Just a thought Alan, we have a constitutional Monarch in England today, but back in Those Days, there were Ruling Monarchs.
Our Queen, does let things happen, with her Prime Minister behaving in many ways like a President I notice she does not have a great deal of choice, she has to let things happen, even though a show of sorts is made of regarding her as Sovereign.
In the times of the Vikings - in the Kings household you did not do anything very much til the King ordered it, apart from the day to day routines of Eating Sleeping killing a few enemies and a spot of Feasting now and then, it was a case of the Kings word being Law, so IMnsHO any King of Viking times does not let anything happen, he B.well orders it or heads roll.
Blessings
Patricia
----- Original Message -----
From: AThompson
Sent: Sunday, April 17, 2005 6:52 AM
Subject: RE: [norse_course] Re: Auðun section 15/feedback Patricia

 

And I can recall numerous instances in Hrafnkels Saga where 'láta' was used when someone wanted a saddle put on their horse. And I don´t think people would take too kindly to others saddling their horse without their explicit permission or command, especially not Hrafnkel and especially if the horse was called Freyfaxi J Nevertheless, it may not necessarily have to be a verbal order, simply implicit; for example if the master of the house suddenly appears outside wearing his riding breeches and with whip in hand, the servants may understand that as meaning “saddle up my horse!”

 

Kveðja

Alan

 

-----Original Message-----
From: norse_course@yahoogroups.com [mailto:norse_course@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of llama_nom
Sent: Sunday, 17 April 2005 2:57 PM
To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [norse_course] Re: Auðun section 15/feedback Patricia

 

 

 

 

>     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

 

 

 

 

 

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