Hi Erich!

I´m afraid I can´t remember if someone has already answered your questions -
if so, please ignore me! For what it´s worth, I translate "þat var"
literally - "it was (in the days of...) which sounds ok to me.

As for "honum varð þar eptir", you´re right - varð is from verða, to happen
or become. So literally we get "to him happened there after a nanny-goat
and a billy-goat". To unravel this a bit further, þar + eptir = behind.
Change the word order to fit the English and you get
"to him happened a nanny-goat and a billy-goat behind" But verða also
carries an impersonal sense... "(it) happened to him (that) a nanny-goat and
a billy-goat (were) behind" ... which we would probably say as ´were left
behind´.

Well, that´s how I reasoned it out for myself!!
Hope this helps.
Cheers,

Sarah.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Erich Rickheit KSC" <rickheit-ync@...>
To: <norse_course@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, August 18, 2003 4:42 PM
Subject: [norse_course] Hrafnkels Chapter 1


> Jamie and I have been getting dull and decided we wantend to start
> a translation project while we still had some momentum. Here's our
> first passs at chapter one of Hrafnkels saga freysgoða. We're
> intersted in all corrections and comments. Some of our notes and
> questions at the bottom:
>
>
> CHAPTER 1
>
> Þat var á dögum Haralds konungs ins hárfagra,
> This was in the days of King Harald the Fairhaired,
>
> Hálfdanar sonar ins svarta,
> son of Halfdane the black,
>
> Guðrøðar sonar veiðikonungs,
> son of Guðrod, the hunting-king,
>
> Hálfdanar sonar ins milda ok ins matarilla,
> son of Halfdane the merciful and the food-stingy,
>
> Eysteins sonar freys,
> son of Eystein of Freyr
>
> Oláfs sonar trételgju Svíakonungs,
> son of Olaf treecutter, king of the Swedes,
>
> at sá maðr kom skipi sínu til Íslands í Breiðdal, er Hallfreðr hét.
> that this man came by his own ship to Iceland to Breiðdal,
> who was called Hallfreð
>
> Þat er fyrir neðan Fljótsdalsherað.
> which is below the district Fljótsdal
>
> Þar var á skipi kona hans ok sonr, er Hrafnkell hét.
> There on ship was his wife and son, who was called Hrafnkel.
>
> Hann var fimmtán vetra gamall, mannvænn ok gørviligr.
> He was fifteen winters old, promising and enterprising.
>
> Hallfreðr setti bú saman.
> Hallfreð put together a farm.
>
> Um vetrinn andaðisk útlend ambátt, er Arnþrúðr hét,
> during winter a foreign handmaid died, who was called Arnþruð,
>
> ok því heitir þat síðan á Arnþrúðarstöðum.
> and so since then they called it Arnþrudstad.
>
>
> En um várit foerði Hallfreðr bú sitt norðr yfir heiði ok gerði bú þar,
> and in the spring Hallfreð brought his farm north over a heath
> and built a farm there,
>
> sem heitir í Geitdal.
> where he called it Geitdal. (goat-dale)
>
> Ok eina nótt dreymði hann, at maðr kom at honum ok mælti:
> And one night he dreamed, that a man came to him and said:
>
> 'Þar liggr þú, Hallfreðr, ok heldr óvarliga.
> 'There you lie, Hallfreð, and rather incautiously,
>
> Foer þú á brott bú þitt ok vestr yfir Lagarfljót.
> Bring away (by road) your farm and west over Lagarfljot.
>
> Þar er heill þín öll.'
> There is luck for all thine.'
>
> Eptir þat vaknar hann ok foerir bú sitt út yfir Rangá í Tungu,
> After that he woke and brought his farm out over Ranga in Tungu,
>
> þar sem síðan heitir á Hallfreðarstöðum,
> where he afterwards called it Hallfreðstad.
>
> ok bjó þar til elli.
> and lived there to an old age.
>
> En honum varð þar eptir geit ok hafr.
> but he left behind him a nanny- and a billy-goat.
>
> Ok inn sama dag, sem Hallfreðr var í brott,
> and the same day, when Hallfreð was on the road,
>
> hljóp skriða á húsin,
> a landslide fell down on the house,
>
> ok týndusk þar þessir gripir,
> and there perished these animals,
>
> ok því heitir þat síðan í Geitdal.
> and so he named that afterwards Goat-dale.
>
>
> A couple questions:
> 'Þat var...': is this just an existential construction, like English
> 'There was' ? I keep wanting to translate it literally 'This was in the
> days...', but it sounds false.
>
> 'honum varð þar eptir': Gordon glosses this as 'he left behind', but I
> can't quite make sense of this phrase; 'it happened to him where after'?
> varð is from varða, 'to happen, to become'?
>
>
> Erich
>
>
>
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