Sæll Haukur,

Thank you for the almost immediate feedback. I'm impressed, especially
since I was slow to get to this one, having had an "exciting" week at work ...
the kind that makes one think of updating resumes.

On Sat, Nov 16, 2002 at 11:29:35PM -0000, Haukur Thorgeirsson wrote:

> > Þrándr var ok með því móti þá er hann þroskaðisk, en miseldri þeira
> > broeðra var mikit. Þrándr was the same (lit. "also along with that
> > manner") when he had grown to full strength (þroskaðisk could be simply
> > "was fully grown", but strength seems implied), and the disparity of
> > age between the brothers was large.
>
> That was a very difficult sentence but you got it exactly right.
> One very minor point: In this case I would translate 'en', as
> 'but' rather than 'and'.

That does work better.

> > Þorbjörn var auðigr maðr ok var þá gamall, er þetta var tíðenda.
> > Þorbjörn was a rich man and was then old, when that (there? ??þetta??)
> > was news.
>
> More or less.
>
> Literally: Þorbjörn was a wealthy man and was then old when this
> was [of] tidings.
>
> As sensum: Þorbjörn was a wealthy man and he was old when the events
> described here took place.

þetta is this? I thought it was something of the sort, couldn't
remember, and couldn't find it.

> > ok var hann heygðr ok út borinn at fornum sið,
> > and he was buried and carried out according to ancient customs
>
> More or less.
>
> Note that 'heygðr' is derived from 'haugr' = "mound".
> Also note that 'fornum sið' is dative singular; thus I would
> translate "according to the old custom". The old custom is,
> in this case "heathenry".

Some day I will remember that, -um can be a _singular_ dative ending
for adjectives. I always try to read it as plural, which got me into
trouble here, since then it didn't seem to agree with sið....

It's not that I don't know it's also the masculine dative singular ending,
it's that I constantly forget.

What's the declension of siðr? sið didn't look like it ought to be dative,
but it must be.

> > því at þá váru heiðnar allar Færeyjar.
> > because at that time all in the Faroes were heathen.
>
> Not quite. Or, at least, not literally.
>
> "because at that time all the Faroes were heathen"

Another of my favourite mistakes. I keep wanting Færeyjar to be
genitive, i.e. "of Faroe(s)"... not nomn plural as in this case.
I think I messed up in much the same way last week.

> The land itself, rather than its inhabitants, is often
> referred to as being heathen or christian. Other examples
> from the literature:

We actually do this in english, too.

> 13th century Icelandic:
>
> Haraldr konungr bað gøra kumbl þessi eftir Gorm föður sinn
> ok eftir Þórvé móður sína - sá Haraltr er sér vann Danmörk
> alla ok Noreg ok Dani gørði kristna.
>
> An additional translation assignment for you :-)

I don't get to rest and recover, eh?

> > ok vildi hvártveggi hafa heimabólit í Götu,
> > and each one wanted to have the homestead in Gata (???),
>
> Correct. But why do you throw in three question marks every
> time you say 'Gata'?

I wasn't sure of the word.

> > Þeir lögðu hluti á, ok hlaut Þrándr.
> > They divided (the inheritance) into shares
> > [prepared to a portion?] and Þrándr won it by lot.
>
> Good attempt. But I think the meaning is:
> "They cast lots for it - and Þrándr received [it]."

lögðu is leggja?

Is leggja hluti á basically an idiom for lot casting?

For some reason, I thought this looked like it might be an idiom
implying division of the whole inheritance into parts for the purpose
of dividing them by lot, rather than just casting lots for the house
that both sons wanted.

> All-in-all this was a very good translation.

Thank you.

I enjoyed this one. A lot of it was quite straightforward, except when
my limited vocabulary got in my way. (Because of the vocabulary, it
took me 2 or 3 hours to translate; of course I was also adding the new
words to my flash card collection.)

--
Arlie

(Arlie Stephens arlie@...)