From: Haukur Thorgeirsson
Message: 3473
Date: 2003-08-19
> Þat var á dögum Haralds konungs ins hárfagra,Yeah. Personally I'd prefer "It was".
> This was in the days of King Harald the Fairhaired,
> Hálfdanar sonar ins svarta,Aha.
> son of Halfdane the black,
> Guðrøðar sonar veiðikonungs,That's right.
> son of Guðrod, the hunting-king,
> Hálfdanar sonar ins milda ok ins matarilla,Yeah. Well. I think 'mildr' means "generous" here.
> son of Halfdane the merciful and the food-stingy,
> Eysteins sonar freys,Lower case 'freyr'?
> son of Eystein of Freyr
> Oláfs sonar trételgju Svíakonungs,Yup.
> son of Olaf treecutter, king of the Swedes,
> at sá maðr kom skipi sínu til Íslands í Breiðdal, er Hallfreðr hét.Correct. (And awkard :)
> that this man came by his own ship to Iceland to Breiðdal,
> who was called Hallfreð
> Þat er fyrir neðan Fljótsdalsherað.Yes.
> which is below the district Fljótsdal
> Þar var á skipi kona hans ok sonr, er Hrafnkell hét.Correct.
> There on ship was his wife and son, who was called Hrafnkel.
> Hann var fimmtán vetra gamall, mannvænn ok gørviligr.I like 'promising' for "mannvænn".
> He was fifteen winters old, promising and enterprising.
> Hallfreðr setti bú saman.You really say that? :)
> Hallfreð put together a farm.
> Um vetrinn andaðisk útlend ambátt, er Arnþrúðr hét,Handmaid? Slave?
> during winter a foreign handmaid died, who was called Arnþruð,
> ok því heitir þat síðan á Arnþrúðarstöðum.I'd prefer the passive voice: "It is called..."
> and so since then they called it Arnþrudstad.
> En um várit foerði Hallfreðr bú sitt norðr yfir heiði ok gerði bú þar,Correct.
> and in the spring Hallfreð brought his farm north over a heath
> and built a farm there,
> sem heitir í Geitdal.Which he called?
> where he called it Geitdal. (goat-dale)
> Ok eina nótt dreymði hann, at maðr kom at honum ok mælti:Right.
> And one night he dreamed, that a man came to him and said:
> 'Þar liggr þú, Hallfreðr, ok heldr óvarliga.Correct.
> 'There you lie, Hallfreð, and rather incautiously,
> Foer þú á brott bú þitt ok vestr yfir Lagarfljót.Does 'á brott' especially carry the sense "by road"?
> Bring away (by road) your farm and west over Lagarfljot.
> Þar er heill þín öll.'Hmm... That would be "Þar er heill þínum öllum".
> There is luck for all thine.'
> Eptir þat vaknar hann ok foerir bú sitt út yfir Rangá í Tungu,Right. It's very weird to see 'Tungu' in the translation, though.
> After that he woke and brought his farm out over Ranga in Tungu,
> þar sem síðan heitir á Hallfreðarstöðum,Here I'd definitely prefer the passive voice.
> where he afterwards called it Hallfreðstad.
> ok bjó þar til elli.Right.
> and lived there to an old age.
> En honum varð þar eptir geit ok hafr.See below.
> but he left behind him a nanny- and a billy-goat.
> Ok inn sama dag, sem Hallfreðr var í brott,Okay.
> and the same day, when Hallfreð was on the road,
> hljóp skriða á húsin,Right.
> a landslide fell down on the house,
> ok týndusk þar þessir gripir,Slightly more literally: "and those animals were lost".
> and there perished these animals,
> ok því heitir þat síðan í Geitdal.Once more I'd like the passive voice.
> and so he named that afterwards Goat-dale.
> A couple questions:I think you have to rely on your own taste here.
> 'Þat var...': is this just an existential construction, like English
> 'There was' ? I keep wanting to translate it literally 'This was in the
> days...', but it sounds false.
> 'honum varð þar eptir': Gordon glosses this as 'he left behind', but IHere we obviously have a phrasal verb: "verða eptir". The best way to find
> can't quite make sense of this phrase; 'it happened to him where after'?
> varð is from varða, 'to happen, to become'?