> I think the verb "láta" is like German "lassen",
> to "let" things happen, allow, etc. Well, I'll see if
> I can find examples. At any rate, N.Ã.. Nielsen says that
> Danish "lade" is etymologically the same as G. "lassen",
> O.E., Gothic "letan", etc. To me, it has a kind of relaxed
> quality about it. (and very little that freudian stress-
> producing state of mind)
>
> Vale,
> Xigung.

I've seen 'láta' used in a lot of non-relaxing situations. Regular
readers can probably see what's coming next, but:


(1) Létu þeir nú rista örn á baki Ellu ok skera síðan rifin öll frá
hrygginum...

"They had the [blood] eagle cut in Ella's back and [had] all his
ribs severed from the spine..." etc., etc.

(I guess that's one way to relieve stress.)



(2) lætr nú gera eina hörpu svá mikla, at þar lét hann meyna Áslaugu
í koma ok margar gersimar í gulli ok silfri...

"he now has a harp made, so big that he could get Aslaug inside it
with many treatures of gold and silver..." (at least, I think this
is the idea of the second 'lét').


(3) Hann lætr gera sér föt með undarligum hætti, þat eru loðbrækr ok
loðkápa, ok nú er ger eru, þá lætr hann þau vella í biki.

"He has garments made for himself of a curious kind, namely shaggy
fur trousers and a fur cape, and now that they're done, he has them
boiled in pitch."


In each of these examples, the impetus for the action described with
the infinitive verb comes from the subject of the finite
verb 'láta'. The first example is an act of personal vengeance,
which no one else would have a motive for, so I think it must
be "had" or "caused to be done". In (2), the harp is Heimir's
cunning plan to save the daughter of Sigurd and Brynhild from her
enemies who mean to kill her. Aslaug is 3 years old, though she
does grow up wise, and no one else has been mentioned in the story
who might be concerned enough, or clever enough, to think of such a
ruse. In (3), again, it's purely the protagonist, Ragnar's, idea.
The story gives the impression that no one else has the faintest
idea at this point what he's up to, so he's definitely not allowing
eccentric tailors to indulge themselves, but rather giving orders or
instructions.

Still, 'láta' has many other meanings in other contexts, some of
which may correspond to English "let", e.g. Zoega has 'látit mik
vita' "let me know" (which I suppose is also "cause me to know!"
though we probably wouldn't say it that way). 'Hann lét
fallast' "he let himself fall". I think Modern German 'lassen' is
sometimes used where it's more a matter of "cause" than "let", isn't
it? Weirdly, Gothic 'letan' fits the translation "let" more
consistently than even Old English 'lætan'. But maybe that's an
artifact of the limited evidence. The OE verb can be "permit", but
also many other things, including "cause", just like ON 'láta'.
Perhaps Icelandic 'láta' has accumulated the meanings of several old
compounds, such as appear in Gothic with the prefixes af- and fra-.

But would 'láta', on its own, ever be used in the sense of "permit",
I wonder, or would a preposition be required, or would 'lofa' be
more likely, or maybe if granting a request 'unna' or 'veita'
or 'játa'?

Llama Nom