Keth has been nagging about getting more ON
on the list for some time now:) I'm perfectly willing
to post a sentence and translate it, now and then.
Perhaps even every day.

The last lines of the fourth stanza of Krákumál are like this:

Grenjaði brandr við brynjur.
Ben-sildr klufu skjöldu.

Alliterators: brandr, brynjur, Ben-sildr.
Skothending: sildr-skjöldu (Who knows what this means, raise your hands!)

You should all recognise the "brandr" there and be glad to see it:)

Let's write a couple of declensions:


skjöldr = shield

Strong masculine, variant with "breaking".

nom. skjöldr skildir
acc. skjöld skjöldu
dat. skildi skjöldum
gen. skjaldar skjalda


brynja = (piece of) armour (byrnie)

Weak feminine, perfectly normal.

brynja brynjur
brynju brynjur
brynju brynjum
brynju brynja

"Við" is a preposition that can take either accusative or dative, here it
takes accusative
and means something like "by".

I'm not in the mood to deal with verbs now.

Grenjaði brandr við brynjur.
Ben-sildr klufu skjöldu.

A sword cried by [the] byrnies.
Wound-herrings cleft shields.

Those of you who can tell me what a wound-herring is raise your hands!

Regards,
Haukur

P.S. "Cry" hardly does justice to "grenja"; anyone got a better word?

P.P.S. It'd probably be best if I used the format from the Reader for this;
it seems to get disorganised without it.