> Like you, I thought "með landi" meant following the coast but

apparently here it is "by land" or "over land". If someone can give
me a convincing argument that this is incorrect, please do and I´ll
discuss it with my lecturer :-)


Hi Sarah,

Do you (or your lecturer!) have any examples of it meaning "by
land"? I just typed the phrase into Google, and found plenty of
quotes where it seems to be "[by sea] along the coast". Here's one
with the verb _fara_:

En er Haraldr konungr varð þessa tíðinda víss, þá dró hann her saman
ok skaut skipum á vatn; bjósk síðan með lið mikit ok ferr með landi
suðr... (Haralds saga ins Hárfagra, 36)

Harald is on his way to fight a sea battle. I suppose it doesn't
actually state that he is on board, but I found plenty more with
_sigla_ and other nautical verbs & contexts. Cleasy & Vigfusson
have "sail along the shore" for: sigla með landi. Also Gwyn Jones
has "south along the coast" at this point in his translation
of "Audun and the Bear". And by sea might be a more sensible way to
travel in medieval Norway... But I wonder if "með landi" could
theoretically also mean "[by land] along the coast", in the right
context? Or could it describle position with no motion: "situated
along the coast" (e.g. a cliff, or hills)? At Joshua 13,3, the
Icelandic Bible uses the phrase of a river, running along the border
of a country: frá Síhór, sem rennur fram með Egyptalandi að
austanverðu, til landamæra Ekron í norðri - það telst með landi
Kanaaníta...

Llama Nom