pgvogdiu

DIU MINNE LÂT SICH NENNEN DÂ ...	LOVE LETS ITS NAME BE SAID ...
Walter von der Vogelweide	trans. Tim Chilcott
diu minne lât sich nennen dâ dar sî doch niemer komen wil si ist den tôren in dem munde zam und in dem herzen wilde nû hüetet ir iuch reinen wîp vor kinden bergent iuwer jâ sône wirt ez niht ein kindes spil minne und kintkeit sint ein ander gram vil dicke in schoenem bilde siht man leider valschen lîp ir sult ê spehen war umbe wie wenne unde wâ rehte .............................................................unde weme ir iuwer minneklîchez jâ sô teilet mite daz ez gezeme sich minne sich swer alsô spehe der sî dîn kint sô man sô wîp die andern dû vertrîp.	Love lets its name be said where it itself would never come: as from the mouths of fools whose hearts know no control. So noble women, take great care. Hide your ‘yes’ from those who’re boys, so it is no children’s game. Sworn enemies are love and childishness. How often in a handsome face one wrongly sees the person there. You first must study why and how, when and where, and ...........................................................specially on whom you give your loving ‘yes’, so it is fitting there, in harmony. See, Love, see who studies so. Choose that one as your child - that man, that woman. Drive out all the rest.

This warning against precipitous love, especially between those of different ages or social background, may have been occasioned
by the marriage between Heinrich VII and Margaretha von Battenberg of Austria in 1225. He was only thirteen; she was in her twenties.
Their marriage was not happy. Walther’s lines were probably composed during that year, or shortly thereafter.