Abert Morley Sturtevant
"A Type of Ellipsis in Old Norse"
Modern Language Notes, Vol. 27, No. 3. (Mar., 1912), pp. 75-78
He discusses this sentence from Hervarar saga:
Þykkjumk ek ok makligri mína boen at þiggja en berserkir þessir.
Which I read as: "Also I think myself more worthy to receive my
request than these berserks (are to receive theirs)." (He wants the
same as the berserks, namely to marry the king's daughter.)
But Sturtevant interprets it as: "I think also it is more fitting
for you to accept my request than theirs." He fills in what he
supposes are this missing words like this:
* Þykkjumk ek ok (vera) makligri (þér) mína boen at þiggja en
berserkir þessir (þykkjumk mér OR þykkjumk sína boen at þiggja.
Which all seems a bit odd and confusing to me. 'þykkjumk
mér'? 'makligri' agrees with 'ek', as Sturtevant mentions, but his
interpretation seems to demand a neuter. Searching for a parallel
just now I found this, which looks much more as if the subject
of 'þiggja' is the person receiving (being granted) the boon, rather
than the person who grants accepting the request.
ok skaltu þiggja af mér hverja boen, er þú vilt beðit hafa, en oss
samir at veita,
"and you shall receive from me whatever boon you care to ask for
that is fitting for us to grant"