›The Last Word of Wisdom‹: Prudence-Ethical and Semantic Implications of ›Ending‹ in Konrad von Würzburg’s ›Der Welt Lohn‹ (Middle High German endehaft)

Abstract

This article focuses on the prudential-ethical and poetological implications of the end, the act of ending, and the associated semantic potential of the lexeme ende. Numerous Middle High German verse novellas do not simply end, but complete an idea, so that their conclusion resembles a resolution or decision. This poetological interest in endings is particularly evident in the works of Konrad von Würzburg. In ›Der Welt Lohn‹, the ›end‹ becomes an attribute of the text, which is described in the epimythion as diz endehafte mære (v. 261). In a figurative sense, it is a narrative that ›concludes‹ and gives advice, which stages a double cognitive process through the central allegorical figure ›Frau Welt‹, among other things.