This was interesting, but I definitely wouldn't call it one
of the easiest passages I've ever done!

> Jökuls þáttr Búasonar
> GUÐNI JÓNSSON
> bjó til prentunar (couldn't figure out what the last word
> was)

'Guðni Jónsson prepared [it] for printing.' I don't know
whether it's precisely equivalent to 'edited it', since
there is another verb <ritstýra> 'to edit', but that appears
to be the basic idea.

> Jökli þótti nú illt verk sitt, reið því þegar í burt ok
> til skips, er þá var á Eyrarbakka, ok sigldi með Úlfi
> stýrimanni.

> His deed seemed to Jokul, now, bad, therefore (he) rode at
> once away to (his) ship, which then was at Eyrarbakka, and
> sailed with captain Ulf.

> (It) seemed to Jokull his deed (was) evil, (he) rode away
> immediately and to a ship which then was at Eyrarbakka,
> and sailed with Ulf (as) captain.

The nominative of the place-name is <Eyrarbakki>. I think
that Rob is correct in interpreting <stýrimanni> as an
epithet applied to Úlf.

> Gaf þeim lítt byri, ok rak á fyrir þeim myrkr ok
> hafvillur, svá þeir váru úti allt sumarit.

> They got little wind, and darkness came over them, and
> (they were) off course, so they were out (to sea) all
> summer. (Z. reka 7 - of a tempest, þá rak á fyrir þeim
> hríð, a storm rose upon them)

> The got little wind and (what little they got) drove them
> into darkness and (they) lost course, so they were out (at
> sea) all summer.

It's not that they got little wind; they got little *fair*
wind. I agree with Rob's translation of the darkness
clause; it's a close match for the last example at <reka>
Z7.

> En er hausta tók, gerði storma með miklum hríðum ok
> frostum, svá sýldi hvern dropa, er inn kom.

> And when autumn arrived, they were caught in a violent
> snowstorm and frost, so (that) each drop which came in,
> turned to ice. (Z hríð 1 - storm, esp. snowstorm; h. mikla
> gerði at þeim, laust á fyrir þeim h. mikilli, they were
> caught by a violent snow-storm)

> And when the fall arrived, (it) became stormy with a great
> snow storm and frost, so that each drop which came in
> froze.

<Storma> is an accusative plural: '[it] made storms with
great snowstorms and frost'. Less literally but a bit more
like English: 'storms of great snow and frost grew'.

> Urðu allir í austri at standa bæði nætr ok daga, ok
> gerðust allir mjök dasaðir ok gáfust upp um síðir nema
> Jökull einn.

> The all became engaged in baling (out the boat) both night
> and day, and all became very exhausted and gave up at last
> except only Jokul. (Z. austr 1 - standa í austri, to be
> engaged in baling

> All were obliged to endure baling both night and day and
> all became very tired and gave up at last except for
> Jokull alone.

Rob: See <verða> Z7 for <verða> + infinitive 'to be obliged
to'.

The English verb <daze> seems to have been borrowed from an
unattested ON <dasa>, of which only the sk-form survives.
In Middle English (infinitive <dasen>) it meant not only 'to
be stunned, bewildered, befuddled, or dumfounded' but also
'to be numb with cold, to freeze'.

> Hann gekk at ausa aleinn í fjóra daga.
> He went on baling alone for 4 days. (Z. ausa 3 - to bale)
> He went on baling alone for four days.

> Um síðir rak skipit at skerjaklasa miklum með boðaföllum
> stórum.

> At last the ship was pushed to a cluster of rocks with
> large breakers dashing.

> At last the ship was driven to a great cluster of islands
> with a huge reef.

'Rocks' is probably a better choice than 'islands', but I'd
use 'skerries' ('small rocky reefs or islands'). Rob's
right about the last bit, though literally it's 'with large
dashings of breakers'.

> Var þá allsterk hríðin, svá at skipit braut í spón ok
> týndist gózit.

> The storm was then very strong, so that the ship broke in
> pieces and the goods perished.

> Then the storm was very powerful so that the ship broke up
> into splinters and the cargo destroyed.


> Komst Jökull í sker upp með Úlfi stýrimanni ok sumir
> skipverjar, en sumir drukknuðu.

> Jokul arrived up on the rocks with captain Ulf and some
> crew, but some drowned.

> Jokull got himself up on a skerry with Captain Ulf and
> some of the crew, but some drowned.


> Váru þá allir yfirkomnir af mæði ok kulda nema Jökull
> einn.

> All were then overcome from exhaustion and cold except for
> Jokul alone.

> Then all were overcome with exhaustion and cold except for
> Jokull alone.


> Jökull spyrr nú Úlf, hvat til ráða skyldi taka.
> Jokull now asks Ulf, what counsel (they) should take.
> Now Jokull asks Ulf what plan they should decide on,

> "Hvárt skulum vér láta hér yfir drífa?"
> "Will we cause to befall us here?" (?)
> “Shall we give it up here?”

Rob: This has the same sense as <láta yfir drífask> and
<drífa yfir sik> 'to yield, give in', with <oss> understood.
I make it simply 'Shall we give up here?'

> "Nei," segir Úlfr, "þat dugir ekki.
> "No," says Ulf, "That doesn't suffice.
> “No,” says Ulf, “That won’t do.

Literally I'm with Rob, but I suspect that Grace's version
nicely captures the idiomatic sense.

> Er nú þar til órræða at leita, sem þú ert."

> There is now an expedient to look for, as you are."

> Now (one) is obliged to seek help, as you are (the only
> one in any condition to).”

This is <vera> Z6: 'it is now to seek help, help is now to
be sought'; it's not really a statement of obligation.

I was completely baffled by <sem þú ert> until it occurred
to me that we could be dealing with a split <þar sem>: '[It]
is now to seek help there where you are'. In other words,
we're not quite out of options: you're still functioning.

> Jökull segir þeim skuli at því verða, - "ok mun ek nú til
> lands leita."

> Jokull tells them it would become thus, - "and I will now
> look for land."

> Jokull tells them that it shall be (so) “and I will now
> look for land.”

If you're parenthesizing the words that have no match in the
original, it's '[it] shall be so/thus' (því).

> Síðan kastaði hann sér til sunds ok lagðist inn at
> landinu.

> He then threw himself into (the) channel and swam to
> shore.

> After that he cast himself to swimming and aimed himself
> for land.

<Sund> here is 'swimming', not 'sound, strait', but judging
by various modern usages that I've seen on the web, an
idiomatic translation would probably be along the lines of
'dove/threw himself into the water'; <lagðist> is 'swam',
buried in <leggja> Z15.

> Þar var brim mikit ok stór áföll, svá at honum var bágt at
> koma þar við sundi, ok því kafaði hann til lands.

> There was a large surf and large dashing waves, so that so
> that it was hard for him to come there by swimming, and
> therefore he was washed up on shore.

> There was tremendous surf and very heavy seas so that for
> him it was awkward to reach by swimming and for this
> reason he swam underwater to land.

Rob: <kafa> 'to dive, swim underwater'.

> En er hann var á land kominn, sýldi um hann öll klæðin, en
> hríðin var svá sterk, at hann mátti varla ráða sér.

> When he came to land, all his clothes became stiff, and
> the storm was so strong, that he was scarcely able to
> plan.

> And when he had reached land, all his clothing were stiff
> with ice and the snow storm was so strong that he could
> scarcely orient himself.

I'm not entirely sure about <ráða sér>; literally it's
something like 'govern himself, control himself', which
*could* be 'orient himself' but seems to me more likely to
mean something a little stronger, especially in view of the
next couple of sentences. I suspect that not only could he
not orient himself, but he also didn't have a lot of control
over where he was going.

> Vissi hann ok aldri, hvar hann fór.
> He never knew, where he went.
> He also never knew where he went.


> Honum varð þá reikat með sjónum, ok um síðir kom hann at
> skála nökkurum sterkum ok fornum.

> He was then able to see where he was walking (?), and at
> last he came to some strong and old huts.

> He had been driven then along the sea and at last he came
> to a certain hut old and sturdy.

Fritzner's dictionary is a little more specific about
<reika> than CV or Zoëga. He makes it clear that it's not
just 'to stroll, to wander', but that it's specifically to
do so aimlessly, hither and yon, up and down, to and fro.
He also says that it can be used in a passive sense, 'to be
carried about in such a fashion'. I suspect that that's
what we have here: it's literally 'to him was then wandered
along the sea', so I'm guessing that the idea is that he was
carried blindly along the sea(shore) by the storm. I can't
rule out the possibility that he simply wandered along the
seashore, but it was apparently wandering, not directed
travel, and given what we've been told about the storm and
the construction <honum varð reikat>, it seems likely that
there's some implication that he was moving largely at the
mercy of the storm.

Rob: Since the nom. sing. is <skáli>, <skála> could be dat.
sing., gen. plur., or accus. plur. The preposition <at>
mostly takes the dative, so we lean towards dat. sing.
rather than accus. plur. The <-um> endings on the
adjectives make one think right away of dat. plur., but they
also go with masc. dat. sing., and that's the only
possibility that matches <skála>. Thus, it must be one hut:
'a certain sturdy old hut'.

> Var skálanum læst, en lykillinn greyptr í stafinn.

> The huts were locked, but the key grooves in the post. (I
> suppose this means the key fits the lock, but I don't see
> how.)

> The hut was locked, but the key was stuck in the gable
> end.

<Stafinn> has to be the accus. sing. with definite article
of <stafr> 'post'; <stafn> 'gable-end' would yield
<stafninn>. <Greyptr> is the past participle, 'grooved', so
'stuck in' may be just about right, especially since the
verb now means 'to inlay', and the past participle is
'inlaid'. Apparently the hut had a main supporting post.

> Hann lauk upp ok gekk þar inn, þreifar síðan fyrir sér ok
> fann stóran ás ok eld í.

> He opened up and went in there, then feels (his way)
> before him and found a large main beam and a fire inside.
> (does not make sense)

> He opened (it) up and went in there, afterwards felt with
> his hand before him and found a powerful main beam and a
> fire (place?) inside.

<Þreifar> is present tense; this is a weak verb, so any past
tense form would have the <-að-> suffix. I would expect the
<áss> to be the main horizontal beam overhead, which is
hardly the place for a fire, so I expect that the understood
object of <í> is <skála>: he went <inn> into the hut and
found a large beam and a fire <í> in [the hut].

> Síðan lagði hann skíði á eldinn.
> Then he placed the lintel on the fire.
> Afterwards he put firewood on the fire.

Rob: <skíði> is the dative of <skíð> 'firewood'.

Possibly it's just me, but to me 'afterwards' suggests a
greater lapse of time than seems likely; I prefer the simple
'then' here.

> Varð þá skjótt bjart um allan skálann.
> Then it soon became bright around all the hut.
> Then (it) became bright quickly all about the hut.

> Sá hann tvau rúm váru í innanverðum skálanum.
> He saw two rooms were in the hut's interior.
> He saw two rooms were in the interior of the hut.

Brian