> The next passage I'm working on is the account of Thorolfr
> Mostrarskegg's settlement in Landnamabok. The passage says: "En er hann
> kom vestr fyrir Breiðafjórð; þá skaut hann fyrir borð öndvegissúlum
> sínum; þar var skorinn á Þórr."
>
> I've translated this as: "When he came west to Breiðafjörð; then he
> threw overboard his high-seat pillar; Þórr was carved upon it.".
> However, the sense of the last clause is ambiguous. "skorinn" really
> means "to cut, notch or score", so it's a bit of a stretch to say
> carved, but this is how Turville-Petre sees it. Alternatively, it could
> mean "to call upon, invoke", and this fits the context just as well.
> What do you think?
To me the clause is unambiguous.
"When he came west of Breiðafjörðr he ejected his high seat pillars;
Thor was carved upon them."
Note that 'vestr fyrir' does not mean 'west to'.
Also note that the pillars are in plural; the 'um' ending
on a noun is a sure sign of dative plural.
Kveðja,
Haukur
--
There are two ways of disliking poetry; one way is to dislike it, the
other is to read Pope.
-- Oscar Wilde