--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Fred and Grace Hatton"
<hatton@...> wrote:

>
> spjót í hendi jarlsnaut
> a spear in hand ???

"a gift from the earl" (refering to the spear). 'jarlsnaut' is in
apposition to 'spjót', like 'konungr' in 'Haraldr konungr'. Weapons
are often called someone's 'naut' "gift" after a previous owner,
whether or not that owner gave it up willingly.

> En ef þér hefðuð við mig um ráðið í fyrstu þá mundi aldrei orði á

hafa verið komið

> But if you have (come?) to me for advice in the first place then

would never have happened to have been come (to this? - - way, way
tooo many past participles for my comfort)

Heh, heh. And there was you advising someone to take up learning
German not so long ago, and I quote: "For English speakers, a good
place to start is German [...]" ;-)

"But if you *had* (past subjunctive 2nd person plural = normalised Old
Norse 'hefðið') come to me for advice (or: consulted with me about it,
sought my advice) in the first place, then this demeaning rumour would
never have been attached to you (or: gained currency, etc.)."

koma e-u á "to bring something about, to effect something". In this
case, 'orði' is the dative object of the verb, the demeaning rumour
that has been "put into effect" by circulating it.

'á [...] vera komið' "to be brought about"
'á hafa verið komið' "to have been brought about"
'mundi [...] á hafa verið komið' "would have been brought about"