Hail Hawk!
I'll have to return briefly to the word *laugh".
You definitely have a point there, that way back,
"to laugh" may have started with an "H" -- maybe
a little bit like ha, ha, ha, ha, hlaugh! So it
is easy to imagine an "h" there.
Earlier we also talked about "vreid" versus "reid"
("wrath" in English), and quoted the first line of
Trymskvida: "reidr var þá Vingþórr, er um vaknadi..."
^ ^ ^ ^
where the form "vreiðr" makes more sense from
an alliterative point of view.

With respect to "laughing" it is of course true that
in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish it is, like in English,
a word that simply with an "l". But in Icelandic
I believe the verb is "hlæja" -- with initial "h".

I therefore immediately assumed that I had read a spelling
into the text that wasn't there in the original. ~But~
when I go to the originals I am unable to find the "h" there.
And this is true of all four printed versions that I have
access to, viz. Kock (1), Finnur (2+3), and Meissner (4).
They all write "læjandi skalk deyja".. or some such variant.
Finnur's two versions are for example the above (=normalized
version) + the unnormalized version that says "lægiandi
skal ek deya."

If we, however, add the next to last line, the lack of an "h"
in "hlæja" begins to make some sense, for then we read:

"lifs eru lidnar vanir (Finnur's unnormalized version,)
lægiandi skal ek deya." (verse 29, lines 7 & 8.)

We see that there is an alliterative scheme built into
these lines (lifs, lidnar, lægjandi), and that the lack
of "h" in "hlæja" appears necessary in order to make
the alliteration work.

--- In norse_course@..., falconsword@... wrote:

> In Icelandic we say "hlæja" (laugh),
> not "læja" - that is Norwegian.
>
> Are the Krákumál Norwegian, Keth?
>
>
> 29. Vi huggede med sværd. Jeg lyster
> at holde op; diserne, som Odin har
> sendt til mig fra Valhal, indbyder
> mig til hans hjem; glad skal jeg i
> höjsædet drikke øl hos aserne; alt
> håb om liv er ledet, leende går jeg
> i døden.
>
> How about translating the Danish
> translation to English:)
>
> 29. I long to quit. The "dísir" that Odin
> has sent me from Valhalla invite me to
> his home; I shall glad drink ale in the
> highseat by the Æsir; all hope of life
> has passed, I go laughing into death.

I would write as a variant:_
"I desire to cease. The dises that Odin
has sent me from Valhall are inviting me
into his home; Glad shall I drink ale
with the aesir in the high seat. All hope
for life is gone. Laughing I shall die.

The difficulty was the word "glad" because
I couldn't decide if it was an adverb or
an adjective. Although I think it is adjective
in the original, it appears to me that English
would prefere it as an adverb "gladly"???
I also wrote "are inviting", because my feeling
is that English and Norse treat the present moment
differently.

"It's all happening now" becomes: "det er nu det skjer".
English seems to prefer the participle for something
that is happening in the present.

"It is happening" -- "is" = auxiliary verb.
"Det skjer" -- only one verb.

Best regards
Keth