I do not go out, I prefer my books to trolling round the
store, (stores deliver) so would it be right to say
Ek en Heimdraga
or could either of you elucidate - is a stay at home a
term of disapproval from a Norseman's point of view
Kveðja
Patricia
A lazy person - there is a old Old phrase - in English
- a stay-a-bed now if we could find a phrase for that with a -
dragi ending, that might be an interesting find
> Also, how precise is the translation stay-at-home
for heimdragi, which > both Gordon and Zöega both give? A
stay-at-home seems to me to be > someone who never leaves home while
the components of heimdragi suggest > to me, rather, someone who
is always keen to get back home whenever they > go away. Is this
quibble valid?
Sæll Alan,
Here's what I've found.
Fritzner has "Person som holder sig hjemme i, ved Huset", which I think
means "a person who stays at home in/at [their] house".
Cleasby/Vigfusson, less helpfully "a 'home- dragger,' laggard".
Zoega "stay-at-home"; hleypa heimdragi (lit. "cast off the h.") "to see
the world".
Þat er nú gömlum gleði heimdraga at spjalla helst
við spaka drengi. (Bandamanna saga, 8)
"That is
now a joy to the old stay-at-home to talk most with a wise
'dreng'." The old man Ófeigr is the speaker of the verse.
He´s referring to himself in a self-depricating way, his intention
being to persuade Egill Skúlason (recipient of his compliment) to
speak with him.
Varkat ek dási er ek þessa dró oft,
ósjaldan ár á borði. Sjá gerði mér sára lófa meðan heimdragi
hnauðat rauða. (Flóamanna saga, 29)
"I was no
sluggard when I pulled this oar on the boat-side, often, not
rarely. This gave me sore palms while the stay-at-home hammered
iron." (Verse found carved in runes on a piece of oar).
In
Magnússona saga, ch. 21, Heimskringla, King Sigurðr boasts to King
Eysteinn of his achievements in Serkland, concluding, "Þótti ek þar mest
verðr er ek fann göfgasta menn en ek hygg at eigi hafir þú enn hleypt
heimdraganum."--I was considered the greatest there when I met men of
noble birth, but I think that you haven't yet cast off the
'heimdragi'". Laing, ch. 24 "you have only a home-bred
reputation." (Eysteinn remained in Norway, while Sigurðr went on
crusade.)
Haven't seen anything to contradict the
dictionaries. I wonder if there are any other words ending in
-dragi?