Drømte mig en drøm i nat
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Drømte mig en drøm i nat is the oldest secular song in the Nordic countries. It is written in Old Danish and is included in Codex Runicus, a transcript of Scanian Law, as a final note written in runes, like the law itself, and an old type of musical notes. The text of the song is
- Drømde mik en drøm i nat
- um silki ok ærlik pæl
The meaning of the words silki and ærlik pæl is obscure. Common interpretations in the literature are variants of "last night I had a dream about silk and a good fur coat" and "last night I had a dream about silk and expensive cloth". However, since the song appears to be written down by the same hand that must have spent days of scribbling the runes of the law on the parchment, it would be more natural if the lyrics of the song had something to do with the content of the document. One would expect something about law and order, rather than a luxury life. Interpretations that fit better with this expectation is "tonight I had a dream about justice and fair play" or "today I had a dream about equality and honest measure".
The word silki might be related to the old word slik - the same as. The word is still used in Norwegian, with a similar meaning. Ærlik pæl could be "honest measure", since päla, and the related forms pæl and pel, are old words for "measure". It comes from pegel in latin. Ærlik is used meaning "honest" ("ärlig" in modern Swedish) on the very first page of the Codex Runicus.
[edit] Musical notes
There are different interpretations also on the musical notes of the song. Tobias Norlind believed it was an early version of Staffansvisan, a song found in many versions about Saint Stephen and used in yearly rites. Norlind however did not attempt to interpret the rhythmical structure of the song. Another version was for several years the tune used to fill out breaks between radio programmes in Danmarks Radio. Here, the first half of the tune has been interpreted as iambs.
Considering how traditional tuned, carried in oral tradition since the middle ages usually are structured, it is also quite possible to interpret the song as a typical dance tune consisting of four plus four bars.
[edit] References
- Drømte mig en drøm i nat (html) Retrieved on 2006-09-27. Photo of the parchment, and a suggested interpretation of the lyrics (English)
- Om DALs logo och Codex Runicus <Cannot find server or DNS Error at 1/18/2007| - Transcription of the last page, and yet another interpretation of the musical notes (Swedish)
