Mittelhochdeutsch lîp und seine Teile
摘要
lîp can be used in a pronominal function and in the literal sense in Minnesang. While metonymic translations have been proposed and the personal-referential reading has been favoured until very recently, it will be shown here, using concise text passages, that much more physical materiality is inscribed in the use of lîp than previously assumed. The explanations are supported by the inclusion of fragmentary mentions of individual body parts, which are used for particular purposes in love poetry, but which, when viewed together, show the role of the alluring female body itself in the ›high song‹.