Thank you Brian and Alan for your explanations!

Rob

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:
>
> I'm pretty sure that I've duplicated some of Alan's
> comments.
>
> At 1:18:03 PM on Saturday, February 20, 2010, rob13567
> wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> > Eftir það gefur Unnur fleirum mönnum af landnámi sínu.
>
> > After that Unn gives (gifts) of her (land) settlements to
> > several men.
>
> <Landnámi> is actually (dative) singular: she gives from her
> settlement to several people, meaning that she gives them
> parts of the land that she's taken.
>
> [...]
>
> > Hans son var Ásbjörn auðgi er bjó í Örnólfsdal á
> > Ásbjarnarstöðum.
>
> > His son was Abjorn (the) Wealthy who lived in Ornolfsdale
> > in Asbjarnarstown. [["Asbjorn's Steads"]]
>
> The place-name <Ásbjarnarstaðir> (dative <Ásbjarnarstöðum>)
> is morphologically plural, but it should probably be
> translated as if it were singular, 'Ásbjörn's stead':
> *every* Old Icelandic place-name containing the <staðr>
> element uses the plural <staðir>. The reason for this isn't
> known, so far as I can discover, and there is no obvious
> reason for a plural.
>
> > Hann átti Þorbjörgu dóttur Miðfjarðar-Skeggja.
> > He married Thorjorg, daughter of Midfiardar-Skeggia.
>
> Her father's name was <Miðfjarðar-Skeggi>: <Skeggja> is the
> genitive of <Skeggi>.
>
> [...]
>
> > En yður er það kunnigt að eg hefi frelsi gefið þeim manni
> > er Erpur heitir, syni Melduns jarls.
>
> > And (on the other hand) to you it is known that I have
> > given them freedom, to a man called Erp, son of Earl
> > Meldun. [not sure how to resolve the plural "them" and the
> > singular "man"] [[Is it possible the "them" refers to all
> > the people she gave freedom to, and she picks Erp as the
> > first example???]]
>
> <Þeim> isn't plural here: it's the dative singular masculine
> of <sá>, matching the dative singular <manni>. <Ek hefi
> frelsi gefit þeim manni er Erpr heitir> is 'I have given
> freedom (to) that man who is called Erp'.
>
> [...]
>
> > Telur margt manna kyn sitt til hans.
>
> > Many men's kin is reckoned to (descended from) him.
> > [Somehow I don't think that's right....] [[this should be
> > more "traced to" than "descended from" it looks like]]
>
> See Zoëga s.v. <telja>: <telja kyn sitt til e-s> is 'to
> trace once's descent from'. 'Many people trace their
> descent from him.'
>
> > Hans dóttir var Þorgerður, kona Ara Mássonar á
> > Reykjanesi, Atlasonar, Úlfssonar hins skjálga, og Bjargar
> > Eyvindardóttur, systur Helga hins magra.
>
> > His daughter was Thorgerd, wife of Ara Masson
>
> Ari Már's son. (<Ari> is a weak masculine, with oblique
> cases <Ara>; <Más> is the genitive of <Már>.)
>
> > of Reykjanes, Atlas' son,
>
> Atli's son. (<Atli> is another weak masculine.)
>
> > Ulf the Squinter's son, and Eyvind's daughter Bjarg,
>
> Björg.
>
> > sister of Helga the Learn.
>
> Helgi the Lean. (<Helgi> is yet another weak masculine.)
>
> In case the relationships aren't entirely clear, Ari is the
> son of Már, who is the son of Atli, who is the son of Úlfr
> and Björg. In this version Björg's father is Eyvindr, and
> Magr-Helgi (or Helgi hinn magri) is her brother; in other
> versions Magr-Helgi is her father.
>
> > Vigdís hét hin sétta dóttir
> > Vigdis was the name of the seventh daughter
>
> Sixth; 'seventh' would be <sjaunda>.
>
> [...]
>
> > Ólafur feilan var yngstur barna Þorsteins.
>
> > Olof (I hope that's the masculine form of the name) the
> > Timid was (the) youngest of Thorstein's children. [[I know
> > Brian had made a note about this in a previous
> > translation, but I still got it reversed: "Olaf" is the
> > masculine version]]
>
> And the byname doesn't mean 'timid': it's simply a borrowing
> of the Old Irish masculine name <Fáelán>, which is a
> diminutive of <fáel> 'a wolf'.
>
> > Hann var mikill maður og sterkur, fríður sýnum og
> > atgervimaður hinn mesti.
>
> > He was a large man and strong, evident peace [I know this
> > isn't right] and the greatest
> > man-of-great-physical-accomplishments. [["... strong,
> > handsome in appearance, and the...."]]
>
> Note that <friðr> 'peace' has a short vowel, while <fríðr>
> 'beautiful, handsome' has a long vowel.
>
> [...]
>
> > Ólafur tók því vel og kveðst hennar forsjá hlíta mundu um
> > það mál.
>
> > Olof took this well and said (he) would rely on her
> > foresight concerning that time. [["Olaf." Also, I see that
> > the verb is in the reflexive form, which I haven't
> > conveyed]]
>
> You've translated that part just fine: <hann kvezk hlíta> is
> precisely 'he said that he would trust/rely on'. Where ON
> uses <kvezk> and an infinitive with no explicit subject,
> English uses <said (that)> and a clause with a subject and a
> finite verb.
>
> [...]
>
> > Það sama haust fékk Ólafur feilan Álfdísar.
>
> > That same autumn Olof the Timid got (i.e., married)
> > Alfdise.
>
> Álfdís (Englished <Alfdis>).
>
> [...]
>
> > Unnur hafði mikinn fékostnað
> > Unn had great [fékostnað??? expenses?]
>
> Yes, except that it's singular: <fékostnaðr> appears within
> the entry for <fékátr> in Zoëga. <Kostnaðr> by itself is
> also 'expense'; although <fé> can refer to various kinds of
> wealth, I suspect that the compound <fékostnaðr> implies
> monetary expense.
>
> > Hún bauð Birni bróður sínum
> > She invited her brother Birn
>
> Björn; <Birni> is its dative.
>
> [...]
>
> Brian
>