The origins of alliteration in Germanic verse are lost in the general mass of Germanic origins. It is almost universally regarded as a purely native development, although M. Kawczynski (Essai Comparatif sur l'Origine et l'Histoire des Rythmes; Paris, 1889) sets forth the remarkable opinion that the Germans derived their alliteration from the Romans. "We must remember," he says, "the schools of rhetoric existing in Gaul in the sixth and seventh centuries, where alliteration seems to have been held in esteem.... It became more and more frequent in the Latin poetry of the Carlovingian period, and it will suffice to cite here the following verses from Milo of Saint Amand:
'Pastores pecum primi pressique pavore
Conspicuos cives carmen caeleste canentes
Audivere astris arrectis auribus; auctor
Ad terras ...'
It early passed to Ireland, and the Irish made use of it in their Latin poetry and in their national poetry. The example of the Irish was followed by the Anglo-Saxons, although these last had derived the same rules from the Latin writers.... The Anglo-Saxons, who sent the second series of apostles to the Germans, taught them the use of alliteration in poetry. The Scandinavians, on their side, learned it also from the Anglo-Saxons." This theory has found no adherents among scholars, and M. Kawczynski's illustrations are probably most useful in emphasizing the natural pleasure in similarity of sound found among all peoples. See below, on the related question of the origin of end-rime.
ðe leun stant on hille, and he man hunten here,
oðer ðurg his nese smel, smake that he negge,
bi wilc weie so he wile to dele niðer wenden,
alle hise fet steppes after him he filleð,
drageð dust wið his stert ðer he steppeð,
oðer dust oðer deu, ðat he ne cunne is finden,
driveð dun to his den ðar he him bergen wille.
(The Bestiary, from MS. Arundel. In Mätzner's Altenglische Sprachproben, vol. i. p. 57.)
See also the specimen from Böddeker, p. 14, above.
Cristes milde moder, seynte Marie,
mines lives leome, mi leove lefdi,
to þe ich buwe and mine kneon ich beie,
and al min heorte blod to ðe ich offrie.
(On God Ureisun of ure Lefdi. In Morris's Old English Homilies, first series, p. 191. Zupitza's Alt-und Mittelenglisches Übungsbuch, p. 76.)
Kaer Leir hehte þe burh: leof heo wes þan kinge.
þa we an ure leod-quide: Leirchestre cleþiað.
ȝeare a þan holde dawen: heo wes swiðe aðel burh.
& seoððen þer seh toward: swiðe muchel seorwe.
þat heo wes al for-faren: þurh þere leodene væl.
Sixti winter hefde Leir: þis lond al to welden.
þe king hefde þreo dohtren: bi his drihliche quen.
nefde he nenne sune: þer fore he warð sari.
his manscipe to holden: buten þa þreo dohtren.
þa ældeste dohter haihte Gornoille: þa oðer Ragau.
þa þridde Cordoille.
(Layamon: Brut, ll. 2912-2931. Madden ed., vol. i. p. 123. ab. 1200.)