Adam of Bremen:
Book 4, ch 32, of Adam of Bremen's 'Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae
pontificum'
(from ca. 1074/75 AD):
| [Latin original:]
"Omnes vero sunt christianissimi, qui in Norvegia degunt, exceptis illis, qui trans arctoam plagam circa occeanum remoti sunt. Eos adhuc ferunt magicis artibus sive incantationibus in tantum prevalere, ut se scire fateantur, quid a singulis in toto orbe geratur; tunc etiam potenti murmure verborum grandia cete maris in littora trahunt, et alia multa, quae de maleficis in Scriptura legentur, omnia [265/266] illis ex usu facilia sunt. In asperrimis, quae ibi sunt, ...". (Adam of Bremen 1977: 265f). |
[English translation:]
All People in Norway are Christians, except those who live in coasts of the Ocean further North from the Polar Circle. It is told that they have the wisdom to know what each one is doing in whatever part of the world; in addition, they persuade (or call) by murmuring (charms) with powerful words huge whales to come to strands, and also they know many things by experience, which are only told in the Bible about wizards. There are the most horrible..." |
Explanations by Dr. Vesa Oittinen
In the beginning of Latin quotation: "qui in Norvegia degunt" is interesting, because the Latin verb "dego" means "to be temporarily (casually) in some place"; and it seems that it is not connected with people who lives permanently in some location. If people should live permanently, the proper Latin verb were "incolare", which means cultivate in a sense of farming (actually the concept culture is related with the word 'incolare').
Explanations by Dr. Ole Lindquist
The verb 'murmoro' means in German: 'murmeln', 'brummen', which is as close as it can be to deep-throat 'singing' !!
Translators: Latin -> Finnish (Vesa Oittinen) Finnish -> English (Ilmari Lauhakangas)
A working group: Rauno Lauhakangas, Dr. Ole Lindquist, Dr. Vesa Oittinen, Ilmari Lauhakangas
Henrichsen, C.L. (transl/ed). 1968.
Adam af Bremen. De hamburgske ærkebiskopers historie og Nordens beskrivelse. [Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum]. Selskabet til historiske kildeskrifters oversættelse. Rosenkilde og Bagger. Copenhagen.
Schmeidler, B. (ed). 1977 (1917).
Magistri Adam Bremensis gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum. Scriptores rerum Germanicarum in usum scholarum ex monumentis Germaniae historicis separatim editi. Editio tertia. Impensis Bibliopolii Hahniani. Hannoverae et Lipsiae. / Adam von Bremen, Hamburgische Kirchengeschichte. 3rd ed. Hahnsche Buchhandlung. Hannover; Leipzig. Facsimile ed. Hannover.