Re: Week 4's translation attempt

Sæl Sara!

> For some reason this week's translation felt more difficult
> - I seemed to have too many ON words for the meaning!!!
> [Which probably means I got the meaning wrong in places, but
> here goes...]

After the first week I've tried to pick portions of approximately
equal length, but I prefer that each part is fairly consistent
internally which has some impact on my choice.

As for what's difficult I usually only figure that out after
you people tell me. If I ever go through another round of this
saga I will be much better prepared.

Since both you and Arlie said this text was difficult I think
we can assume that it is.

> Tveir hirðmenn konungsins eru nefndir, er þar váru þá
> með hánum, hét annarr Sigurðr, en annarr Hárekr.
>>
> Two of the king's retainers are named who were there with
> him then. One was called Sigurdr, the other was Harekr.

Correct

> Þessir broeðr gengu um kaupstaðinn jafnan ok vildu kaupa
> sér gulhring þann er beztan fengu þeir ok mestan.
>>
> [I couldn't quite see where "fengu þeir" fitted in to this
> sentence - I think I may have got this bit wrong]
>
> These brothers always walked around the market town and
> wanted to buy a gold ring for themselves and they got one
> which was the biggest and the best. [lit. the best and the most].

You did get it wrong :-) It's rather a difficult sentence;
I would have expected subjunctive rather than indicative
('fengi' rather than 'fengu').

"[T]hey wanted to buy themselves a gold ring, as big and good
as they could get."

Note that 'mikill', "much, great, big", has comparative
'meiri' and superlative 'most'.

mikill - meiri - mestr
much - more - most
mycel - máre - mast (Old English)

> Þeir kvámu í eina búð þar er harðla vel var um búizt.
> Þar sat maðr fyrir ok fagnaði þeim vel ok spurði hvat
> þeir vildi kaupa.
>>
> They arrived at one stall there which was very well laid out.
> A man sat in front of it and welcomed them and asked what they
> wanted to buy.

Correct.

> Þeir sögðusk vilja kaupa gulhring mikinn ok góðan. Hann kvað
> ok gott val mundu á vera. Þeir spyrja hann at nafni, en hann
> nefndisk Hólmgeirr auðgi.
>>
> They said they wanted to buy a large and good gold ring. He
> declared they would have a good choice. They asked him his name
> and he was called "rich" Holmgeirr.

Correct. I think "Hann kvað ok gott val mundu á vera."
can be interpreted in other ways. Let's say what others
have come up with.

Note that 'ríkr' can mean "powerful" as well as "rich".

> Brýtr hann nú upp görsimar sínar ok sýnir þeim einn
> digran gulhring, ok var það görsimi sem mest, ok mat
> svá dýrt at þeir þóttusk eigi sjá hvárt þeir munu allt
> þat silfr fá, er hann mælti fyrir, þegar í stað, ok
> beiddu hann fresta til morgins, en hann játaði því.
>>
> He then unpacked his treasures and showed them a huge gold
> ring which was the greatest treasure and the value was so high
> [lit. expensive] that they didn't think they could get all that
> money together which he stipulated then and there. And they
> asked him to hold on until the morning which he agreed to do.

Correct. Well, "huge" might be a bit of an overkill for
'digr' :-) I'd translate it either as "thick" or "big".

> (Is it usual to drop the personal pronoun as in "beiddu hann
> fresta" rather than "þeir beiddu hann fresta"?)

Quite normal. Wouldn't it be normal in English too in
a sentence like this?

"They thought it was much and [they] asked him for delay"

> Nú gengu þeir í burt við svá búit, ok leið af sú nátt.
> En um morguninn gengr Sigurðr í brott úr búðinni, en
> Hárekr var eftir.
>>
> With that sorted, they went away and the night drew on.
> Then in the morning Sigurdr immediately went out of the
> booth and Harekr followed.

Correct. "With that sorted" is not bad for 'við svá búit'.

> Ok litlu síðar kömr Sigurðr utan að tjaldskörum ok mælti
> "Hárekr frændi," sagði hann, "seldu mér sjóðinn skjótt,
> þann er silfrit er í, þat er vit ætluðum til hringskaupsins,
> því at nú er samit kaupit, en þú bíd hér meðan ok gæt hér
> búðarinnar."
>>
> And a little later Sigurdr came up to the edge of the tent and
> called: "Harekr kinsman," he said, "give me the purse quickly,
> the one with the silver in which we intended for the purchase
> of the ring for now the bargain has been agreed and in the
> meantime you wait here and take care of the booths.

Correct.

> Nú fær hann honum silfrit út í gegnum tjaldskarirnar.
>>
> Now he hands him the silver through the tent flap.

Okay. Now I know that 'tent flap' means "tjaldskör".
Earlier I learned what 'chattels' means - it's a word
for "lausafé".

See, I learn a lot too :-)

> As for predictions, I reckon S & H are the baddies and they're
> going to rip poor Holmgeirr off. Then there'll be a fight, someone
> will get killed, there'll be demands for compensation which won't be
> met and that will lead to the next episode and draw in other
> characters and things will generally get out of hand!!! Life
> hasn't really changed all that much in a thousand years, has it?!

Not quite :-) But someone will be ripped off and there will
be demands for compensation.

Kveðja,
Haukur