Sæll Jed!
Glad to have you join us, the more the
merrier! Like you,
I know my main interest is to get the meaning right
first and then I try to put it into reasonable English, without drifting too far
from the original. I guess we can all chip in to the debate around 'tight'
or 'loose' translations - I don't know much about the principles of written
translating as such.
I don´t mind going over the lines you´ve done this
week, but perhaps it´s better for the group all to move at the same pace?
If most people would prefer a longer chunk to work on, then that's fine by
me.
Your translation was very fluent, just one or two
minor points where it seemed to diverge slightly from the original, but really
these points are nit-picking ones...
-----------------
Bothvar led his horse to a stall beside the king's
(other) best horses
konungs hestum hinum beztum -
here hestum is plural.
In Barnes' Introduction to Old Norse,
he has "hinn" as a demonstrative pronoun meaning "that" or "the other", but
perhaps the English sounds better as
"beside the king's best
horses"
and nobody questioned him. Well, Bodvar is the subject of the sentence here, he leads
"leiðir" his horse and "spyrr engan at". So it´s "he (Bodvar) asks no-one
about it".
Engan is the masculine accusative
singular form of "engi" meaning no-one.
a little while, he heard a rummaging away in a
corner of a certain place. Ok, this is really
nit-picking but the ON read
"þrausk nokkut" so I suppose it
should be translated as
"some rummaging". Again the ON
read "í hornit" - does it matter if we say "in a corner" or "in the
corner"? Personally I don't think it matters, perhaps if you want to give
the reader a sense of being there, then "in the corner" has more sense of
immediacy. What do others think?
"í einhverjum stað" is perhaps more
"in a certain place", although that sounds a bit stilted in English. If
you´re using American English, what about simply "someplace"? For British
English, it would have to be "somewhere".
The hand was very black. Bothvar went over to
it and asked I don´t think the ON tells us Bothvar
went over to the man's hand (although in reality that's what he did). It
just says Bothvar "gengr þangat til" meaning "walks there too".
Although "til" is often a preposition, here it is an adverb
meaning "too".
Hottr yelled out loud and cried, ' You'll be the
death of me, now!' This is a good way to express
the meaning although perhaps purists would say a slightly 'loose'
translation. There is a noun "bana" which means death and the verb "bana"
means to kill. "Nú viltu mér bana!" literally means "Now you want to kill
me!"
You mention about the difficulties of
translating 'skjaldborg', I like the solution you chose in your
translation. In college, we were simply using 'shield-wall' which sounds
very 'translated'. Let's see what the others make of it next
week!
Bye for now,
Sarah.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, April 11, 2003 12:10
AM
Subject: Re: [norse_course] Bodvar Bjarki
translation
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2003 10:23
AM
Subject: [norse_course] Bodvar Bjarki
translation
Hello!
Following on from my suggestion of using my uni
notes to work on a translation of Bodvar Bjarki, Thomas and Laurel both
expressed an interest. So, for you and anyone else out there who wants
to join us, here goes...
I have typed up the first few lines in a Word
document (attached) because I can't make my keyboard type the letter hooked
o or o with a diagonal line through it when I'm doing an email, but I can in
Word. You can post your translations in an email and I will respond
likewise so that everyone can see what we're doing and jump in to help if we
go wrong.
The passage in Gordon's reader begins mid way
through chapter 23 with Bodvar arriving at King Hrolf's court where he has
come to enter the king's service. Previously, he has been visiting his
brothers and on his way to king Hrolf's he lodged with a peasant couple who
told him that their son, Hott, was at the court and being badly treated by
the courtiers and they ask Bodvar to be kind to him.
Have fun!
Sarah.
ps. let me know if you want a glossary of
words.
Hello Sarah (and Thomas and
Laurel)
I'm Jed Mc Harg, and I'd be delighted to join
you if I may. I've been ploughing the Gordon and I've been more concerned
about getting the meaning than producing a good translation, so this may be
an opportunity to acquire basic translation skills. Would it be acceptable
to translate the first fifteen lines? I'll give it a go. However, I'm
quite happy to translate as little or as much as you or the group
wish.
Here goes:
Afterwards, Bothvar went on his journey to
Hleithagarth. He came to the king's residence. Bothvar led his horse
to a stall beside the king's best horse and nobody questioned him. Then he
went into the hall and few men were there. He sat near the door and when he
had been there a little while, he heard a rummaging away in a corner of a
certain place. Bothvar looked there and saw a man's hand come up out of a
great heap of bones which lay there. The hand was very black.
Bothvar went over to it and asked who was there in the pile of bones.
Then he was answered rather timidly: 'I am called Hottr, good sir'.
'Why are you here', said Bothvar 'and what are you doing?' Hottr
said, 'I am making a defence for myself, good sir' Bothvar said,
'You are wretched, you and your defence!'
Bothvar took hold of him and yanked him up out of the pile of bones. Hottr
yelled out loud and cried, ' You'll be the death of me, now!'
'Skjaldborg' - 'shield-wall, protection'
doesn't translate well literally. What about 'stronghold'? Could we get away
with 'hidey-hole' or 'refuge' ?
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