One Sentence, One Puzzle from Medieval Times

When I wrote the lyrics for my song, “Havn”, I was getting rid of an earworm that had been haunting me for years. Long ago, when I studied Dutch Literature, a course presented by Dr. Rouston Gilfillan at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, he referred to the oldest known recorded writing in Dutch. It is in Medieval Dutch, a short little sentence, which starts with: “Hebban olla vogala nestas?” This means, “Do all birds have nests?” What an odd phrase, inserted into the middle of other mundane Latin writing on a small piece of parchment. And what a nicely alliterative phrase it is too. Ever since then, this has been popping into my head at random moments. So, I ended up writing lyrics for a song with it.

The impact of teachers

I often wonder whether our teachers, tutors and lecturers realize the impact that they have on us. Each one of us is just one face amidst hundreds of unremarkable faces that sit in their classes and go away and are never heard of again. Vice versa, that teacher is a person on whom you are focused, listening to and learning from, for years. If that teacher is an expert on their subject, and inspired, and enthusiastic, their impact is powerful and long-lasting.

I probably looked as if nothing was going into my distracted little mind when I was doing my degree (I just barely scraped through the courses), but, despite appearances, a lot of things sunk in and got stuck: a love of poetry and literature, a fascination with Medieval literature and music, an appreciation of beautiful language, a habit of reading and writing poetry. Thanks to Dr. Gilfillan, “Hebban olla vogala nestas” was the inspiration for this song, and a whole album with lyrics based on ancient texts.

Where does it come from?

The words, “Hebban olla vogala nestas”, were long believed to be the earliest record of written Dutch, though other examples have been found since their discovery. They are in Medieval Dutch from the High Middle Ages, about 1100 AD/CE. The complete question, or phrase, is: “Hebban olla uogala nestas hagunnan hinase hic enda thu uuat unbidan uue nu.” This means: “Have all birds begun nests, except me and you, what are we waiting for?”

​“Hebban Olla Vogala Nestas” coincidentally forms the acronym “havn” – hence the name of the song. “Havn” comes from the Old Norse “hǫfn”, which means a harbour or haven in modern Danish, as well as in Norwegian and Faroese. I thought this name worked, since a nest is also a haven.

​One reason why this brief phrase has taken on such significance over the ages is that it is oddly romantic and philosophical in comparison with the rest of the document into which it was inserted, as though the author was having a personal, introspective thought.

​I expanded the few words into lyrics, using as a repeated Intro; “Hebban olla vogala nestas?” (Do all birds have nests?); and in modern Dutch, the next phrase; “Waarop wachten wij dan nu?” (What are we waiting for now?) I had to use my imagination to build up the story in the lyrics with one that one phrase as a base, but luckily it is a romantic notion, so it wasn’t too hard.

Lyrics

Hebban olla vogala  nestas? (Do all birds have nests?)
Waarop wachten wij dan nu? (What are we waiting for now?)
Do all the birds have nests to rest in? 
Why are we waiting, me and you? 
All the birds have begun nesting; 
we’re still waiting for a sign. 
All the birds are sleeping soundly; 
we are running out of time. 
  
Home is so hard to imagine, 
when it’s been 
so far away. 
Let us make a place to stay. 
  
Hebban olla vogala nestas? 
Does each bird have its own nest? 
Every little bird has built one 
in the way that it knows best. 
Do all the birds have nests to rest in? 
What are we still waiting for? 
There are just the two of us here. 
Step inside and close the door. 
  
For so long there’s been 
only me and you. 
Can we make a home 
just like lovers do? 
We’ll be safe and warm 
in our nest for two. 
  
Hebban olla vogala  nestas? 
Does each bird have its own nest? 
Every little bird has built one 
in the way that it knows best. 
Winter snows and rains are coming 
as the days grow shorter still. 
And the birds are safely bedded, 
in their nests with downy fill. 
  
Hebban olla vogala  nestas? 
Does each bird have its own nest? 
Every little bird has built one 
in the way that it knows best. 
Here we are, with no safe haven, 
but this I can offer you: 
In our nest, my little sparrow, 
there we can be happy too.  

The song on Soundcloud

I luckily found a vocalist, Eden Rayne, who could deal with the foreign-sounding phrases and could pronounce them without an American accent (like so many session singers do). She is English-French, and I think the way she performs the song is quite charming.

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PS I really did get a bit obsessed with the Middle Ages