From: llama_nom
Message: 4752
Date: 2005-01-14
> > Veit Þorsteinn eigi, hvat af honum verðr.Literally present tense: Th. doesn't know what "happens" -- i.e.
> > "Th. didn't know what had happened to him" (or "what could have
> > become of him")
> Þorsteinn veit ekki hvað verður af honum.Are these the three meanings?
> Þorsteinn vissi ekki hvað varð af honum.
> Þorsteinn vissi ekki hvað yrði af honum.
> I'm not sure what you're thinking of.Thanks for the spell! I'll try and remember that next time the
> I'm reminded of the 'formáli' (rite?
> blessing? spell?) from the folklore:
>
> Komi þeir sem koma vilja,
> veri þeir sem vera vilja,
> fari þeir sem fara vilja,
> > Would subjunctive be either required or possible in ModernIcelandic
> > with a sentence like:meant "come
> >
> > Veit Þorsteinn eigi, hvat af honum verðr.
> > "Th. didn't know what had happened to him" (or "what could have
> > become of him")
>
> The indicative is still normal here.
>
> These sentences would be perfectly normal
> (with different meanings):
>
> Þorsteinn veit ekki hvað verður af honum.
> Þorsteinn vissi ekki hvað varð af honum.
> Þorsteinn vissi ekki hvað yrði af honum.
>
> This one would, I think, be abnormal:
>
> *Þorsteinn veit ekki hvað verði af honum.
>
>
> > I remember reading somewhere in Old Norse a phrase that
> > what may" or "whatever happens", but unfortunately I can't think*think*
> > where at the moment, or what exactly it was--any ideas? I
> > it had SEM in it, and maybe HVAT, but definitely VERÐR, ratherthan
> > VERÐI. Could it have been: hvat sem verðr? Google doesn't haveword
> > anything for that though, and I don't know how to do multiple
> > searches on the Orðabók Háskólans' text archive. Sorry to be so
> > vague (subjunctive even:)...
>
> I'm not sure what you're thinking of.
> I'm reminded of the 'formáli' (rite?
> blessing? spell?) from the folklore:
>
> Komi þeir sem koma vilja,
> veri þeir sem vera vilja,
> fari þeir sem fara vilja,
> mér og mínum að meinalausu.
>
> (Loosely:
>
> Come those who would come,
> Stay those who would stay,
> Go those who would go,
> With no harm to me or my own.
>
> The context is usually that of elvish
> incursions into a home.)
>
> In this case the subjunctive has a clear
> meaning. If we changed 'komi', 'veri' and
> 'fari' to 'koma', 'eru' and 'fara' it would
> turn an expression of a wish or command into
> a statement of fact.
>
> Kveðja,
> Haukur