----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2005 3:49
PM
Subject: Re: [norse_course] Translation
for an inscription
""And promptly found that to be much more
difficult than I'd realized.
I did find an Old Icelandic to English
dictionary, but I'm not sure
how close Old Icelandic is to Old Norse.
(Can anyone answer that
question for me? Where is the best place to
go for simple, one word
translations from English to Old
Norse?)""
I study Old Norse with an Old Icelandic
Dictionary,
and if you have a knowledge of Modern Icelandic
and German both will help with the study of either of the Old
languages
I regret that is all I can offer
Patricia
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2005 2:01
PM
Subject: [norse_course] Translation for
an inscription
Greetings to all. I'm looking for some help on a
project, and I'm not
quite sure how difficult it is and therefore what
recompense I should
offer. However, let me lay out what I have, and
you can decide.
One of my hobbies is historical weapons, and given my
Norwegian
background the Viking Era has always been of special interest
to me.
With that in mind I've recently contracted with a swordsmith to
have a
sword forged that is based around an example from a museum.
However,
I wanted to customize the blade by changing the inscription that
was
on it to something personal to me. (In the early part of the
era
runic inscriptions were put on many blades, while in later years
they
tended to use the latin character set. I've opted for
runic.) So I
came up with several short phrases that I liked, and
proceeded to try
and translate them into Old Norse.
And promptly
found that to be much more difficult than I'd realized.
I did find an
Old Icelandic to English dictionary, but I'm not sure
how close Old
Icelandic is to Old Norse. (Can anyone answer that
question for
me? Where is the best place to go for simple, one word
translations
from English to Old Norse?)
Moreover, the grammatical rules were
confusing, and as I was looking
for help on that, someone pointed me in
the direction of this group.
So I decided to see if someone could help
me with the whole thing,
rather than struggle with it myself and probably
end up with a lot of
errors.
Well that's my long-winded
history, and here are the pieces of what
I'm looking to
translate.
RICC MADE ME - This is a
reference to the swordsmith.
Essentially a makers
mark.
HOUSE HERREID POSSESSES ME or THE LINE
OF HERREID WIELDS ME or I
BELONG TO THE CLAN HERREID or something else
similar - This is,
obviously, a personal reference. I'm trying to
say that the sword
belongs to me and my
descendants.
JORMUNGAND'S FANG BOUND WITH
ODIN'S WISDOM FOR HEIMDALL'S TASK -
This incorporates several things from
Norse mythology that appeal to
me, and that I think might have meant
something to a Norseman in that
era. This does stretch beyond
what's typically been found on their
swords, but since I like
it....
And that's my story. If someone can help, I would very
much
appreciate it. But I also know that people are busy, and so I
would
be happy to pay someone for a good translation into Old Norse
(Old
Icelandic?). Please let me know, and thank you for your
time.
Pete