Ystoria Norwagensium is a Latin-language history of Norway composed in the second half of the twelfth century and surviving in a manuscript copied in Scotland around 1500. A chapter describing the Sámis includes the oldest description of a Sámi drum and its use.
The work has since its early modern editions been known under the non-standard Latin title Historia Norwegie, sometimes normalised to H. Norvegiae or H. Norvegiæ, with other possible variations. The manuscript itself does indeed use w in Norse place-names and personal names, and e for Classical Latin ae. The former is more frequently seen as u, in modern editions often normalised as v. The consistent distinction may indicate an original using ꝩ (‘vend’), the Old Norse derivative of Old English ƿ (‘wynn’). The use of e for ae is not unheard of, although both the ligature æ and the diacritically marked ę is more common. It might be that the surviving copy misread the latter sign in its source. The single occurence of a title for the work is cut short by the loss of a corner of the page, leaving only Ystoria N[...]. Using this and expanding to Norwagensium (of the Norwegians) rather than Norwegie (of Norway) is a more well-founded choice.
| Latin edition by Lars Boje Mortensen (2003) | English translation by Peter Fischer (2003) |
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Sunt namque quidam ex ipsis, qui quasi prophete a stolido uulgo
uenerantur, quoniam per immundum spiritum, quem Quadam uero uice dum christiani causa commercii apud Finnos ad mensam sedissent, illorum hospita subito inclinata expirauit. Vnde christianis multum dolentibus non mortuam, sed a gandis emulorum esse depredatam, sese illam cito adepturos ipsi Finni nichil contristati respondent. Tunc quidam magus extenso panno, sub quo se ad profanas ueneficas incantaciones prepararet, quoddam uasculum ad modum taratantarorum sursum erectis manibus extulit, cetinis atque ceruinis formulis cum loris et ondriolis nauicula eciam cum remis occupatum, quibus uehiculis per alta niuium et deuexa moncium uel profunda stagnorum ille diabolicus gandus uteretur. Cumque diutissime incantando tali apparatu ibi saltasset, humo tandem prostratus totus niger ut ethiops, spumans ora ut puta freneticus, preruptus uentrem uix aliquando cum maximo ⟨fremore⟩ emisit spiritum. Tum alterum in magica arte peritissimum consuluerunt, quid de utrisque actum sit. Qui simili modo, sed non eodem euentu suum implens officium — namque hospita sana surrexit — et defunctum magum tali euentu interisse eis intimauit: Gandum uidelicet eius in cetinam effigiem inmaginatum ostico gando in preacutas sudes transformato, dum per quoddam stagnum uelocissime prosiliret, malo omine obuiasse, quia in stagni eiusdem profundo sudes latitantes exacti uentrem perforabant. Quod et in mago domi mortuo apparuit. |
There are some who are worshipped by the ignorant masses as though they were prophets, since, whenever questioned, they will give many predictions to many folk through the medium of a foul spirit which they call “gand”, and these auguries come true. Furthermore they attract to themselves desirable objects from distant parts in an astounding fashion and miraculously reveal hidden treasures, even though they are situated a vast distance away. Once, when Christians who had come to trade had sat down at table with some Finns, their hostess fell forward all of a sudden and expired. While the Christians felt serious grief at this calamity, the Finns were not in the least saddened, but told them that the woman was not dead, merely pillaged by the gands of her adversaries, and that they could quickly restore her. Then a magician, spreading out a cloth under which he might prepare himself for intoning unholy sorcerers’ spells, raised aloft in his outstretched hands a small vessel similar to a riddle, decorated with tiny figures of whales, harnessed reindeer, skis, and even a miniature boat with oars; using these means of transport the demonic spirit was able to travel across tall snowdrifts, mountain-sides and deep lakes. After chanting incantations for a very long time and leaping about there with this paraphernalia, he finally threw himself on the ground, black all over like a negro and foaming at the mouth as if he were mad; ripped across his stomach, with a mighty roar he eventually relinquished his life. Next they consulted another specialist in the magic arts as to what had happened in each case. This individual went through all his practices in similar fashion, though with a different outcome: the hostess arose in sound health and then he revealed to them that the sorcerer had died in the following way: his gand, having taken on the likeness of a whale, was shooting rapidly through a lake when it had the misfortune to encounter a hostile gand, which had transformed itself into sharply pointed stakes; these stakes, hidden in the depths of the lake, penetrated the repulsed creature's belly, and this was also manifested by the death of the magician in the house. |
The drum is introduced by the term vasculum,
diminutive of vas which has the senses “(1) vessel,
container, dish; (2) vase; (3) utensil, instrument”. Fischer uses the
first and most general of these, rendering the diminutive as a small
vessel
, but a (small) instrument
might be equally natural.
This word is immediately followed by the phrase ad modum
taratantarorum. As ad modum is an adverb meaning
“in the manner [of]”, the straightforward reading would be to interpret
this phrase as describing the manner in which the vasculum was lifted. However, all translators seem to
agree that it makes more sense to interpret it as a comparison, hence
“similar to [a]”. The item in question is thus likened to a taratantarorum. This is a mediaeval Latin term meaning
sieve
, seemingly most commonly used for rather fine sieves used
in brewing. Fischer here uses the term riddle
, which refers to a
coarser type of sieve used for winnowing grains. Such implements have
been in use until recently, and have even been used as drums in folk
music, being similar in both form and construction to the South Sámi
frame drums. The translation is thus very apt, but rests on the
identification of the item as an early Sámi drum rather than
independently providing evidence of its exact form.
Both sides of a riddle sieve, adapted from images by Wikipedia user
Toltecitztli (1, 2).
Exemplars in Norwegian museum collections are often oval like frame
drums; the sieve itself is often a cow’s udder rather than lambskin as
in the one depicted here.
The drum is further described as cetinis atque cervinis
formulis cum loris et ondriolis navicula etiam cum remis occupatum,
that is being occupied
or filled
by a list of formulis, that is shapes, outlines
(or a range of
secondary and generally more abstracted senses that do not seem
applicable here). When Fischer translates decorated with
, this is
presumably guided by how we now know drums to look, although still
consistent with the text.
The list contains several nonstandard words and a grammatical
construction at odds with any pragmatic interpretation, but the gist of
it is clear. It starts cetinis atque cervinis formulis,
where the first word is not otherwise known. It is obviously created as
a parallel derivation to its coordinated term cervinis
meaning of or pertaining to a deer or a stag
from cervus, deer or stag
. The base word would then be
cetus, deriving from Greek κῆτος
sea monster
, in art depicted as a serpentine fish. In Latin this
developed a broader sense; whale, porpoise, dolphin or sea
monster
. Translators of this passage tends to assume the sense
whale
here, but more on this below.
Assuming cetus to mean whale
and cervus to mean reindeer specifically, the phrase would
mean whale and (also) reindeer outlines
. This is followed by cum loris et ondriolis. The last word here is not Latin,
but the Old Norse word ǫndurr meaning ski
latinised and given the appropriate case ending. The phrase means
with reins and skis
, but this does not join up with the preceding
phrase in a pragmatically meaningful way. Because the third and final
phrase both is clearer and contains a possibly relevant parallel, it
helps looking at that first. It reads navicula etiam cum
remis, although with a mediaeval nonstandard spelling of etiam with c for t. Navicula is the diminutive of navis,
ship
and thus means small ship, boat
; cum
remis means with oars
. That the conjunction etiam, and also, even, likewise
separates the noun
and its prepositional supplement is not a problem, and might shed light
on the problematic middle section. The phrase can clearly be translated
and also a boat with oars
.
Pragmatically with reins
in the middle section must refer to
the reindeer, but this is strictly speaking not possible gramatically. A
literal translation would be something like whale and also reindeer
outlines with reins and skis
, that is both reins
and
skis
apply to the word outlines
, or — with a separation
similar to etiam described above — to both
whales
and reindeer
. Separating out and skis
is
grammatically possible, despite leaving this term coordinated with
outlines
rather than the other outlined things. As the same would
be the case for boat
, it makes sense to take it as implied that
these two things are likewise depicted and not literally present.
Attributing with reins
to the reindeer alone remains
grammatically problematic, but necessary for the whole to make sense.
The immediately following text refers back to this list with quibus vehiculis, or these means of transport
,
confirming that this is how the list is to be interpreted, although the
whale sticks out in this sense, which I will get back to below.
Fischer translates navicula as miniature
boat
, something that I feel puts far too much weight on the use of a
diminutive form; even small boat
would be redundant, as the
direct translation would be small ship
or simply boat
.
Similarly he translates formulis as tiny figures
with no apparent basis for the word tiny
. I would therefore
suggest the following as a more precise translation: an
instrument similar to a riddle sieve, covered with outlines of
whales(?), [rein]deer with reins and skis, even a boat with
oars.
The only one of the modes of transportation
mentioned again in
the text is the one we provisionally have translated as whale
.
When this is described as shooting rapidly through a lake
one
might suspect that something is amiss. The term cetus
covers both large fish such as sharks and tuna and sea monsters as well
as whales and other marine mammals. As none of these naturally frequent
lakes
, we have to take a closer look at the term translated this
way, namely stagnum. The main sense of this is a
body of standing water; pond, swamp, fen
; poetically any pool, lake
or other body of water such as a lagoon. The ones most close at hand
mesh even worse with the creature being a whale than a lake does.
As all the other modes of transportation
mentioned frequently
appear in surviving drums or early modern descriptions of Sámi drums, it
is tempting to look to these for possible parallels despite the
centuries of separation. Here the sign most clearly associated with
travels in the spirit realm is described as a supernatural fish or
snake, saivo guelle (Hans Skanke, 1731). Given the many other
close correspondences with early accounts described below, I find the
most compelling explanation that a term frequently used for sea
monster
was applied to such a supernatural fish. In that case, stagnum would perhaps better be translated as fen
as well, something that would account for the sharpened stakes not being
seen by the first noaidi.
