PART
7 –
Ch.XLI.12
The
great Pelasgian empire
(The
Pelasgian language)
XLI.
12. Barbarian incantations.
Cato the Old, born at
Version 1: Huat, hauat, huat, ista pista sista,
dannabo Damnaustra.
Version 2: Huat, haut, haut, ista sistar sis ardannabon Dunnaustra (Dannaustra)
The Romans
attributed generally a particular magical power to the incantation of barbarian
origin, “externa verba et effabilia”, or spoken in a corrupt Latin language, “
But the Roman
literati have tried to introduce Latin forms also in the barbarian incantations,
without understanding the real meaning of the words.
So, the words ista
sista from the incantation of Cato have nothing to do with the feminine pronoun
“ista”, and neither with the verb “sistere”.
The first two
verses of this incantation “Huat, hauat, huat, ista sista” are only simple
fragments from a folk love incantation, in which is invoked the help of the
stars. In Romanian form:
Uhu, uhu, stea, stea! (TN – uhu,uhu, star, star!)
Tote stelele se stea! (TN – all the stars to
stay!)
(Tocilescu, Mater.
Folk. p. 685)
In regard to the
second part of the text of this incantation: dannabo, or sis ardannabon
Damnaustra, the words have been wrongly separated and written. A more
correct form would be: si s’ar da bonna
Damn(a) naustra, in Romanian si de ar
da buna Domna nostra (TN – and if good our Lady would give).
A second
incantation found with Cato is (R.
R. c. 160; Heim, Incant. Mag. p.
533):
Version 1: Motas vaeta, daries dardaries astataries dissunapiter.
Version 2: Moetas Vaeta, daries dardaries asiadarides una petes.
The correct
separation of these words should be: Mo
tas vaeta. Daries dar daries
“Daries” is a barbarian form, the 2nd
singular person of the optative present, Romanian dare-asi, -ai, - ar, - am, - ati, - ar (TN – a da = to give).
We have the same
optative, but with the auxiliary verb placed in front, also in the first
incantation: “si s’ar da bon(na)
Dunnaustra”.
The French
chronicler Aimoin tells that in the time of Justinian, a barbarian king being
taken prisoner, the emperor offered him a seat near him and invited him to give
back the occupied provinces. Non’ dabo
(= nu dau / TN – I do not give), said he, and the emperor replied: Daras, a barbarian form of the verb “dare” (Cantu, Hist. univ. VII. 461), Macedorom. “se daresi”,
The last words: “Diss una piter” are a vocative from the
nominative “Deus unus pater”. As it is known, Jupiter was also known as Dis
and Diespiter.
We find the same
words in Romanian incantations and folk verses under the forms:
“Nu te vaieta” (Marian, Descantece, p. 102); “Taci, nu
te vaieta” (Tiplea, Poesii pop. p,
101); “Dare-ar Dumnedeu”; “Dare-ar Domnul Dumnedeu”; “De ar da Dumnedeu, de ar
da” (Tocilescu, Mater. Folk. 319.
324. 1009; Hasdeu, Cuv. II. 4).
The whole meaning
of this barbarian incantation would be therefore the following:
Ne (non te) vagita. Uti des, utinam des, ast utinam des
(salutem),
Dis
une pater!
Romanian: Nu
te vaieta. Dare-ai, de ai da, asa de ai da sanatate,
Domne, unule
parinte!
(TN – Do not
lament. May you give, if you gave, so that if you gave health, God, one
parent!).
The repetition of
the verses, or of the words, for three and five times was, according to the
ancient beliefs of the Romans, an essential condition for the prayer or
incantation to have the required effect, “to stick”.
In the song of the
Brothers Arvali, the first five verses are repeated three times, the last word
five times. Pliny writes: “Caesar”,
as it is told, being once overturned with his carriage and in order not to have
any other future travel accident, repeated three times a certain formula
(carmine ter repetito) each time he climbed into the carriage, which as we
know, many others do in our own days” (H. N. XXVIII. 4. 6).
Various
incantations of barbarian origin have been preserved in the medicine treatise
of Marcellus Empiricus (4th
century ad), who had lived at the court of emperor Throdosius I.
One of these
incantations is the following (De medicam. XV. 105, 106; Heim, Incantamenta magica, p. 532): if something got stuck in
somebody’s throat, rub the neck and say:
“Xi exucrione xu criglionalsus
scrisu miovelor exugri conexu grilau”.
The words are
barbarian, but extremely corrupt and must be separated thus:
(E)xi e xucrio nexu criglio nalsus, scrisu miove….lor e
xugrico nexu grilau ( = criglio).
Under this form,
the incantation of Marcellus corresponds to the following verses of Romanian
incantations:
“Esi….din creierii capului, din sgarciu nasului,
din meduva oselor” (TN – come out from the brains of the head, from the
cartilage of the nose, from the marrow of the bones. Tocilescu, Mater. Folk. 616. 620. 638. 655. 582; Teodorescu, Poesii pop. 367).
Here criglio and grilau have the same meaning with the Romanian “creieri” (TN –
brains); xucrio, scrisu and xugrico = sgarciu (TN – cartilage); nalsus = nasului (TN – of
the nose), and miove…lor = “meduva
oselor” (TN – marrow of the bones).
In other ancient incantations
which have been preserved in a codex of the monastery at St. Gal (9th
century), the popular words “meduva oselor” are translated in Latin with “move
de ossa” and “a medullis ad ossa” (Heim, Incant. Mag. p. 564. 558).
It must be noted
that the barbarian language of this incantation is characterized by the
post-posed article lor (miovelor =
meduva /ose/ lor, and a dislocated l in
nalsus = nasului.