Footnotes: Das Evangelienbuch
1The entire
passage is Otfried’s variation on the theme that poets ensure immortality
for their subjects.
2It
should be remembered that such verse was strange to the Germans of this
time.
3He
is alluding here to gospel harmonies such as those of the 4th century Spanish
presbyter and Latin poet, Juvencus.
4These
lines emphasize Otfried’s idea of the dual function of poetry, that is,
melodiousness and orthodoxy.
5The
seventh being eternity; the six others are «infantia» (0-6),
«pueritia» (7-13), «adolescentia» (14-27), «iuventus»
(28-49), «gravitas» (50-69), and «senectus» (70-
)
6that
is, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
7Otfried’s
praise of the Franks follows the formal rules of rhetoric for the praise
of a people or city.
8In
an effort to reduce the cultural gap and to provide historical legitimation
to the Franks Otfried attempts to trace their lineage back to the ancients.