116v

[geoffreycaveney]

1) What does 'gas mich' mean

"gas" is Mittelhochdeutsch for "quickly, promptly", "mich" is simply mich, so the whole stuff then expands as "so take me quickly", and if "o" is additionally counted as auch, then it becomes "so take me quickly as well"

2) aror sheey is an obvious quotation, whatever it means, followed by palden probiren/try it out soon and the beginning of a recipe, So nim/Now take

Yes, that makes sense in my opinion, only I consider it not a recipe (too short for a recipe), but rather an "instruction" of how to use the stuff enciphered with "aror sheey" in combination with the spell. If "palden" can be read as modern sobald, then the whole line would be as follows:

Having taken (or, literally, tried (probieren)) the aror sheey, then quickly cast (or use or, literally, take (nimm)) the spell (mich)

The whole speech is in this interpretation as if on behalf of the instrument itself - like those labels "take me" in Alice in Wonderland.

In German this, to the best of my knowledge, and with the help of Google translator, would be thus:

Sobald [sie] aror sheey probiert [haben], so nimm mich schnell

One problem that I see with this, is that I'm not sure if probiren (pbren) is correct from the grammar viewpoint, the grammar suggests probirt (pbrt).

As I proposed in another thread, I have read and interpreted [aror sheey] as Middle English "irour geth", meaning "[having] suffered/earned/begotten anger/wrath". This interpretation could fit smoothly into the rest of your reading and interpretation of this statement as follows:

Sobald [sie] irour geth [haben], probieren so nimm mich schnell

Meaning: "As soon as [you have] suffered anger, try then cast/take me (i.e., the spell) quickly"

I observe that calming and controlling one's anger and wrath was a prominent theme both in ancient and medieval times -- indeed "anger/wrath" (mēnin) is the first word of the Iliad -- and it appears that spells did indeed exist for the purpose of calming and controlling one's anger.

This reading and interpretation would resolve the issue with probiren/probirt that you raise: Now it is [sheey] = Middle English "geth" that is the past participle, rather than "probiren".

The German grammar now seems to be more or less acceptable if not perfectly idiomatic...which might reflect a non-native German speaker's attempt to write this statement in the language.

Geoffrey