> "Dróttinn argrar dróttar einnar, Veiði-Anakinn," segir
> Víga-Óbívan.

> "A cowardly lord of only people, Vader Anakin," says
> Slayer Obiwan.

> “Lord of cowardly people only, Vader Anakinn,” says Slayer
> Obiwan.

Rob: If it were 'cowardly lord', the adjective would have to
be <argr>, the nom. sing. masc., to agree with <drottinn>.
Instead it has the ending <-ar>, which makes it fem., either
gen. sing. or nom./acc. plur. <Drótt> is feminine, and
<dróttar> can be only gen. sing. or nom./acc. plur.
Finally, <einnar> can only be fem. gen. sing.; fem.
nom./acc. plur. would be <einar>. Thus, <agrar dróttar
einnar> is one phrase in the gen. sing. modifying the
subject <dróttinn>.

The translation of <argr> and <drótt> isn't entirely
straightforward: <drótt> can also be 'the king's host of
fighting men', and <argr> can also be 'wicked'. 'Lord of a
cowardly people' is certainly possible, but in this setting
it seems to me that the <drótt> is likely to be the body of
men under Vader's command, and that <argr> is probably to be
understood more as a term of abuse than as a literal
description. I'm inclined to read it 'lord only of a
wretched troop' or, less literally, 'lord only of a troop of
scum'.

> Síðan hljóp hann fram með brugðit sverð ok hjó þegar til
> Veiðrar en hann hopaði undan.

> Then he leaped forward with drawn sword and struck at once
> at Vader but he drew back.

> Afterwards he leaped forward with drawn sword and hewed at
> once at Vader but he retreated under (the attack).

Since this must all happen in close succession, 'then' seems
to me the better choice.

> "Enn færðu eigi haft mál þitt, Veiði-Anakinn," segir
> Víga-Óbívan, "Ef þú slær mik niðr, svá monk verða sterkari
> an þú fengir trúat."

> "Still you are not able to win your suit, Vader Anakin,"
> says Slayer Obiwan, "If you put an end to me, so I will
> become stronger then you are able to believe."

> “Still you are not able to have your way?, Vader Anakinn,”
> says Slayer Obiwan, “If you strike me down, so I will
> become stronger than you can believe.”

'Yet you cannot have your own way'; see Zoëga s.v. <mál>
(11): <hafa sitt mál> 'to have one's own way'.

> Þess vonak, at inn gamli maðr gefi Veiðri hart slag, til
> þess at vér fengim komizt undan."

> I hope that, that the old man gives Vader a hardy blow, so
> that we are able to escape." (Z. has "slag 2 - gefa e-m
> s., to defeat," but I don't think this applies unless
> "hart" can be an adverb, which I don't see in Zoega)

> I expect this, that the old man would give Vader a hard
> blow, to this end, that we are able to escape.”

I'll go with 'hope' here: I think that the issue's enough in
doubt that they're worried about the outcome. <Hart> like a
great many other strong neuter nom./acc. sing. adjectives,
*can* function as an adverb, as it does for instance in
<ríða hart> 'to ride fast'. It's not doing so here,
however: here it's simply modifying <slag>. I think,
though, that the extended sense 'to defeat' is intended here
rather than the literal sense: defeating Vader would improve
their chances enormously, while just getting in a good blow
might not. The fact that neither Z. nor CV mentions <gefa
e-m hart slag> in this sense doesn't bother me: if 'to give
someone a blow' can mean 'to defeat someone', I'd be
astonished if 'to give someone a hard blow' couldn't have
the same sense.

> "Þá fǫrum vér sem bráðast," segir Lúkr, ok hljópu þau ǫll
> til Falkans meðan hermennirnir geymdu hólmgǫnguna.

> "Then we go as quickly as possible," says Luke, and they
> all jumped aboard (the) Falcon while the warriors watched
> the duel.

> “Then let us go as quickly as possible,” says Luke, and
> they all leap onto Falcon while the stormtroopers watch
> the duel.

<Hlaupa> is ambiguous: besides 'to leap', it can also be 'to
run'. If 'leap' were intended here, I'd expect the
preposition to be <á>; <til> 'to' seems to me to point to
'run'.

> En Víga-Óbívan sá hlaupit þetta, ok þá íhugaði hann þat,
> at hann fengi eigi unnit Veiðr yfirkominn, en hann vissi
> þann galdr, es hann fengi sunginn, til þess at maðr fengi
> lifat eptir þat at ættmaðr sinn hefði hann drepinn.

> But Slayer Obiwan saw this leap, and then he considered
> that, thathe was not able to succeed in vanquishing Vader,
> but he knew the magic song, which he was able to sing, so
> that a man was able to live after that, that his kinsman
> had killed him. (Z. has "vinna 12 - fá ekki at unnit, to
> effect nothing," but I don't think this applies here)

> But Slayer Obiwan saw this leap and then he thought it,
> that he was not able to work to overcome Vader, but he
> knew that spell, which he could sing, to that end that a
> man could live after it that his kinsman had killed him.

Here again I'm inclined to read <hlaupit þess> as 'this
run(ning)'.

> En þat fall hlýtr valdit af þeim manni, es hafði kyn sitt
> eigin svikit, ok maðr svá drepinn fær lifat ósénn ok
> ósnortinn svá lengi sem hann hvetti ættmenn sína til þess
> at drepa svikarann.

> But that fall is obliged to cause of the man, who has his
> own kinsman betrayed, and a man so slain would be able to
> live (ósénn? not at the same time??) and untouched so long
> as he would encourage his kinsmen to that, to slay the
> betrayer (?).

> And that fall? allots? power? from that man, who had
> betrayed his own kin, and a man so slain was able to live
> unseen and untouched as long as he would urge his kinsmen
> to this, to kill the betrayer.

This appears to be <fall> in the sense 'fall, death in
battle', referring to the death of the person performing the
spell; it's the subject of <hlýtr> 'be obliged to'.
<Valdit> is the past participle of <valda> in its sense 'to
cause, to be the cause of', so it's 'caused'. This must be
some kind of passive construction, 'But that death in battle
has to be caused by that man who had betrayed his own kin,
and a man so slain can live unseen and untouched so long as
he should encourage his kinsmen to kill the betrayer'.

It took me a while to recognize this as a passive, however,
because this kind of passive is actually formed with the
auxiliary <vera> (or, with slightly different meaning,
<verða>) plus past participle. The full construction is
<þat fall hlýtr VERA valdit>. But as Barnes (3.9.5.2)
notes, <vera> is often omitted in a number of constructions,
of which this is one.

Finally, this use of <af> to mark the agent is (Z8) 'by, of'
(after passive).

Rob: <ósénn> = <úsénn>, the negative prefix plus the past
participle of <sjá> 'to see'; <ósnortinn> = <úsnortinn>
isn't in either dictionary, but it's the same construction
from the verb <snerta>. 'Unseen' and 'untouched' are
literal, but the context strongly suggests that they should
be understood as 'unable to be seen or touched', 'invisible
and intangible'.

That first bit really is pretty nasty. I'm not absolutely
certain, but I think that it could also be read 'But that
death in battle gets (hlýtr) the [= its] power (valdit) from
the man who had betrayed his own kin', if the resulting
sense weren't a bit unsatisfactory -- not impossible, but
definitely less satisfactory than the passive
interpretation.

> Ok maðr sá, es sǫng þenna galdr, þó ósénn ok ósnortinn af
> ǫllum, væri heyrðr af mǫnnum þeim, es sóttu at hefna hans.

> And a man saw, this song is a magic song, yet (ósénn) and
> untouched of all, were able to hear of the men, who sought
> to avenge him.

> And that man, who recited this spell, still unseen and
> untouched by all, would be heard by those men who sought
> to avenge him.

Grace has it, except that I'd translate <þó> as 'though'.

> Slíkr galdr fengi òk hætt við ǫll galdralǫg, þau es
> svikarinn sjálfr hafði sungin, ok þess vegna fengu þeir
> Lúkr komizt undan ok lifat til þess at hefna síðarr.

> Such a magic song would also (òk = ok?) be able to risk
> with all magic-laws, that which the traitor himself had
> sung, and that on account of they, Luke (and the others)
> would be able to escape and live in order to revenge
> later.

> Such a spell gave (I think ‘engi’ is missing here) also
> protection from danger with all charm-law?, that which the
> betrayer himself sang, and for this reason they, Luke (and
> company) could escape and lived to this end to avenge
> later.

<Òk> is 'also', and <fengi> is subjunctive, and I agree with
Rob that this is a <fá> + past part. construction: 'Such a
spell would also be able to ...'. There are two verbs
<hætta>, both with <hætt> as past participle; the one that
seems to fit better is 'to stop', apparently both transitive
and intransitive. In the modern language <hætta við e-ð> is
'to decide not to do something', and 'to cancel' in
computing jargon is <hætta við>. A bit of digging on the
web indicates that <hætta við e-ð> can also be used to mean
'to cancel something' (like an airline booking). I don't
know how old this usage is, but it fits the context, once
<galdralǫg> is sorted out.

There is a modern <galdralög> meaning something like 'law
concerning magic', but that makes no sense here. What we
have here is the plural of <galdralag>, a compound whose
second element is <lag> 'air, tune' (Z8). It's the name of
a specific metre in Old Norse poetry, the 'magic spell
metre', a variant of ljóðaháttr, which in turn seems to have
developed from fornyrðislag; all three are described in
Gordon, pp. 316-7, and for my own amusement and records I've
added a bit more information at the end.

On this interpretation, <Slíkr galdr fengi òk hætt við ǫll
galdralǫg, þau es svikarinn sjálfr hafði sungin> is 'Such a
spell could also stop/cancel all magic spells, those that
the betrayer himself had sung'.

The last slightly troublesome bit is <þess vegna> 'because
of that, on account of that'.

That was quite a workout!

Here's what Íslensk orðabók has to say about <galdralag>:

galdra·lag. HK. mál- og bragfræði. forn bragarháttur,
tilbrigði við ljóðahátt, 6. braglína er endurtekin með
smávegis orðalagsbreytingu.

HK: hvorugkynsorð, neuter noun.
mál- og bragfræði: grammar and prosody
An old metre, a variation on ljóðahátt; the 6th line is
repeated with a minor change of wording.

From <http://www.ismennt.is/not/hbr/SA.htm>:

Við landnám bjuggu menn til kvæði í talsverðu mæli og einn
af þeim fornu háttum sem þá voru brúkaðir var
fornyrðislag. Í því eru átta ljóðlínur sem allar eru
stuttar, tvær kveður og svona 3-7 atkvæði. Nokkuð er um
áherslulaus eða lítil smáorð bæði fremst í ljóðlínum
(forliðir) og eins í þeim miðjum. Rím er ekki notað í
fornyrðislagi. Einu reglurnar sem voru áfrávíkjanlegar
voru um stuðlasetningu. Í frumlínum (1., 3., 5. og 7.
ljóðlínum) voru einn til tveir stuðlar og í síðlínum (2.,
4., 6. og 8. ljóðlínum) var höfuðstafur í fyrstu kveðu.

At the time of the Settlement people made poems in a
variety of metres, and one of the old modes that was used
was fornyrðislag. In this there are eight half-lines, all
of which are short, two metric feet and about 3-7
syllables. Sometimes unstressed or lightly stressed
particles are found both first in the half-line and in the
middle. Rhyme is not used in fornyrðislag. The only
rules that allowed exceptions were those concerning the
placement of alliteration. In the first half-lines of
each long line (the first, third, fifth, and seventh
half-lines) there were one or two alliterating syllables,
and in the second half-lines of each long line (the
second, fourth, sixth, and eighth half-lines) there was a
alliteration at the start of the first metric foot.

Fornyrðislagið tók að þróast og breytast. 3. og 4. lína
runnu saman í eina línu með þremur kveðum og tveim
stuðlum. Það sama gerðist við 7. og 8. línu. Stóðu þessar
línur sér um ljóðstafi. Þetta bragarform var kallað
Ljóðaháttur.

The fornyrðislag metre began to expand and change. The
third and fourth lines ran together in one line with three
metric feet and two alliterating words. The same thing
happened with the seventh and eighth lines. These lines
had correct alliteration. This poetic form was called
ljóðaháttr.

Í einu afbrigði af ljóðahættinum var síðasta línan
endurtekin með smávægilegum breytingum til frekari áherslu
og kallaðist sá háttur galdralag.

In one variant of ljóðahættur the last line was repeated
with insignificant changes for greater emphasis; this
metre was called galdralag.


From <http://notendur.hi.is/eybjorn/ugm/skindex/ht.html>, an
illustrative example of galdralag from Snorri's 'Háttatal':

Sóttak fremð,
sóttak fund konungs,
sóttak ítran jarl,
þás ek reist -
þás ek renna gat
kaldan straum kili -
kaldan sjá kili.

I sought honor/preferment,
I sought to meet the king,
I sought the noble jarl,
When I carved -
When I let run
the the cold stream with the keel -
the cold sea with the keel.

Brian