Hail Hawk !
I was looking through the Olaf's saga for examples of "undan".
It is used quite often, but I do not immediately understand
everything. Here I did find one example that I think
is very clear; it is one of the several examples of the maritime
use of the word:

En er þeir tóku til segls þá voru þeir Karli komnir langt undan landi.

This is a nice example for those who still think it might
mean "under", because in that case they'd need a submarine!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In Norwegian we can also say:
"Dét må du holde deg unna!"
(han måtte holde seg langt unna brennevinsflaska)
(he had to stay far away from booze)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Incidentally, here I also found an example of "undan"
combined with "draga":

Þórir segir: "Þá ætla eg enn allvel komið og skal það ekki undan draga."

(but off-hand I do not know the exact meaning)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here is another example with draga+undan.
In this case I think I do understand it:

"Sjáið þér," segir hann, "að nú lægir seglin þeirra og draga þeir
undan oss."

English: "they are _pulling_away_from_ us_"
(because they saw the sails getting smaller)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
höfðingjar skyldu fara og drepa það fólk sem undan hafði komist.
The chiefs should go and kill those who had escaped/gotten away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Here also, I believe, an example, which we were discussing,
of halda+undan:
Sighvatur skáld segir svo frá lyktum orustu:

Hörð er, síðs hermenn firrðu,
hlíf raufst fyr gram, lífi,
auðn að Engla stríði,
ómjúk, konung sjúkan.
Ör brá Ólafs fjörvi
öld, þar er her klauf skjöldu,
fólks, odda gekk fylkir
fund, en Dagr hélt undan.

(helt = pret. of halda)
Dagr famous for his "Dagshríð":

[Djúp og danskra vopna
Dagshríðar spor svíða. -- Þormóður kvað vísu.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
But I do not dare translate. For I recall that some of
these poems were extremely difficult.
(the traces of Dag's attack still hurt/burn.)
[Var þá orusta hin ákafasta. Kölluðu menn það Dagshríð.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And thus: "Dagr helt undan " -- what does it mean?

Kveðja,

Xigung




--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, Haukur Thorgeirsson
<haukurth@...> wrote:

> > In Modern Swedish, 'komma undan' means "get away from (something/-
> > one)". E.g. "Jag kom undan med några skråmor", meaning "I got away
> > with [only] a few scratches". Similar construction using 'undan' are
> > possible:
> >
> > 'draga sig undan' - move out of the way,
> > 'hålla sig undan' - keep away,
> > 'lägga undan' - put aside,
> > 'gånga undan' - go quickly,
> > 'undan för undan' - bit by bit,
> > etc
> >
> > The Swedish definition of the adverb 'undan' is "i riktning bort från
> > någon", translated "in direction away from something/-one".
> >
> > I wonder if Old Norse has expressions like
> >
> > *draga sik undan.
> > *halda sik undan,
> > *leggja undan,
> > *ganga undan,
> > *undan fyr undan,
> >
> > with the same meanings as in the Swedish examples.