Heilir Ketill ok Eysteinn,

Ketill reit:

> Here I'd like to interject that the Old Norse text,
> that I must quote from memory, of this 1st line ran
> something like this:
>
> "Hjuggum vér með sverði"

Well, it does say "Hjuggum vér með hjörvi" as far as I can see.
Otherwise there wouldn't be any alliteration.

> "Mit Schwerte schlugen wir"!
>
> (sounds better, and also has alliteration on "s". I hope
> someone will help find a good as well as correct German

translation.)

That sounds good, though I'm probably not even qualified to comment; I
don't know about alliteration in German (and I suspect there is no
tradition for it anymore), but perhaps you'd make distinction between
"s", pronounced [z], and "sch", pronounced [S], in it. But that just
makes your line better, since it does alliterate in "sch" [S] :)

--- In norse_course@egroups.com, Eysteinn Bjornsson <eysteinn@...>
wrote:

> Keth - your wish to improve our knowledge is to
> be commended. But do you really think that your
> "stuff" belongs on a list where people are trying
> to learn the rudiments of ON grammar?

The problem is, Eysteinn, that this list is already in a serious
crisis of identity; how many students write on it?

Any sensible student won't take all of Keth's "stuff" too seriously,
so there's hardly any "danger" in it. And by that I am not criticizing
his work; I think Keth's wish isn't mainly to improve "our" knowledge,
but rather his own, and at the same time share his thoughts with the
intermediary students. And that is all good.

Keth, perhaps Eysteinn would be less offended by your post if you'd
convert some of your statement-type sentences to question-type
sentences :) If you aren't sure, make your uncertainty clear. With a
humbler style of writing, authorities like Eysteinn will have a harder
time criticizing you.

But Keth, do not, by any means, feel discouraged. I know you won't :)
Your writings are one of this list's (though not this course's) last
straws.

As to your choice of materials, Eysteinn is probably right that the
grammatical treatises are too heavy. Haukur has a better overview than
me over Old Norse literature, so I can't say which titles would be
good; but I think any short Icelandic sagas, or kings' sagas, would be
more interesting, easier, and more useful.

Finally, about this list: our course has developed in the way that a
very limited amount of people write on this list or to us privately;
yet over 150 are subscribed, and perhaps some additional are using our
homepage without being subscribed. I lament that students should not
want to discuss more, or send us their solutions and questions more;
mostly because as it is, we don't have a clue if anybody's actually
using our course at all (!).

So if you're using our course, and have *anything* to ask/share/say,
don't be afraid to post here, or at least send to us. Just so that we
know you're still there :)

Óskar