----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, April 12, 2003 10:04
PM
Subject: Re: [norse_course] Bodvar Bjarki
translation
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' ?
Sarah
Thanks very much for your comments. They have
shown me that I've been a bit too slap-dash compared to you and others in
the group. I'll be more careful next time. I'm perfectly happy to work at
the speed of everyone else, unless there is a genuine desire by some to go
a little faster.
I have worked my way through all the West
Norse exercises in Gordon and the first two chapters in the East
Norse section. I don't think I'll carry on with this until someone else is
ready to join in with me. I now aim to go over the whole work again to
consolidate what I have learned.
Cheers
Jed Mc Harg
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Norse funny farm, overrun by smart people.
Homepage: http://www.hi.is/~haukurth/norse/
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escape from this funny farm try rattling off an e-mail
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