Огамическое письмо в лэ Марии Французской «Жимолость»

Abstract

The article considers a fragment of “Chevrefoil”, a lais by Marie de France, which describes how the meeting between Tristan and Isolde was prepared. For more than a century this fragment has remained a topic of lively debate due to its unclear meaning. According to Marie de France, Tristan broke a twig off a hazel tree, cut it with a knife and carved his name into it. This is followed by a long story of Tristan’s disasters, a comparison of the enamored couple with the hazel tree and honeysuckle, and the knight’s appeal to his lady. Marie makes this information come to Isolde as a message on a hazel wand found by the lady. This seems most implausible and raises a number of issues. How is it possible that Tristan could cut sixteen lines onto a stick, or that Isolde was able to read them on horseback, and finally, why was Tristan not afraid to leave such a frank message on the road? We propose an interpretation of this fragment using a kind of abbreviations theory, which not only sheds light on the abovementioned lines by Marie de France, but also explains a number of references to mysterious runes and ogams in Old English lyrics and Old Irish epic literature.