Sarah

This is a freer translation than is usual even for me because I wasn’t happy with the way the words were coming out in English when I tried to keep close to the text.

Boðvarr Bjarki  lines 30 – 48  A quiet evening meal

Eptir þat kveldar ok drifa menn í höllina ok sjá Hrólfs kappar at Höttr er settr á bekk upp,

After that evening came and men thronged in to the hall and Hrolf’s warriors saw that Hott was seated up on a bench,

ok þykkir þeim sá maðr hafa gört sik œrit djarfan, er þetta hefir til tekit

and it seemed to them that this man had made himself brash enough, when he presumed to do this.

Illt tillit hefir Höttr, þá er hann sér kunningja sína, því at hann hefir ilt eitt af þeim reynt,   

Hott had some evil looks when he saw the ones he knew, because he had experienced ill treatment from them,

hann vill lifa gjarnan ok fara aptr í beinahrúgu sína, en Böðvarr heldr honum, svá at hann

he was eager to stay alive and return to his pile of bones, but Bothvar held him, so that he

náir ekki í brottu at fara, því at hann þóttisk ekki jafnberr fyrir höggum þeira, ef hann næði þangat at komask, sem hann er nú

could not get away, because it seemed to him that he  would not be exposed to their blows on all sides, as he was now, if he could manage to get there.

Hirðmenn hafa nú sama vanda, ok kasta fyrst beinum smám um þvert gólfit til Böðvars ok Hattar.

The men in the hall kept to their usual custom and at first they threw small bones across the floor at Bothvar and Hott.

Böðvarr lætr sem hann sjái eigi þetta.  Höttr er svá hræddr at hann tekr eigi mat né drykk,

Bothvarr pretended he did not see this. Hott was so frightened that he would neither eat nor drink,

ok þykkir honum þá ok þá sem hann muni vera lostinn.  Ok nú mælti Höttr til Böðvars: ‘Bokki sæll,

and thought at every moment that he would be hit. And now Hott spoke to Bothvarr, ‘Bokki saell,

nú ferr at þér stór knúta, ok mun þetta ætlat okkr til nauða’.  Böðvarr bað hann þeggja.

a lot of knuckle-bones are coming at you, and this is intended to hurt us.’ Bothvar told him to be quiet.

Hann setr við holan lófann ok tekr svá við knútunni; þar fylgir leggrinn meða

He cupped his hands and so caught the knuckle bones; the leg joints were attached to them.

Böðvarr sendi aptr knútuna ok setr á þann sem kastaði, ok rétt framan í hann með svá harðri svipan at hann fekk bana.

Bothvarr sent the knuckle joint back and hurled it at the one who had thrown it, and it got him in the face with so hard a knock that it killed him.

Sló þá miklum ótta yfir hirðmennina.

Then the men were struck with a great fear.

line 33. ‘eitt’.   Is the the accusative of ‘eiðr’ -  ‘oath’, or ‘eitr’, - ‘poison’, ‘bitterness’, ‘malice’                     

line 42. ‘Bokki sæll’.  I’m not happy with any of the translations of this, so I’ve kept to the original because to me it sounds better. Why not? As English speakers we are quite happy to use the honorific or polite titles such as ‘sahib’ from India or ‘bwana’ from the Swahili or even the French ‘monsieur’.

line 44.   ‘Hann setr við holan lófann’  Gordon informs us that this means ‘receive in the (hollow) palm of the hand’, which helps us neither grammatically nor semantically. Zœga and Barnes are of no help either. It is in situations like this that you feel yourself quietly drowning. The only thing I can think of, is that ‘Hann setr…’ is elliptic, with the general sense being  ‘he set (himself to receive the knuckle bones) in the hollow of his hands.’ Am I on target, or has the dart gone through somebody’s ear?

Cheers,

Jed