I have tried translating Helga þáttr Þórissonar, a short story from
Flateyjarbók, into German (the original text can be found online at
http://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/helga-th.htm ). There are already two
English translations, one by Jacqueline Simpson ("The Northmen talk",
1965, which I can't get in the library) and one of Hermann Pálsson (in
"Seven Viking Romances", 1985). There are some difficult formulations
in the text which are not so clear. When comparing my translation with
Pálssons, some differences became obvious:
- The two horns, which the two Grims give to king Olav in part 2:
Pálsson translates "Konungr lætr fylla hornin Gríma af góðum drykk ok
lætr byskup blessa ok lét færa Grímum, at þeir drykki fyrst af." as
"The king had the two Horns (both also called Grim) filled with good
ale and after that had them blessed by a bishop. Then the king had the
horns called Grim brought to the two men called Grim, so they could
take the first draught." I don't see where Pálsson gets from that the
horns themselves were called Grim; Gríma in the original sentence can
only be genitive plural and so it says "the horns of the Grims". At
the end of the story there's the form "hornin Gríma" again.
- The strophe: Pálsson doesn't translate word by word, but instead
makes a strophe himself which seems to be far from the original text.
I translate it as "The guests shall take the drinking-horns, while we
let rest this man (þegn) of Gudmund; and of his namesake shall he
drink; so god beer shall be given to the Grims". The part with "þenna
þegn" is a bit irritating; it can only be singular (while Pálsson
translates plural) and I wonder what is really ment ment with "af
samnafna sínum drekki" (obviously this was what led Pálsson to
suppose, that the horns were allso called Grim).
- the horns lying on the floor besides the dead men: "Sjá þeir ... þar
liggja hornin Grímar á gólfinu hjá inum dauðum". As far as I see, the
form "Grímar" can only be akkusative plural maskulinum; another hint
that the horns themselves are called Grim – or does it here maybe mean
something else?
- Helgi is brought back (beginning of part 3): "Hér færum vit þér
Gretti, konungr, ok er eigi víst, nær þú færir af þér." Pàlsson
translates: „We've brought a skeleton for your feast, my lord, and
you'll not so easily get rid of it again." I absolutely don't
understand what is meant with Gretti (it should be an akkusative-form
of the personal name Grettir, but why do they call Helgi like this?);
neither do I have any idea, where Pálsson gets his skeleton and the
feast from…

I would be grateful for some suggestions for solving these
translation-problems; especially the thing about these drinkinghorns
seems to be of great importance for the meaning of the whole story.