hellog〜英語史ブログ / 2017-05-03

■ #2928. 古英語で「創世記」11:1--9 （「バベルの塔」）を読む [oe_text][bible][tower_of_babel][origin_of_language][hel_education][popular_passage]

　東京都美術館でブリューゲル「バベルの塔」展が開かれている．24年ぶりの来日だそうで，たいへん盛り上がっている．
　「バベルの塔」 (The Tower of Babel) の話は「創世記」11:1--9 に記されている．この世に様々な言語が存在することを「聖書なりに」説明づけた箇所とされ，言語起源論においてもしばしば引き合いに出される，極めて著名なくだりである．
　今回は，「バベルの塔」の古英語の文章を，寺澤盾先生の『聖書でたどる英語の歴史』第8章から，Old English Heptateuch 版によって示そう．

Wæs þā ān gereord on eorþan, and heora ealre ān sprǣc. Hī fērdon fram ēastdēle oð þæt hī cōmon tō ānum felde on þām lande Sennar, and þēr wunedon. Ðā cwǣdon hī him betwȳnan, “Vton wyrcean ūs tigelan and ǣlan hī on fȳre.” Witodlīce hī hæfdon tigelan for stān and tyrwan for weall-līm. And cwǣdon, “Cumað and utan wircan ūs āne burh and ǣnne stȳpel swā hēahne ðæt his rōf ātille þā heofonan, and uton mǣrsian ūrne namon, ǣr þan wē bēon tōdǣlede tō eallum landum.” God þā nyþer āstāh, þæt hē gesēga þā burh and þone stȳpel þe Adames sunus getimbroden. God cwæð þā, “Efne þis his ān folc and gereord him ealum, and hī ongunnon þis tō wircenne; ne hī ne geswīcað heora geþōhta, ǣr þan þe hī mid weorce hī gefyllan. Cumað nū eornostlīce and uton niþer āstīgan and heora gereord þēr tōwendon, þæt heora nān ne tōcnāwe his nēxtan stemne.” And God þā hī tōdǣlde swā of þǣre stōwe tō eallum landum, and hī geswicon tō wyrcenne þā buruh. And for þī wæs sēo burh gehāten Babel, for þan þe ðǣr wæs tōdǣled þæt gereord ealre eorþan. God þā hī sende þanon ofer brādnesse ealra eorðan.

　・ 寺澤 盾　『聖書でたどる英語の歴史』　大修館書店，2013年．

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