--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Patricia"
<originalpatricia@...> wrote:

>
> Further to my previous e.mail LM
>
> Firstly in the Complete Sagas of the Icelanders, the tale of

Sarcastic Halli was translated by one George Clark

> And I will quote the part at the beginning of Chapter Seven
> There was a man called Einar who was nicknamed Fly, he was the son

of Harek from Thjota. He was a landholder and the Kings envoy to
Halagoland; he had the sole right to collect the King's tribute from
the Lapps. At this time he was on very good terms with the King,
though their relationship had its ups and downs.

> Einar was not at all straightforward. He killed men even if they

did not do everything that he wanted, and paid compensation for no
man

Einarr var maðr nefndr ok var kallaðr fluga. Hann var son Háreks ór
Þjóttu. Hann var lendr maðr og hafði sýslu á Hálogalandi ok finnferð
af konungi ok var nú í kærleikum miklum við konung en þó eldi þar
jafnan ýmsu á. Einarr var óeinarðarmaðr mikill. Drap hann menn ef
eigi gørðu allt sem hann vildi ok boetti øngvan mann.

Thanks! Some other curious idioms in there.

"but their relationship had it´s ups and downs" is 'en þó eldi þar
jafnan ýmsu á', which looks like lit. "but it burnt/cooked there
always variously/differently on [it]". Cf. Zoega 'elda' (4),
Fritzner (3), who explains this very line in fact: "der indtraf
jevnligen forskjellige Omstændigheder, som fik Indflydelse derpaa"
(there always arose various circumstances that had an influence on
it [their relationship, I guess]).

Einarr var óeinarðarmaðr mikill. For 'einarðarmaðr', Zoega has "a
steadfast, trusty man"; Fritzner similarly "paalideligt, trofast".
The adjective 'einarðr' is (1) single; (2) firm, determined,
reliable. Fritzner also has these two meanings (1) enkel (all
examples with inanimate objects); (2) fast, bestemt, uden at vakle i
sin Beslutning eller Adferd (without waivering in determination or
conduct). He gives 'einarðr maðr' as an example of the latter.
This is what Einarr was not!

> I think he's a thoroughly bad type - not to be trusted

You could be right... Now, reading on, you should find that this
dodgy Einarr "the fly" flugi tells of what he got up to in the
summer and how he attacked some Icelanders he suspected of
undermining his trade monopoly with the Lapps, and how in the
process of slaughtering them all, he killed one particularly
impressive Icelander also called Einarr who put up a really good
fight. Here Halli throws his knife on the table--turns out this
Einarr is his brother. Halli is warned that Einarr "fly" never pays
compensation, but he goes over to demand some anyway, of course.

"Hefir þú eigi spurt at ek boeti engan mann?" segir Einarr.
"Haven't you heard that I compensate no one?" says Einarr.

"Eigi er mér skylt at trúa því," segir Halli, "at ÞÉR væri ALLT ILLA
GEFIT þó at ek heyrði það sagt."

?? "I'm not obliged to believe," says Halli, "that you were
ALTOGETHER EVIL (?), even though I [have] heard that said."

And that's the line we're after. Curious to know what George Clark
does with that...

Llama Nom