, 55, 57, 56, 58, 59, 61.

M.L.R.XXXI 5

Miscellaneous Notes 65

Sedibus eversum est, et majus utroque Latinum. 150 Elysii valles nunc agmine lustrat inani, Et veterum Heroum miscetur grandibus umbris Plebs parva: aut, si quid fidei mereatur anilis Fabula, Pastores per noctis opaca pusillas Saepe vident umbras, Pygmseos corpore cassos. 155 Dum secura Gruum, et veteres oblita labores, Laetitise penitus vacat, indulgetque choreis, Angustosque terit calles, viridesque per orbes Turba levis salit, et lemurum cognomine gaudet.

DOROTHY MOODY. NEW HAVEN, CONN., U.S.A.

THE OLD FRENCH INTERJECTION AIOIRE.

Not only the form and meaning of Old French aioire have been a bone of contention for decades, but its very existence has been challenged; yet it is found in no less than five texts assigned to the thirteenth century. The first step to a solution of the problem was contributed in 1856 by Escallier.1 His reading of the gloss ore az in MS. 62 of the Bibliotheque de Douai was an error for ore ai, but his comment is worthy of attention: 'Cela correspond a la locution des Latins nunc age! allons donc, courage, va donc, etc.' All the other examples of the interjection transpose and combine the two elements.

In 1860 Peigne-Delacourt annotated aioire in his edition of the Miracles de St Eloi, p. 49, as'courage !'2 When the first volume of Godefroy appeared in 1880, he listed this term as a hapax legomenon with the vague definition of 'exclamation exprimant la joie'. If he had been more

precise, a battle royal in the history of Romance philology might have been avoided.

The word occurs in a slightly different form in two poems by Jean Renart, le Lai de l'Ombre and l'Escoufle.3 Line 244 of le Lai de l'Ombre, the only one of the five texts extant in more than one manuscript, ends in a word which must rhyme with the name of the city Cairo.4 Two of the

1 This example was not included by M. Roques in his study of the subject in the Medanges de philologie offerts a J. J. Salverda de Grave (Groningen, 1933), pp. 266-71, but it was analysed subsequently by him in Romania, LIX (1933), pp. 426-31.

2 Here it is either a case of poetic licence riming with encore, or else aioire was pronounced aiore. Elsewhere in the text encore rimes with -ore, as was pointed out by E. Wirtz, Ausg. Abhl., xxxv (1885), p. 28. M. Roques, Me'anges...Salverda de Grave, p. 270, notes the dialectal form encoire.

3 L. A. Vigneras, Mod. Phil., xxx (1933), pp. 241 and 357, concludes that le Lai de l'Ombre was written before 1222 and l'Escoufle after 1241, but V. F. Koenig, ibid., xxxII (1935), p. 352, upholds the traditional terminus ad quem of 1202 for l'Escoufle. 4 Michel edited MS. A in 1836, Jubinal printed MS. F in 1846, while B6dier published a composite text in 1890, MS. A again in 1913, and MS. E in 1929. In addition, a facsimile of MS. A is found in Omont's Fabliaux, dits et contes (Paris, 1932), and of MS. D in Faral's Le Manuscrit 19152 du fonds franQais de la Bibliothfque Nationale (Paris, 1934). In MS. E the folios are misplaced and need to be read in the following order: 54, 55, 57, 56, 58, 59, 61.

M.L.R.XXXI 5



Miscellaneous Notes

variants correspond to the word under discussion: aaire in F and aere in E. The glossary, drawn up by Bedier in 1913, lists the form caire ill

manuscript A followed by a question-mark.1 Gaston Paris wrote that the

reading suggested by a comparison of all the manuscripts seemed to make caire an exclamation.2 Godefroy considered it an oath, while Tobler, in his dictionary, is more specific in calling it an interjection. Tobler, however, was at a loss to explain it, and kept the question-mark. He refers to the dissertation on interjections in Old French by Espe, to whom it is equally incomprehensible.3 Three years ago, however, the

interjection aere was defined as 'allons !' 'eh bien !'4

In l'Escoufe, Paul Meyer supplied [en] to make verse 6136 read: 'Fait li cuens a sa feme [en] aire', but he suggested in the variants that the

proper reading might be [C]aire !5 M. Roques, Melanges.. .Salverda de Grave, p. 270, is quite justified in suggesting that a form such as aaire (or even aiaire) is involved; the initial syllable may have been dropped by the scribe because of its repetition.

Although the chantefable of Aucassin et Nicolette has probably gone through more editions than any text in Old French literature, the word aioire has been misunderstood and more or less emended in all editions. In the old editions of Barbazan-Meon (1808), Malo (1826), and Ideler- Nolte (1842), it is given as A voire. Those of Moland-d'Hericault (1856) and Delvau (1866) read a! voire. In the Bida-Gaston Paris edition (1878) it becomes avez.6 Aside from the editions, three other readings have been

suggested. Von Orelli drops voire of a voire as well as the followingfait.7 Acher, in dropping fait. aioire, treated pris as the end of a rhetorical

question and put an exclamation-mark after voire.8 Tanquerey took the

paleographic liberty of emending the passage to readfait a dire, which he defines 'il faut le reconnaitre'.9 All of the foregoing suggestions can be dismissed summarily.

1 O. Schultz-Gora, Archiv St. n. Spr., LVII (1930), p. 51, and LXIV (1933), p. 41, went so far as to transform the reading of MS. A he caire into the Provengal pecaire, 'alas!' MS. B has hez caire, C gives a daire, D reads arriere, while G has the faulty rime en caine: a dire. The spelling taire, which Bedier gave in his first edition of 1890, does not exist in any of the seven manuscripts.

2 G. Paris, Romania, XIX (1890), p. 612. 3 H. Espe, Die Interjektion im Afrz. (Konigsberg, 1908), p. 79. 4 Romania, LVIII (1932), p. 441. M. Roques, Romania, LIX (1933), writes 'et bien!' on

page 427 but 'eh bien!' on page 430. The latter spelling, as used, e.g. by La Fontaine, Livre VI, Fable 10, is preferable. 5 0. Schultz-Gora, Archiv St. n. Spr., LVII (1930), p. 51, note 1, not only accepts the reading [en] aire, but posits the equation [en] aire = en eire =en erre, 'in haste, immediately'.

6 In Romania, vM (1879), p. 288, however, G. Paris reads avgs. 7 C. von Orelli, Afrz. Gram. (Zurich, 1848), p. 424, relying upon the reading of Ideler-

Nolte. 8 J. Acher, Ztschr. rom. Phil., xxXIV (1910), p. 371. 9 F. J. Tanquerey, Romania, LVII (1931), p. 568.

66



Miscellaneous Notes

In 1896 Bourdillon issued a facsimile reproduction of the manuscript, accompanied by a diplomatic transcription. He deciphered the passage in this manner:

qns i

de dialence fait au. ie uos ai ps 73b 13 sire voire fait. aioire fait li 73b 14 qns.

In the eyes of the present writer, this transcription of Bourdillon's cannot be impugned except perhaps for the second part of line 73b 13. Although the reading 'je vos ai pris' has become traditional, it differs considerably from the scribe's indication of the same words in 73 b 28: jev' ai ps. Merely as a conjecture, resting upon 'je pris les armes' in 73a 33, I venture to

propose the solution 'je nes ai pris?' In his edition of 1919, Bourdillon was fully aware of the fact that

aioire was written intentionally and that there is no sign of deletion. Puzzled by Godefroy's inaccurate definition, he compromised by re-

producing the two words guarded by parentheses: 'Sire, voire! fait (aioire fait) li quens.' His attempt to justify this compromise did not cut the Gordian knot, but left the problem dangling in the air as loosely as if he had relegated it to the variants.

The decision then is to be made between the two present editors of Aucassin et Nicolette, Walther Suchier and Mario Roques. Throughout the ten editions of the chantefable, started by Herman Suchier in 1878 and carried on by his son Walther in 1921 and 1932, the words aioirefait are dropped on the assumption that the scribe intended to write Au[cassins]. If we understand this assumption fully, it means that the scribe started to write an abbreviation for Aucassins, but inadvertently repeated the ending of voire. Even if, for the sake of argument, the hypothesis were granted, the resultant reply of the count would be very awkward. Furthermore, there are four paleographic factors which tend to vitiate this assumption: (1) the scribe is usually very careful to correct his errors; (2) where there is a single letter to be deleted the scribe puts a dot under it, but whole words he deletes by drawing his quill clear through them [73d 12, 74 1, 75a 17, 75b3, 75b 11, 76d 17, 79d 14, 80c28];1 (3) each one of the six instances where there is a possibility of redundancy consists of a short monosyllable, but in this case two complete words are

1 Cf. Bourdillon's reproduction, p. 7.

67



Miscellaneous Notes Miscellaneous Notes

involved;1 (4) the abbreviation for Aucassins in usually auc'., seldom au., and only twice .a. [70d 13 and 71a 11], while the word at stake begins with ai-.

Not merely by elimination of all the conflicting theories, but rather on the strength of the four other instances where forms of aioire are found, the recent argument of M. Roques seems to justify the retention of this interjection intact. The words preceding it, voirefait, present an expression of affirmation for which no other example has been recorded. It is possible that voirefait reflects the graphic influence offait recurring in the same line as well as in the preceding line of the manuscript. It is to be noted that in the other case where voire is used in Aucassin et Nicolette [76a 37], it is also strengthened and becomes voire a foi!2 As for the emphatic use of fait in the chantefable, further examples can be found: mnorir de sifaite mort [74c 5], d'ausifait mal con vos aves [76a 50], etfaites sifait duel [77b 17]. In the opinion of M. Roques, voirefait is comparable to the affirmative locution si fait, which had a much wider application in Old French than it has in modern French.3

By way of conclusion, then, we believe that the five texts offer forms of the same interjection and that M. Roques's preservation of the reading of the manuscript of Aucassin et Nicolette is quite convincing. If the above suggestions are tenable, the interpretation of the passage becomes: 'Count of Valence', says Aucassin, 'Have I not taken them up? '-' Sire, you certainly did. Well then !' says the Count.

RAPHAEL LEVY. BALTIMORE.

A SERMON BY A FRANCISCAN MYSTIC.

The great fame of the Dominican mystics, particularly of Eckhart, Tauler and Seuse, has tended to obscure the contribution of the Minorites to German literature. The Franciscans, if less illustrious than their brethren of the Order of Preachers, have a style of their own and are

1 A list of these monosyllables is given in M. Roques's edition, p. xxvii. 2 R. Dockhorn, Zur Textkritik von Aucassin und Nicolette (Halle, 1913), p. 72, was even

inclined to adopt this reading in both instances. To the single example of voire voire recorded by Lacurne de Sainte-Palaye, can be added Philomena 176, Roman de la Rose 11234, Jeu de Robin et Marion 583, Jeu de la Feuillee 504, Le Tournoi de Chauvency 2289, Griseldis 396. Jan Antoine de Baif (ed. C. Marty-Laveaux) uses not only voire voire, i, p. 30, but also voire da, Iv, pp. 22, 88, and voire da voire, v, p. 213. Examples of voire meme in modern French are not rare.

3 M. Roques, Melanges...Salverda de Grave, p. 268. In this connection, J. G. Andison, The Affirmative Particles in French (Toronto, 1923), p. 102, states that 'with the disap- pearance of all idea of inflection, the verb faire, limited to the form of the third person sing. of the pres. indic., has long since ceased to be felt as a verb at all'. He records the expression si fait voir in Eneas 9869.

involved;1 (4) the abbreviation for Aucassins in usually auc'., seldom au., and only twice .a. [70d 13 and 71a 11], while the word at stake begins with ai-.

Not merely by elimination of all the conflicting theories, but rather on the strength of the four other instances where forms of aioire are found, the recent argument of M. Roques seems to justify the retention of this interjection intact. The words preceding it, voirefait, present an expression of affirmation for which no other example has been recorded. It is possible that voirefait reflects the graphic influence offait recurring in the same line as well as in the preceding line of the manuscript. It is to be noted that in the other case where voire is used in Aucassin et Nicolette [76a 37], it is also strengthened and becomes voire a foi!2 As for the emphatic use of fait in the chantefable, further examples can be found: mnorir de sifaite mort [74c 5], d'ausifait mal con vos aves [76a 50], etfaites sifait duel [77b 17]. In the opinion of M. Roques, voirefait is comparable to the affirmative locution si fait, which had a much wider application in Old French than it has in modern French.3

By way of conclusion, then, we believe that the five texts offer forms of the same interjection and that M. Roques's preservation of the reading of the manuscript of Aucassin et Nicolette is quite convincing. If the above suggestions are tenable, the interpretation of the passage becomes: 'Count of Valence', says Aucassin, 'Have I not taken them up? '-' Sire, you certainly did. Well then !' says the Count.

RAPHAEL LEVY. BALTIMORE.

A SERMON BY A FRANCISCAN MYSTIC.

The great fame of the Dominican mystics, particularly of Eckhart, Tauler and Seuse, has tended to obscure the contribution of the Minorites to German literature. The Franciscans, if less illustrious than their brethren of the Order of Preachers, have a style of their own and are

1 A list of these monosyllables is given in M. Roques's edition, p. xxvii. 2 R. Dockhorn, Zur Textkritik von Aucassin und Nicolette (Halle, 1913), p. 72, was even

inclined to adopt this reading in both instances. To the single example of voire voire recorded by Lacurne de Sainte-Palaye, can be added Philomena 176, Roman de la Rose 11234, Jeu de Robin et Marion 583, Jeu de la Feuillee 504, Le Tournoi de Chauvency 2289, Griseldis 396. Jan Antoine de Baif (ed. C. Marty-Laveaux) uses not only voire voire, i, p. 30, but also voire da, Iv, pp. 22, 88, and voire da voire, v, p. 213. Examples of voire meme in modern French are not rare.

3 M. Roques, Melanges...Salverda de Grave, p. 268. In this connection, J. G. Andison, The Affirmative Particles in French (Toronto, 1923), p. 102, states that 'with the disap- pearance of all idea of inflection, the verb faire, limited to the form of the third person sing. of the pres. indic., has long since ceased to be felt as a verb at all'. He records the expression si fait voir in Eneas 9869.

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the old french interjection "aioire"

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