Thanks for this Jed.  It's often only when you've done research like this that you uncover the more idiomatic use of language (whereas I was just looking at the surface grammar). 
 
Thanks,
Sarah.
----- Original Message -----
From: Gerald Mcharg
To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003 12:01 AM
Subject: From Jed Re: [norse_course] Hrafnkell ch 1 lines 1-19 Sarah Bowen

 
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2003 6:29 PM
Subject: [norse_course] Hrafnkell ch 1 lines 1-19 Sarah Bowen

Sæl þýðandar!
 
CHAPTER 1

Þat var á dögum Haralds konungs ins hárfagra,
It wsa in the days of king Harald the Fine-Hair,

Hálfdanar sonar ins svarta,
of the son of Halfdan the Black,

Guðrøðar sonar veiðikonungs,
of the son of Gudrod the hunting-king,

Hálfdanar sonar ins milda ok ins matarilla,
of the son of Halfdan the merciful but stingy,

Eysteins sonar freys,
of the son of Eystein Frey,
  
Oláfs sonar trételgju Svíakonungs,
of the son of Olaf the wood-cutter, king of the Swedes,

at sá maðr kom skipi sínu til Íslands í Breiðdal, er Hallfreðr hét.
that that man who was called Hallfred, came by boat to Breiddale in Iceland.

Þat er fyrir neðan Fljótsdalsherað.
That is along down from the Fljotsdale district.

Þar var á skipi kona hans ok sonr, er Hrafnkell hét.
Aboard the ship were his wife and son, who was called Hrafnkel.

Hann var fimmtán vetra gamall, mannvænn ok gørviligr.
He was 15 years old, promising and enterprising.

Hallfreðr setti bú saman.
Hallfred set up a farm.

Um vetrinn andaðisk útlend ambátt, er Arnþrúðr hét,
Over the winter, a foreign servant who was called Arnthrud, died,
 
ok því heitir þat síðan á Arnþrúðarstöðum.
and so it has been called Arnthrudstead since then.

En um várit foerði Hallfreðr bú sitt norðr yfir heiði ok gerði bú þar,
But in the spring, Hallfred moved his home north across the heath and settled there,
sem heitir í Geitdal.
which is called Goatdale.
Ok eina nótt dreymði hann, at maðr kom at honum ok mælti:
And one night he dreamed that a man came to him and said
'Þar liggr þú, Hallfreðr, ok heldr óvarliga.
"There you lie, Hallfred, and (that is) rather foolhardy.
Foer þú á brott bú þitt ok vestr yfir Lagarfljót.
Move your farm away westward across Lagarfljot.
Þar er heill þín öll.'
All your good fortune will be there."
Eptir þat vaknar hann ok foerir bú sitt út yfir Rangá í Tungu,
After that he woke and moved his farm across the river Rang into Tongue,
þar sem síðan heitir á Hallfreðarstöðum,
where it has been called Hallfredstead ever since
ok bjó þar til elli.
and (he) lived there into old-age.
En honum varð þar eptir geit ok hafr.
But it happened that a she-goat and a billy-goat were left.
Ok inn sama dag, sem Hallfreðr var í brott,
And the same day that Hallfred was on his way,
hljóp skriða á húsin,
a landslide fell down on the buildings
ok týndusk þar þessir gripir,
and these animals were lost
ok því heitir þat síðan í Geitdal.

and so it has been called Goatsdale ever since.
 
 
Query:  in the last line, why is it "í Geitdal" and not just "heitir þat síðan Geitdal."??  Hope someone can shed light on this!
 
Kveðja,
Sarah.
 
Sarah,
 
The practice of appending a preposition to a place name is not uncommon in English, either. I've come across medieval manorial accounts, charters etc. which gives a person's name, say,  as 'Alice atte well' , = Alice at (the) well - Alice whose home is by the source of a stream. Over the centuries the habitation of Alice, and presumably her neighbours, became known as Atwell.  In the process, these toponymic names also turned into surnames. 
Atwood  and Attercliffe in Sheffield, are other examples. The site of places can also be defined by inflectional endings. Millom in Cumbria is recorded in the 12th century as 'Millum'  which is dative plural of place meaning 'at-the-mills' The southern coastline  of Whitehaven, where I live, is called Saltom, which is not recorded anywhere as a place-name, but there are plenty of references to the salt pans which were built there, so I presume Saltom means 'at-the saltpans'.
 
As you can gather from this rather lengthy reply to your question, I find place-name studies fascinating. If anyone on this site, can provide additional information on toponymic place names found in Britain or the Nordic countries, I'd be interested. 'Geitdal' is easily translated as 'Goatdale' but I can't work out the full meaning of 'Rangá í Tunga'. I'm guessing,  but does it mean 'crooked/meandering river in/by the tongue of land'?  Perhaps Haukur can shed light on this.
Cheers
Jed
 



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