Hi there LN,

"Hafa" 6. eiga að, [to be due to (do something)> see owe ]
bera skylda til að [One's duty is]; before verb in infinitive,
before in texts without the infinitive marking "að".

"Hafa að gera" was before in texts "hafa gera".

"Þú hefir að borða": You are due to eat?
"Þurfa að gera" (need to do) we use most often when you use "have to
do"

Só [by my official dictionary]Soote was resposible by the text it
self.

I ponder, you wonder. Was "að" skipped out deliberately to save space
in text before or to let the text sound more elevated?

Hann geymir: he keeps [in general.
Hann varðVeitir : he save keeps and let it donate["veita" matches
donner in French) profit or pleasure.
"Varð" að suffix it points to concerning.
Soote's obligation was to take care of it and keep it from dust
falling at least.

Thanks Uoden

> So this 'við' appears with no plural/dual verb, and when it is

used

> with a plural/dual 1st person verb, the pronoun can appear in its
> normal position. I'm not sure if 'hafa' can be used as in English
> like that. Zoega (11) has some idioms with 'hafa at', but none of
> them correspond to English "have to".
>
> hafa at selja "to have on sale"
> hafa at varðveita "to have in keeping"
> lög hafið þér at mæla "you are right"
>
> But 'eiga at' + inf. can mean "to have to", see Zoega (7).
>
> eiga hendr sínar at verja "to have to defend oneself"
>
> LN
>