On Tue, May 29, 2001 at 10:52:43PM +0200, keth@... wrote:
> *But* when the Zoëga dictionary of Old Icelandic finally gets launced
> onto the net in html-form, then the "reverse lookup" process will
> become much facilitated, because you can then always use the computers
> "Search and find" feature, and look for the English word you are interested
> in.
>
> And of course you can already do it that way, if you download from a
> suitable net-site copies of, say, Njål's saga. You will then need
> two copies of Njåls saga, one English one and one Old Norse one.
> If both have the same chapter numbers you can usually find the word
> you seek without too much trouble.
That works, but not well. You get problems like me trying to use skyldr
where réttr would be a lot more appropriate. Both can translate to the same
word in English ("right") but not the same meaning. And if I remember right,
the difference was subtle ... it didn't look like two different meanings
of "right" _to an English speaker_. But yet skyldr made no sense at all
in the context where I tried to use it.
A dictionary written specifically to go from English to ON would list the
range of words that could translate "right", with some indication of the
sense and context for each one.
--
Arlie
(Arlie Stephens arlie@...)