Lecturae Tropatorum (Jun 2013)
Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, “[Oi] altas undas que venez suz la mar” (BdT 392.5a)
Abstract
The aim of the present paper is to return to the discussion on the authorship of BdT 392.5 and argue for attributing the poem to Raimbaut de Vaqueiras. I believe that the affinities in theme, situation and expression between “[Oi] altas undas que venez suz la mar” and the song “Belh Monruelh” (BdT 70.11), that I tried to link to Raimbaut in a previous study, should not be overlooked. An important clue is that the wind motif, present in the latter song, also occurs several times in the Occitan troubadour’s production, to the extent that it would seem a tried and tested semiotic marker. Neither should the underlying narrative quality of the text in search of an author be ignored, nor the popular tone that characterizes it, which are both compatible with attitudes expressed by the “fill d’un paubre cavaillier de Proensa”, who frequently makes use of popular song and does not shun the adoption and elevation in a classless manner of features of more ‘humble’ origin. Moreover, of utmost importance is the use in l. 10 of BdT 392.5a of the verb-form “aportai”, an imperative form (confirmed by the rhyme) found in northern Italy (and in particular in the Liguria-Piedmont area, where Raimbaut spent many years) and which is employed, as a clear dialect feature, significantly in l. 27 of the ‘tenso’ between the Occitan troubadour and the Genoese lady (BdT 392.7).
