Boecis Explained

The Boecis (original name: Lo poema de Boecis, in Occitan (post 1500); lu puˈɛmɒ ðe βuˈesis/, pronounced as /ca/;^[1] "The poem of Boethius") is an anonymous fragment written around the year 1000 CE in the Limousin dialect of Old Occitan, currently spoken only in southern France. Of the hundreds or possibly thousands of original lines, only 257 are now known.^[2]

This poem was inspired by the work De consolatione philosophiae of the Latin poet, philosopher and politician Boethius (~480-524).

Fragments

Laisses 23 to 28:

XXIII

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Cum jaz Boecis e pena, charceraz,

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Plan se sos dols e sos menuz pecaz,

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|D'una donzella fo laïnz visitaz:

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Filla·s al rei qui a granz poestaz.

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Ella·ta bella, reluzent lo palaz.

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Lo mas o intra, inz es granz claritaz;

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Ja no es obs fox i sia alumnaz:

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Veder pot l'om per quaranta ciptaz.

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Qual ora·s vol, petitas fai asaz;

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Cum ella s'auça, cel a del cap polsat;

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Quant be se dreça lo cel a pertusat,

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|E ve laïnz tota la majestat.XXIV

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Bella·s la donna e·l vis a ta preclar,

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Davan so vis nulz om no·s pot celar;

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Ne eps li omne qui sun ultra la mar

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|No potden tant e lor cors cobetar

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Qu'ella de tot no vea lor pessar.

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Qui·e leis se fia, morz no l'es a doptar.XXV

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Bella·s la donna, mas molt es de longs dis,

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|No·s pot rascundre nulz om denant so vis.

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Hanc no vist omne, ta grant onor aguís,

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Si·l forfez tan dont ella·s rangurís,

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Sos corps ni s'arma miga per ren guarís;

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Quoras que·s vol s'en a lo corps aucís

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|E pois met l'arma en effern e somsís:

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Tal li comanda qui totz dias la bris.

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Ella metesma ten claus de paradís,

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Quoras que·s vol, laïnz col sos amigs.

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Bels sun si drap, no sai nommar lo fil,

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Mas molt per foren de bon e de sobtil.

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Ella se·ls fez, avia anz plus de mil.

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Ta no son vel, miga lor prez avil.XXVII

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Ella medesma teiset so vestiment

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Que negus om no pot desfar neient.

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Pur l'una fremna qui vers la terra pent

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Non comprarias ab mil liuras d'argent.

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Ella ab Boeci parlet ta dolzament:

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|«Molt me derramen donzellet de jovent,

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Que zo esperen que faza a lor talen.

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Primas me amen, pois me van aïssent;

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|La mi'amor ta mal van deperden».XXVIII

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Bel sun li drap que la domn'a vestit;

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|De caritat e de fe sun bastit.

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|I sun ta bel, ta blanc e ta quandid,

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Tant a Boecis lo vis esvanuit

Provençal, Old (to 1500);Occitan, Old (to 1500);: italic=no|Que el zo pensa: uel sien amosit.

Further reading

• Cropp, Glynnis M. "The Occitan Boecis, the Medieval French Tradition of the Consolatio Philosophiae and Philosophy's Gown." In Études de langue et de littérature médiévales offertes à Peter T. Ricketts, ed. D. Billy and A. Buckley. Turnhout, 2005. pp. 255–66.
• Francois-Juste-Marie Raynouard: Fragment d'un poeme en vers romans sur Boece: imprimé en entier pour la première fois d'après le manuscrit du XIe siècle qui se trouvait à l'abbaye de Fleury ou Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire; publié avec des notes et une traduction interlinéaire par Raynouard
• Franz Huendgen (Hrsg): Das altprovenzalische Boëthiuslied: unter Beifügung einer Uebersetzung, eines Glossars, erklärender Anmerkungen sowie grammatischer und metrischer Untersuchungen, Oppeln: Eugen Franck's Buchhandlung (Georg Maske), 1884
• Vladimir Rabotine: Le "Boece" provençal : étude linguistique, Straßburg : Librairie Univ. d'Alsace, 1930, Zugleich: Strasbourg, Univ., Diss., 1930
• Lavaud, René and Georges Machicot (eds.). Boecis, Poème sur Boèce (fragment). Toulouse, 1950.
• Schwarze, Christoph (ed.). Der altprovenzalische Boeci. Forschungen zur romanischen Philologie 12. Münster, Univ., Diss. 1963.

External links

• Full text in Old Occitan
• Université de la Sorbonne
• CRDP Montpelhièr

Notes and References

1. Modern standard Catalan spelling: El poema de Boeci. The Catalan language diverged from Old Occitan between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. (See Martí de Riquer, Història de la Literatura Catalana, vol. 1. Barcelona: Edicions Ariel, 1964).
2. François Juste Marie Raynouard, Choix des poésies originales des troubadours, Tome II, 1817, p. cxxvij: "Il paraît que ce poëme était d'une longueur considérable; avant de décrire le manuscrit unique qui en a conservé un fragment de deux cent cinquante-sept vers [...]" (It seems that this poem was of considerable length; before I describe the unique manuscript that kept only a fragment 257 lines[...])