Part 10 (2/2)

--Vorwort, iii.

With this in view, Heyne put his translation out in a form that would make it accessible to all. This was in itself an innovation. The works of Ettmuller[6] and Simrock[7] had been in a more elaborate _format_, while Grein's translation[8] was not only expensive, but enc.u.mbered with other work, and intended primarily for the scholar.

_Nature of the Translation._

Heyne chose a new medium for his version, the unrimed iambic line. His aim being to get his book read, he avoided a literal translation, and rendered with commendable freedom, though not with inaccuracy. He used no strange compounds, and shunned an unnatural verse. Thus he produced the most readable translation that has ever appeared in Germany. Of his own attempt he says--

'Die vorliegende Uebertragung ist so frei, da.s.s sie das fur uns schwer oder gar nicht genau nachzubildende allitterierende Versma.s.s des Originals gegen funffussige Jamben aufgibt, und zu Gunsten des Sinnes sich der angelsachsischen Wort- und Satzstellung nicht zu angstlich anschmiegt; dagegen auch wieder so genau, da.s.s sie hoffentlich ein Scherflein zum vollkommenern Verstandniss des Textes beitragen wird.' --Vorwort, iii.

Heyne's theory of translation is one that has been very little in vogue in Germany. He has been criticized on all sides for his freedom. Yet the criticism is undeserved. Heyne is never paraphrastic--he never adds anything foreign to the poem. He merely believes in translating the obscure as well as the simple ideas of his text. His 'freedom' seldom amounts to more than this--

He beot ne aleh, l. 80 (he belied not his promise) Was er gelobt, erfullt er.

He occasionally inserts a word for metrical reasons, and sometimes, in the interests of clearness, a demonstrative or personal p.r.o.noun, or even a proper name (cf. l. 500 of the extract).

EXTRACT.

IX.

Da sagte Hunferd, Ecglafs Sohn, der Hrodgar 500 zu Fussen sa.s.s, dem Herrn der Schildinge, des Streites Siegel loste er (denn sehr war Beowulfes Ankunft ihm verha.s.st, des kuhnen Meerbefahrers; er vergonnte es Niemand, mehr des Ruhmes als er selber 505 sich unterm Himmel jemals zu erwerben): 'Bist du der Beowulf, der einst mit Breca sich auf der weiten See im Schwimmkampf ma.s.s, als ihr euch kuhnlich in die Tiefen sturztet, und mit verwegnem Brusten euer Leben 510 im tiefen Wa.s.ser wagtet? Niemand konnte, nicht Freund, nicht Feind, des muhevollen Weges euch hindern. Da schwammt ihr hinaus in See, wo ihr die wilde Flut mit Armen decktet, des Wa.s.sers Stra.s.sen ma.s.set und die Hande 515 die Wogen werfen liesst; so glittet ihr hin ubers Meer. Die winterlichen Wellen, sie giengen hoch. Der Tage sieben muhtet ihr euch im Wa.s.ser: jener uberwand dich im Schwimmen, denn er hatte grossre Kraft. 520 Da trug die Hochflut ihn zur Morgenzeit auf zu den Hadoramen, von wo aus er, der seinem Volke liebe, seinen Erbsitz im Land der Brandinge, die schone Burg erreichte. Dort besa.s.s er Land und Leute 525 und Schatze. Was er gegen dich gelobt, das hatte Beanstans Sohn furwahr erfullt.'

The extract ill.u.s.trates sufficiently the characteristics of Heyne's rendering. In the first place, attention may be called to the extreme freedom of the verse, a freedom which at times makes the composition verge upon prose. In the second place, the translation of the Old English phrase _beadu-runen onband_ should be noticed, and compared with the translations of Ettmuller, Grein, and Simrock, who have respectively--

_entband beadurunen_ _entband Streitrunen_ _Kampfrunen ... entbinden._

Heyne is the only one who translates the phrase in such a way as to make the words intelligible to a reader unacquainted with Old English.

Finally, it should be noticed that the translation is quite as accurate as those which preceded it. Heyne certainly succeeded in his attempt to make the poem more intelligible to the general reader than it had ever been before. While not so serviceable to the scholar as Grein's translation, it is undoubtedly the most enjoyable of the German versions.

[Footnote 1: There have been six--1863, 1868, 1873, 1879, 1888, 1898; the last two are by Dr. Adolf Socin.]

[Footnote 2: Heyne is at present Professor in the University of Gottingen.]

[Footnote 3: See infra, p. 121.] [[Leo]]

[Footnote 4: In _Beowulfs Beorh_. See also supra, p. 22.]

[Footnote 5: See supra, p. 16.] [[Thorkelin]]

[Footnote 6: See supra, p. 37.] [[Ettmuller]]

[Footnote 7: See supra, p. 59.] [[Simrock]]

[Footnote 8: See supra, p. 55.] [[Grein]]

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