Re: Hrafnkel 101-125 / Laurel's

Sæl Sara, og þið hin :)

> Thanks for your comments. I guess at this stage we need an Icelander to tell us the true interpretation of these lines about the horses - were they unused to being ridden or not used to running away! Sometimes language is not entirely logical and you have to rely on intuition to get the real meaning... maybe Haukur could help us here.

Your questions may change, but by the gods, my answer will stay the same :)

1. It's a phrasal verb
2. Check the dictionary

http://www.northvegr.org/zoega/160.php

In this case you find that "ganga undan" means "to escape, to absent oneself".

I suppose this is somewhat important for an analysis of the story. It seems that
fate or some supernatural power (perhaps the horse himself) is forcing the poor
fellow to choose his own downfall. This, in turn, seems to be a folkloristic motive
indicating an oral tradition as a basis for this much debated saga (perhaps more
on this later).

> As for the form skjörr (sorry, my computer won´t do an o with a squiggle underneath)... given that the masculine form is skjarr, I guess you would expect skjör for the fem sing and neut plur, hmmm. Any insights here, please Haukur or anyone else?

Like 'kyrr', 'skjarr' has two r's in its root. This is indeed not obvious.

Kveðja,
Haukur