Andreas (The Sang o Sanct Andro) and The Weirds o the Apostles(Corpus Textuum Scoticorum: 3) Owerset intae Scots by Derrick McClure. Edited by Michael Everson. First edition. Dundee: Evertype, 2022. ISBN 978-1-78201-320-4. Click on the book cover to order this book from Amazon.co.uk! Also available from Amazon.com! |
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Twa o the auldest bardries in the English tung, Andreas (Andro) and Þa Wyrda þara Apostola (The Weirds o the Apostles) is here owersetten, for the first time, intil Scots verse. Thir poems, or nou scarcelins kent tae onybody bar scholars o Anglo-Saxon leiteratuir, kythes nou in the mither tung and in verse akin tae the auncient Germanic meter. Ilka frein o the Lawland tung will walcome this mauchty eikin till its letter-huird.
Corpus Textuum Scoticorum is a series pittin furth edeitions o leid and leiteratuir o especial interest tae Scotland. The series is maistlins, but no aa and haill, devote tae volumes wi a beirin on the Scots and Scottish Gaelic leids.
Frae the Inleit by Derrick McClure
In the Capitulary Buikbeild in Vercelli, an auncient toun in the Nor-West o Italy, thare a haunscreive fae the tent yearhunner, inhaudin a curnie sermons and five poems (wi a bittie o a saxt); aa in the Auld English or Anglo-Saxon leid. Amang thaim is the lang screid kent tae scolars as Andreas, here for the first time pitten intae Scots verse.
Whase is the original Andreas sang? We ken-na, and maist likely never wull. Forbye Beowulf, the anerlie English poem fae afore the Norman times at mony fowk hes een hard tell o, thare a fair treisur-huird o bardries in the Auld English leid, screivit frae the seivent tae the eleivent yearhunner; but thare jist twa bards whase names we ken and whase screids we hae; and the names is nearhaun aathin we ken o thaim. Ane, caa’d Cædmon, gat the pouer o makin sangs frae an angel at cam til him in a draem: sae rins the tale, onygaits, telt by the Northumbrian monk Bede in his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, written aroun 730; and sen Bede is hauden ane o the gretest scolars atweesh the dounfaa o Rome and the Gainbirthin o the twalt yearhunner, and sen Cædmon wes still leivin aroun 673 whan Bede wes born and wes like him a Northumbrian, we maunna lichtlie his story aa and haill. But tho Cædmon hes haen the credit for a wheen lang and vogie bardries, thare nocht but ae peerie-wee sang o nine lines, ane o the auldest screids in the Anglo-Saxon tung, at we ken for siccar tae be his. O the ither namit makar, Cynewulf, we hae nocht ava bar his name; and this for a raison at sets him apairt frae aa ither makars o the period: he wrate the name, in Runic letters, in amang the lines o his poems. But tho we hae wittins o twa-three preists and bishops caa’d Cynewulf, thare naethin ava tae shaw us whilk o thaim, gin ony, wes the makar. And Andreas we can tell frae the leid is ower late tae be by Cædmon; and tho twa o Cynewulf’s poems kythe aside it in the Vercelli Beuk, it is ower different in style frae thaim tae be by the samen makar.
Andreas affeirs tae a lang and fouthy tradeition o warks, in Greek, Laitin, and ither leids, recountin the viages, dargs, and travails o the twal Apostles. A cuttie poem o Cynewulf’s caa’d The Weirds o the Apostles, in the Vercelli Beuk alangside Andreas, tells at Jeames wes marteirit in Jerusalem and Peter in Rome; at John gaed tae Ephesus in whit is nou Turkey, Mattha tae Ethiopia, Tammas and Bartholomew tae India, Simon and Thaddeus tae Persia. Cynewulf leived in the nint yearhunner; but thir tales war auld lang afore his days: the airest o thaim gang back tae the first yearhunner o the Christian Kirk. And for lang efter, the lifes o the sancts war a wechty dale o the Kirk’s tradeition, and fowk war screivin thaim anew richt up until the Reformation. In our ain letter-huird, ane o the auldest screids in the Scots tung, nearhaun contemporary wi the Brus o John Barbour and in the samen meter, is an ondeimous muckle getherin o Legends o the Sancts: the screivar is onkent, but ae scolar hes made a skeilie guess at he wes William o Spyny, like Barbour a kirkman frae the Nor-Aist. Maist o the tales in this are taen frae the Legenda Aurea o the Italian archbishop Jacobus de Voragine, a Latin screid frae the hinner-enn o the therteent yearhunner; but the Scottish screivar eiks on tales o twa sancts whase stories hae a beirin on Scotland, Sanct Machar and Sanct Ninian. Pairt o the anter setten furth at faur greter lenth in the Auld English sang is telt in the life o Andro in this ingetherin. And the first buik tae be prentit in Scotland wes the Aiberdeen Breviary, conform tae James IV’s deceision tae set up a prentin-hous sae as “… in tyme cuming mess bukis, efter our awin Scottis use, and with legendis of Scottis sanctis, as is now gaderit and ekit be ane Reverend fader in God, and our traist consalour William [Elphinstone] bischope of abirdene and utheris, be usit generally within our Realme … and that na maner of sic bukis of Salusbery use be brocht to be sauld within our Realme in tym cuming”. Bishop Elphinstone gaed ayont the auld screivar o the Legends in eikin twa mair Scottish sancts, Sanct Kentigern and Sanct (Queen) Margaret, tae the lang leit o haly men and wemen.
And sae Andro, the fisherman frae Galilee wha was aither the first (as the Gospel o John wad hae’t) or wi his brither Simon Peter ane o the first twa (as Mattha and Mark wad hae’t) o the twal Apostles tae be caa’d, like ither sancts hes a fair wheen o tradeitional stories eikit tae his name. The auldest screids says he fure alang the Danube tae the Blaik Sea and ayont tae Kiev and Novgorod: he is the patron sanct o Rumania, Ukraine and Russia forbye our ain. He wes crucifie’t in Achaia, in the wast o Greece, aroun the year 60. The tradeition that he speir’t for an X-schapit cross, haudin himsel no wirthie tae be crucifie’t on a cross o the samen kyn as his Maister wes, is lykeweys unco auld. Mauger o whit the Declaration o Arbroath says, thare nae possibeility at he ever cam tae Scotland: he wad scarcelins hae kent whaur Scotland wes. Mair likely tae be true is at Sanct Regulus, or Rule, brocht some o his banes (or whit wes thocht tae be his banes) frae Patras in Greece tae the Pictish toun o Cill Rìmhinn in the year 345, and funnit thare a Kirk dedicatit tae him. Mony a yearhunner efterhins, this auncient tale cam tae be the foun for Sanct Andro’s upbiggin as our patron sanct, and the adoptin o his Saltire as our national flag.
Een in the airest furthpittins o whit befell the Apostles as thay gaed about the darg thair Maister set them—“Gang ye furth, than, and mak disciples o aa the fowks o the yird”—it is whiles ill tae twyne history frae tradeition. In the Auld English sang owersetten here, thare naethin ava at can be cleikit tae acwal history. Hou the story wes first pitten thegither, and wha wes the first tae tell it, naebody kens: thare a curnie versions o’t in Laitin, whaur it is caa’d Acta Andreae et Matthiae apud Anthropophagos, and in Greek, frae the whilk the auld English bard hes taen diverse pairts and wrocht thaim intil a weel-shapit narratif. Mair nor the ae critic hes thocht forbye at he wes taen wi this tale o Andro acause o its likeness tae Beowulf: Andro and Beowulf baith traivels by sea tae a kintra whaur some ill thing hauds pouer (tho in Beowulf it is an etin herryin a mingie o stalwart weirmen; in Andreas the fowk aa and haill is a bourach o ill-deedie warlocks), vanquiss the ill and sain the kintra efter a frichtsome strauchle and syne win hame tae dee in thair ain grunn. Ither pynts forbye in the sang shaws hou the makar hes warpit diverse owercomes frae auld Germanic poetry intil a tale kythandlie set in the faur aist o the Roman Empire: Andro’s sea viage myns us o mony cauld and gowstie sailins in ither Auld English bardries, and the lealtie shawn tae Andro frae his thanes is mair akin tae the devotion o memmers o an auld Germanic tropell nor onythin we hear about in the Bible. Sae wes the Christian faith and the unnerstaundin o the Biblical tales naturalisit (as ye micht say) amang the weirlike tribes ayont the auld Roman Empire: in mony anither bardrie at tells a tale frae the Bible, in Anglo-Saxon or anither auld Germanic leid, the pictur is o a warld mair sib tae Beowulf nor tae the auncient keingdom o Judaea or tae Palestine aneth the Roman joug. Ane o the gretest o thaim aa, The Draem o the Ruid, maks a stalwart ying kemp o Jesus and a leal thane o the Cross itsel.
Auld English, the forebeir o modren English and modren Scots, is a Germanic leid, effeirin tae a faimily o the whilk the airest tae kythe in screivins wes Gothic, in an owersettin o pairts o the Bible made as faur back as the fowert yearhunner. This owersettin didna forder ony tradeition o writin in Gothic: forbye itsel, thare scarcelins onythin ither tae finn in the tung, and nae modren leid is descendit frae it. Auld English as a leid for bardrie and ither screids kythes wi Cædmon in the seivent yearhunner. Frae Cædmon’s Hymn tae the enn o the Auld English period, aa bardries is screivit in the samen meter: ither auld Germanic leids uised it forbye. Ilka line maun hae fower dunts, nae mair and nae less; but thare nae rulin on hou mony syllables thare can be wantin the dunt. Rhyme ye dinna finn, but the duntit syllables maun hae alliteration: the rulin wes that o the fower, the thrid ane bude tae alliterate wi the first, the saicont, or baith; the fowert never alliteratit wi ony o the ithers. Here the onset o Andreas:
Hwæt, we gefrunan on fyrndagum twelfe under tunglum tireadige hæleð þeodnes þegnas.
Gin we merk the alliteration and the dunts tae shaw the patren, it isna ill tae feel the rhythm een athout kennin whit the wirds mean:
Hwæt, we gefrunan on fyrn-dagum twelfe under tunglum tir-eadige hæleð þeodnes þegnas.
Efter the Norman Conquies (and we maun haud in myn at houbeit our kintra wes never conqueisit, our keings lairnit muckle frae the Normans, and the upgrowthe o Scotland in the Moyen Ages, in politics, society and cultuir forbye, wes in braw mizzour aucht tae inbringins frae Norman England), French meters, wi rhyme and wi a raiglar count o syllables in ilka line, cam tae be uisit for English and Scots verse; but it was a lang while or the auld fower-dunt alliterative line eiliet awa: the hinmaist makar tae uise it aa throu a single lang poem wes Dunbar, in Tretis of the Tua Mariit Wemen and the Wedo. I hae pitten my owersettin intil the samen meter:
Hark! We hae hard, frae days faur hyne, o weirmen worthie, twal in the warld, the Sauviour’s servans.
I haena ayeweys obsair’t the Auld English rulin o whitna syllable can alliterate wi whitna ither, but I hae made siccar o alliteration somegaits in ilka line, and whiles frae ae line tae the neist.
Anither wittin anent the owersettin. The gremmar o Auld English poetry is unco crottlie. Ilka line is componit o twa phrases, and the phrases follas ither like beads on a string: there nae biggin nor jynin thaim up intil whit we caa complex sentences. I hae whiles reddit up the orderin o the wirds and the phrases tae gar the sentences haud thegither in a mainner mair sib tae whit we are uis’t til the day. And as ony owersetter o poesie maun dae, I hae, whan I bude tae, chyngit the acwal wirds o the auncient makar. The Saxon Keing Alfred, owersettin Bede frae Laitin tae his ain Englisc, wrate at he hed owerseten hwilum word be worde, hwilum andgiet of andgiete—‘whiles wird for wird, whiles meanin for meanin’. And sax hunner year efterhins, Gavin Douglas wrate o his owersettin o Virgil:
Sum tyme I follow the text als neir I may, Sum tyme I am constrenit ane wthir way.
Gin onybody cares tae mak compare atweesh my owersettin and the auld Andreas, thon is whit he wull finn; and he wull please tae haud in myn at I ettl’t tae screive a sang for thaim at loes the mither tung and no a collegianar’s crib.
Owersettins frae a bourach o leids kythes in braw and bonnie feck amang the outpittins o our Scots makars in the twintiet and twinty-first yearhunners. Leids whase letter-huirds hes aye been sib tae ours like French and Italian, leids frae faurer awa in Europe like Polish, Swedish, and Russian; ae leid, the Gaelic, o the whilk faur ower mony Scots kens neist tae naethin or naethin ava; the auncient leids Laitin, Greek, and een Auld Irish: aa thir and mair hae plenissit our modren makars wi a fouth o stuffries tae exerce thair owersetters’ skeils on. Thare no mony, tho, hes reingit in the letter-huird o Auld English. Siccar, it isna a leid at’s weel kent nor aften studiet, it is faur mair kittlesome nor the name “Auld English” wad gar ye expec, and the warld at gied birth tae it is unco fremmit tae our ain days. Houbeit, the steir and steive tuin o maist o its musardries, the dreich and ourlich warld it limns, the vaillie pitten on bauldness, lealtie and tholemudeness in skaith, shid aa (ye wad trou) tice our Scots herts. And when our makars daes ettle at owersettin Anglo-Saxon bardries, the affcome can be braw. Twa o the gretest o our modren makars, Tam Scott and Alex Scott, hae gien til’s skyrie Scots owersettins: the first hes owersetten The Draem o the Ruid, the saicont The Gangrel and Deor, and the baith The Seavaiger or Seaman’s Sang. Robert Garioch forbye tuik the sang caa’d in English The Wanderer (Alex Scott’s The Gangrel) and made it intae The Traivler. Here is boden the langest screid pitten or nou frae Auld English intil the mither tung. The screivar’s howp is at readers wull haud it worthie tae tak a place in the lang and glisterin paraud o Scots owersettins at hes Gavin Douglas merchin at its heid.
Derrick McClure Aiberdeen