What if it's the air the tower is 'hanging on' as well as 'in'? It seems plausible to me, the writer over-repeats himself, 'hekk � turn � loptinu', the cofusion might be due to a superfluos preposition? Does this proposition crash with any rules? Both of them takes akkusative in a temporal 'role' (I have to get my gramatic english in place... Meanwhile, I hope I'm understood), -as I think is the case of 'loptinu'. Or am I asssuming to much, are there rules or anything elsewhich speaks against?
Annika
llama_nom <600cell@...> wrote:
I'm puzzling over this description of a wondrous tower in Eireks
saga v��f�rla:
S� �eir �� �v� l�kast sem st�pull v�ri ok hengi � loptinu ok engir
st�lpar undir. �eir n�lgast �angat. �ar s� �eir, at hekk � turn �
loptinu � engum st�lpum. Sunnan vi� turninn st�� stigi.
They saw then what looked (for all the world) like a pillar /
steeple / tower. And it seemed to be suspended in the air with
nothing holding it up. They approach it. Then they saw that A
TOWER WAS HANGING (?ON [IT]) in the air with nothing to support it.
A ladder stood propped against the south side of the tower.
st�pull, m. (1) steeple, tower; (2) pillar = st�lpi
st�lpi, m. post, pillar, column
I'm just trying to visualise this miraculous set-up. I'm assuming
that in this case 'st�pull' isn't synonymous with
'st�lpi', since
we're explicitly told that there aren't any of those. But is
the 'st�pull' likely to be the same as the 'turn' (perhaps just less
specific when seen from a distance), in which case can 'hekk �' be
used in an absolute sense, simply "was hanging [up there]"? Or
does 'hekk �' imply that the 'turn' is dangling down from a steeple,
or that it's just hanging suspended in the air perhaps balenced on
top of a pillar that doesn't reach all the way to the ground?
Somehow I don't think archeology can help us here, so it comes down
to the grammar. All suggestions (sketches?!) welcome,
Llama Nom
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