Heill Haukur,

OK, I'll have a go.

haukurth@... wrote:

> EXERCISES
>
> 1. Translate the following.
>
> Hér eru tveir menn. Þeir heita Óláfr ok Eiríkr.
> Er Óláfr helgr maðr ok góðr mjök en Eiríkr er bæði
> vándr ok illr. Er Eiríkr sér Óláf vill hann hann vega.
> Eiríkr hefir tíu menn en Óláfr fjóra. Óláfr vegr tvá
> manna Eiríks. Menn Eiríks vega einn manna Óláfs. Nú vilja
> sumir flýja því at þeir eru ragir. Tveir manna Eiríks
> flýja. Þá hefir Eiríkr sex menn en Óláfr þrjá.
>

Here are two men. They are called Óláfr and Eiríkr. Óláfr is a holy man and
very good, but Eiríkr is both bad and wicked. When Eiríkr sees Óláfr he will
kill him. Eiríkr has ten men and Óláfr four. Óláfr kills two men of Eirík´s.
Eirík´s men kill one of Óláf´s men. Now some will flee because they are
cowardly. Two of Eirík´s men flee. Then Eiríkr has six men and Óláfr three.

>
> 2. Make up the end of the story in Old Norse.
>

Menn Eiríks brenna þrjá manna Óláfs í húsit þeira. Óláfr ferr til Alþingis.
Eiríkr er sannr at sökinni. Eiríkr geldr Óláfi tvau naut ok fjóra sauða.
Síðan gerði Óláfr blótveizlu mikil, svá at má hann sætta við Eirík.

>
> REAL TEXT
>
> The following is from the Icelandic book of homilies; one of the
> oldest extant Icelandic texts.
>
> - - -
> Tvá sonu átti inn fyrsti maðr Adam, ok var annarr
> þeira góðr en annarr vándr. Abel var góðr, en Kain vándr.
>

The first man Adam had two sons, and one of them was good and the other bad.
Abel was good, and Kain bad.

>
> Þrír váru synir Nóa í örkinni með honum. Váru tveir góðir,
> en einn var vándr. Sem ok Jafet vóru góðir, en Kam var illr.
>

There were three sons of Noah in the ark with him. Two were good, and one was
bad. Shem and Japhet were good, and Ham was wicked.

>
> Tvá sonu átti Abraham, ok var annarr góðr, en annarr illr.
> Ísak var góðr, en Ismael illr.
>

Abraham had two sons, and one was good, and the other wicked. Isaac was good,
and Ismael wicked.

>
> Átti Ísak ok tvá sonu. Var annarr góðr, en annarr vándr.
> Er Jakob góðr ok inn helgasti maðr, en Esau vándr.

Isaac also had two sons. One was good, and the other bad. Jacob was good and
the holiest man, and Esau bad.

--
Daniel Bray
dbray@...
School of Studies in Religion A20
University of Sydney NSW 2006 Australia

"Human history becomes more and more a race between education and
catastrophe." H. G. Wells (1866 - 1946)