Heill, Raymond!

> Let's say that I want to say something like this:
>
> he who is wise.
>
> Now - I have some idea of what each of these words are in ON.
>
> he = hann
> who = er
> is = er
> wise = spakr.

You're on the right track. But in clauses like this the demonstrative pronoun (sá)
rather than the personal pronoun is usually used.

> A literal translation, then, looks like:
>
> hann er er spakr.

"Sá er er spakr."

> However, no matter how I juggle these words around - I just don't like it -
> and I'm led to the conclusion that I should be using inverted order:
>
> hann er spakr er (he who wise is).

Indeed. This is probably more natural. But the "uninverted" word order does
occur. Here's a quote from the Icelandic Book of Homilies:

"Þá meguð ér marka hvárt maðrinn sá er er maðka
foeðsla eftir heim þenna mun öðlask mega dýrðina."

(Then you can see if the man who is the food
of earthworms after this world can attain glory.)

I think this would have been just as good:

"...maðrinn sá er maðka foeðsla er eftir heim þenna..."

Kveðja,
Haukur