Sæl Patricia

 

Comments inserted as usual. Unfortunately, I’m really not the one to be asking about Old Norse poetry. From the little I know, these lenth of these lines do not seem unusual, and contain, typically, alliteration within each line. I can offer you no more than what is explained at the back of Gordon. However, one thing I can tell you is that word-order appears (to me at least) even more freer than prose. Take the first line for example, in normal subject-verb-object order, it would be written: ‘Allir meyjar vildu ganga með Ingólfi’ and if it had been written like that I’m sure you would not have had any problems with itJ

 

Maybe someone can advise the technical details of what form this verse is in.

 

I want to include more poetry myself, because, I also am keen to gain a better understanding and appreciation of it.

 

As an experiment, I have created up a small web page as a means of demonstrating the grammar, glossary, and translation for this section. Please Ctrl + click on the link to go to the page, have a look and tell me what you think. I would be interested in suggestions for improving the way the information is presented.

 

http://www.pcug.org.au/~athompso/Misc_B.htm

 

Kveðja

Alan

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: norse_course@yahoogroups.com [mailto:norse_course@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Patricia
Sent: Saturday, 11 June 2005 5:39 AM
To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [norse_course] Miscellanea Section B

 

Saell Alan,

I was entirely stumped on the Verse, and looked up everything, it only dawned on me it was a sort of boast, that everyone liked him (Ingolf) and he was glad to know it, I hope I have that correctly

 

Þorsteinn Ingimundarson var þá höfðingi í Vatnsdal.

Thorstein Ingimundarson was then  Chieftain in Vatnsdal

  Hann bjó at Hofi, ok þótti mestr maðr þar í sveitum.

he dwelt (had a living) at Hofi [Hof, the i is the dative ending]

 and was thought the best man of the Band/Group (Dat.M.Pl was used) [plural of ‘sveit’ usually has the meaning of ‘district’]

Ingólfr ok Guðbrandr váru synir hans. Ingólfr var vænstr maðr  norðanlands; um hann var þetta kveðit:

Ingolfr and Guðbrandr were his sons

Ingolf was the handsomest man in all Norway [(the) northern part of the country, Vatnsdalr is in the north of Iceland, see map at back of Gordon]; about him it [this] was said,

Here I went to pieces and looked up every word - it made not a bit of sense, but I am not familiar with Norse Verse

Then I fell to thinking that it is simply a case of them being all willful to accompany Ingolf where so ever he went

but the prose seemed simpler

Allar vildu meyjar            með Ingólfi ganga

All willing [wanted, vildu is past indicative of vilja] young people [maidens, nom pl of mær] go  with Ingolf

All the maidens   wanted to go with Ingolf

þær's vaxnar váru --        vesl emk æ til lítil!

those who growing [grown(-up), past part of vaxa] were     weak[miserable, wretched] am I (emk - em ek) alas [ever, always, or perhaps alas! oh!] and  [(being) too]small

Those who were grown       I am weak and small  alas (said a little one)

Ek skal ok, kvað kerling,             með Ingólfi ganga

I shall recites the old woman   with Ingolfi to go

I (also) shall recites?declares [declared, past] an old woman   go with Ingolf

 

meðan mér tvær of tolla              tennr í efra gómi.

in the meantime [while, conj] with me [my] two        teeth [stick] in upper gums [singular]

For so long as I have two teeth in (my) upper gums

 

 I want to see more of this Alan I think I could grow to like it, I think I've read it in the right order anyway, did they prefer short lines to their verse - always perhaps that is what threw me

 

 

Patricia

----- Original Message -----

From: AThompson

To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 11:01 AM

Subject: RE: [norse_course] Miscellanea Section B

 

Sælir

 

Let´s begin with Section B from Gordon´s Miscellanea. The text is from Hallfreðar saga, chapter 2; the verse is also in Vatnsdæla saga, chapter 37.

 

Kveðja

Alan

 

Þorsteinn Ingimundarson var þá höfðingi í Vatnsdal.  Hann bjó at Hofi, ok þótti mestr maðr þar í sveitum. Ingólfr ok Guðbrandr váru synir hans. Ingólfr var vænstr maðr  norðanlands; um hann var þetta kveðit:

Allar vildu meyjar            með Ingólfi ganga 

þær's vaxnar váru --        vesl emk æ til lítil!

Ek skal ok, kvað kerling,             með Ingólfi ganga

meðan mér tvær of tolla              tennr í efra gómi.