The Style of Adenet Le Roi STUDIED IN “Berte” and “Cleomades” BY GEORGE DIUGUID DAVIDSON A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Academical Faculty OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA In Conformity with the Requirements for the Degree 0F DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 1905 WWMSE nus 1 m DEDICATED TO M Y M O T H E R to whose loving aid and sympathy I owe ALL THINGS. CONTENTS. I. MATTER. 1. DIVISIONS OF TIME. I’AGE (a) Season of year .............................................. 9 (b) Day of month and week .................................... 9 (c) Time of day ................................................ 10 2. DIVISIoNs or PLACE ............................................... 10 3. N Arm's 0F INDIVIDUALS. (a) The Deity ............................................... 14 (b) The Virgin and the saints .................................. 16 (c) Persons .................................................... 16 4. KINSMEN ........................................................ 26 5. PARTS OF THE BODY ............................................... 29 6. FAUNA. (a) Beasts ..................................................... 32 (b) Birds ..................................................... 34 (c) Fishes and reptiles .......................................... 34 7. FLORA. ' (:1) Trees ............................................... , ....... 34 (b) Shrubs and herbs ......................................... 35 (0) Grain, roots and berries .................................... 36 ((1) Flowers ........ ....................................... 36 8. MINERALS. (a) Metals ............................................ r ..... 37 (b) Stones and earths ........................................... 37 (e) Gems ................................................... 37 9 IMPLEMENTS‘ AND UTENSILS. (a) Arms and armor ........................................... 38 (b) Clothing and ornaments .................................... 39 (c) Tools and instruments ...................................... 40 ((1) Furniture and fittings .................................... 4i (e) Table equipment .......................................... 42 (f) Coins ..................................................... 42 10. FOOD AND DRINK ................................................ 42 11. EDIFICES. (a) Buildings and houses ..................................... 43 (b) Component parts ......................................... 43 12. ARTS AND SCIENCES. (a) Theology .................................................. 44 (b) History... ........................................... 45 (c) Astronomy ............................................ 46 ((1) Medicine .............................................. 46 (e) Music ..................................................... 47 (f) Heraldry .................................................. 47 (g) Magic .................................................... 48 13. OCCUPATIONS .................................................... 49 14.COLORS ................... ................... 5O 6 II. MANNER. 1 RHETORICAL FIGURES. (a) Allegory ................................................. 51 (b) Anaeoluthon .............................................. 51 (e) Antithesis.... .......................................... 51 (d) Apostrophe ............................................... 53 (e) Chiasmus ................................................. 53 (f) Comparison ................................................ 53 ( g) Epithet ................................................... 56 (II) Euphemism ............................................... 59 (i) Hyperbole .................. .............................. 59 (j) Metaphor ................................................. 59 (k) Paradox ................................................ 59 (I) Personification........ .............. 59 (m) Proverb ................................................ Go (n) Pun ...................................................... 61 (0) Set phrase ................................................. 61 (p) Simile .................................................. 61 (q) Syneehdoehe ............................................. 62 2. RIIE’PORICAL VICES. (a) Banality ................................................ 63 (b) Repetition ............................................... 63 (e) Tautology ................................................. 63 3. MANNERISMS. (:1) Appeal to Authority ....................................... 64 (b) Break in Narrative ............................................ 64 (e) Brevity (alleged) .......................................... 64 ((1) Episodes ................................................ 65 (e) Haste (alleged of characters in story) ........................ 65 (f) Humor .................................................... 65 (g) Irony. .................................................. 66 (h) Prediction of future course of story .......................... 66 (i) Protestation of truth ....................................... 66 4. VIIR'IIAL PHI‘INOMENA. (a) Benedictions and Iualedietions ............................... (b) Oaths ..................................................... (c) lnterjections..... ....................... ((1) Words of abuse ..... (cl Numerals ........... (f) Diminutives ............................................... (g) Negations ................................................. (h) Affirmative and Negative Particles ........................... (i) Miscellaneous ............................................. 5. LOCAL COLOR ................................ _ ......... ...... 6. PERSONAL ELEMENT. (a) Asides of Author ........................................... (b) Literary Workmanship ................................... (c) Praise of Minstrels ......................................... (d) Aristocrntie Pride ........ .................................. (e) Noteworthy Lines. .. .. .L .......................... INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT. In this study I assume at the outset that the tangible phenomena of style may be divided into two classes—first, those phenomena which are represented by the material treated; second, those phenomena arising from the manner of treating given material. These two divisions do not include much that goes to make up literary individuality; nor is my crude handling of these two divisions such as the dignity of my subject would lead one to expect. I have ' merely been honest in the collection of material; and, in its arrange- ment, thoughtful of the future investigator. I have found little to help me in my work—no previous e‘ssay deal- ing exclusively with my subject—which might have guided me” In Old French, no little material has been collected for the study of forms and form-meanings. The syntax of Old French has also received the careful investigation it deserves; but there has been no combined etfort on the part of investigators to collect and classify the phenomena of Old French style. Still, phenomena exist in Old French style. Indeed, it might safely be asserted that there is a greater difference between the general style of Old French and that of Modern French than there is between the forms and syntax Of these two periods. Many of the phenomena of Old French style are naturally due to corresponding syntactical phenomena peculiar to the epoch; as, for in- stance, the constant repetition of proper names, due to the forced omission of the pronoun. Syntax, however, does not account for an author’s choice of material. If Adenet elects to devote two hundred and seventy-five lines to the exploits of a flying horse, and is himself to no small extent influenced by the peculiar requirements of such a subject, we then have to do with a force more powerful than that of syntactical law—with the very spirit, indeed, of his epoch. And in collecting such material, I am hoping that by means of it we may arrive more surely at an understanding of the epoch in question. I have tried to collect the names of all the elements of Adenct‘s life: his house and the parts thereof; his implements and utensils; the trees and flowers with which he was acquainted; the beasts, birds and fishes; in fine, everything, Whether or not coinciding with modern life. I have been mathematical, giving the number of times a certain word or phenomenon occurs. Many of the facts here presented may seem, at first sight, useless. For example, every proper name has been cited, with the line in which it is to be found. Thus, the name “Cleomadesg” with the seven hun- 8 dred and forty-eight lines in which it occurs, has been presented. But although these names appear in the highest degree otiose, they could not be omitted in any study which tries to represent accurately the material on which Adenet worked. At least two causes contributed to the use of the noun itself instead of the pronoun—first the forced omission of the pronoun, mentioned above, and second a feeling that greater Vividness was attained by the use of the noun. The four hundred and two lines in which the name of God is found have been cited, with the allusions to the Virgin and the saints. Five hundred and Sixty-seven allusions to heavenly beings in the three thousand four hundred and eighty-two lines of “Berte,” and the eighteen thousand six hundred and eighty’eight lines of “Cleomades.” In the same way have been enumerated mathematically the lines in which mention is made of degrees of relationship. It seems sig- nificant that none but the closest relationships are mentioned. A glance at the elements of the “fauna” will Show that there are but two classes Of animals named. First, the familiar ones Of