Hi xigung

May I ask which dictionary you have. I use GT Zoega´s Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, which cites:

sel, n, shed on a mountain pasture (where the milk-cows are kept in the summer months.

It makes no reference to "í sel" referring to the pastures rather than the shed.

You´re right - the sentence makes no explicit mention of sheep. It makes no explicit mention of animals at all. That´s my point. If Einarr is bringing something, it could just as easily be his clothes (which were mentioned in the previous sentence) but presumably nothing else, because he only went home to get his clothes.

Alysseann

-----Original Message-----
From: xigung [mailto:xigung@...]
Sent: Thursday, 20 November 2003 6:32 AM
To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [norse_course] Re: Hrafnke/ i sel

--- In Yahoo Alan wrote:
> Einarr ferr nú heim eptir klæðum sínum ok flytr heim á Aðalból.
> Einarr - goes - now - home - after - clothing - his - and - removed
- home - to â€" Aðalból

> Síðan var fÅ"rt (foert) í sel fram í Hrafnkelsdal,
> afterwards - was - brought - within - shieling - forward - in -
Hrafnkelsdalr
> After that (the sheep) were driven to a shieling in the upper part
of Hrafnkel's Valley,
> Question: How do you know the sheep is the subject here?
I thought it could be “He (ie Einarr) was brought to the shieling…”

Hi Alan,

My dictionary says that "í sél" refers to summer pastures.
If that is correct, then it simply refers to grazing grounds
at higher elevations that are used for the animals during
the summer season. I think "foera" here simply means "to move"
but then moving with all the animals. Where does it say sheep
btw? The sentence itself does not mention any sheep.
But the verb "foera" does have a connotation of "leading"
or "driving" the animals along in a certain direction.
You can't be absolutely sure that "fram" means to go to
higher elevations. Especially if it is a long and flat valley,
that would not be so significant. More important is if you
are moving with or against the direction in which the river flows.
Here I think it means "deeper" into the valley, but the dictionary
says that it can mean both; but that in the West it is usually
"into" the valley, whereas in the East it often means "out of" the
valley. Since Iceland is in the West, I think it would mean
"up the valley".

So I'd say it means "Later they drove the animals up the Hrafnkel's
valley to the summer pastures."


Best
Xigung



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