Parzival: A Knightly Epic (vol. 2 of 2)Wolfram, von Eschenbach
General
Parzival: A Knightly Epic (vol. 2 of 2)
Wolfram, von Eschenbach
Perceval (Legendary character) -- Romances
In the first list, that of the princes conquered by Feirefis, names of
Greek origin are of frequent occurrence; thus Papirus of Trogodjenté,
Bartsch identifies as the king of the Troglodytæ; Liddamus of Agrippé
was originally Laodamus of Agrippias; Tinodent, the island of Tenedos;
Milon is, of course, a well-known Greek name, as is Kallicrates, here
Killicrates, Filones of Hiberborticon is the Greek _Philon_; and it
may be taken as a general rule that all the names ending in _on_, in
this list, may be traced more or less directly to a Greek source.
Possizonjus is a version of Poseidonios (having probably passed through
a Latin medium); Atropfagenté is the land of the Androphagi, or
Anthropophagi; Acheinor is the Greek _Archenor_.
In the list of the heroes conquered by Parzival we have, on the
contrary, few classical names; Jeropleis, _i.e._ Hieropolis, seems to
be almost the only example. The majority of the names appear to be of
Romance origin, or at least to have passed through a Romance source.
Thus Mirabel, the name of a place in Southern France, and Serabel,
here the ending _bel_ indicates the French origin; Villegarunz is the
Prov. _Villagrana_; Jovedast of Arles, a Provençal, proclaims his own
nationality.
It is probably no accident that this majority of classical names appear
in the first list, that of Feirefis, since, as noted above, Greeks and
Romans alike were classed by the mediæval writers as heathens, and they
would see nothing incorrect in giving Saracens classical names, in the
same way as they provided them with classical deities.
Page 154, line 608--'_Olympia and Klauditté_.' Here again we find the
names of the three queens beloved by Feirefis of distinctly classical
origin: Klauditté being a French derivation from Claudia. Sekundillé is
the only queen of whom we hear elsewhere, the other two are mentioned
by name only.
Page 155, line 643--'_Heraclius or Hercules_.' Heracles was the
hero of a German poem of the twelfth century, which attributes to
him a knowledge of the properties of precious stones. The Alexander
here referred to is Alexander the Great; not the lover of Surdamur,
mentioned in Books XII. and XIV. (cf. note to XII.)
Page 156, line 664--'_Drianthasmé_.' Apparently a combination of
Triande and Thasmé, cf. Book XIII. p. 74.
Page 158, line 723--'_With turtle-doves, all shining_.' Kondrie does
not seem to have borne the badge of the Grail on her first visit (Book
VI. p. 177); this, her second appearance, seems to bear more of an
official character.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Parzival: A Knightly Epic (vol. 2 of 2) — John Shaqi
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