Hi, Voden,

Cleasby & Vigfússon cite a slightly different version of this same
line in their entry for 'nær' under the meaning "when", hafðú njósn
af, nær þeir koma [
http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/png/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0460.png ].
Fritzner too includes this quote under the meaning "when" [
http://www.edd.uio.no/perl/search/search.cgi ], also missing out
the 'er', thus: hafðu njósn af, nær þeir koma. I haven't found
another example of 'nær er' with the meaning "when" yet. I thought
it might be formed in the same way as 'þá er', 'þegar er' "when".
The nearest I got was Egils saga ch. 53: 'vér fengum mikið orðaskak,
næst er vér komum til konungs', which Paul Edwards and Hermann
Pálsson translate: "I had hard words from the king last time we met".

> I reckon It is obvious that the author knows his Latin and most
> probably his Hebrew and his Greek. The translation of this sentence
> it self is an challenge of beeing on the lookout [after prepos.

Not obvious to me, but then I don't know much Latin or Greek, and no
Hebrew unfortunately. Are there other examples in the saga which
show the influence of these languages? Can you give examples from
Latin to illustate your point, for us non-classically educated
folk? I take it by this, the word order seems odd to you? If 'nær'
was part of the phrasal verb 'að koma nær' in this sentence,
wouldn't you expect it to come later, e.g. 'er þeir koma nær',
or 'er þeir nær koma'?

Llama Nom

P.S. Some examples from sagas of 'að koma nær' "approach", "come
near":

svo að engi má nær koma
Það vildi engi þeirra og eigi nær koma
að þessi félagi minn skyldi nær koma

að þess manns myndi hefnt verða, ef hann félli á grúfu, og þeim nær
koma hefndin, er fyrir yrði, er hinn félli;

And with other adverbs:

er þeir koma heim
Og nú er þeir koma suður
Og er þeir koma út með Valfelli
En er þeir koma ofan í dal nakkvarn,

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Blanc Voden" <uoden@...> wrote:
>
> hi there,
>
> Just had to ...
>
>
> "Að koma nær" is to approach.
>
> But now you have to be on the lookout when they approach the town
> and report/inform my.
>
> Thanks Uoden
> I reckon It is obvious that the author knows his Latin and most
> probably his Hebrew and his Greek. The translation of this sentence
> it self is an challenge of beeing on the lookout [after prepos.
>
>
> --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <600cell@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > hafa at varðveita "to have in [one's] keeping" (cf. post #6449).
> >
> > > En nú haf þú njósn af nær er þeir koma til bæjarins og seg
mér."
> > > But now you have watch of when they come to the town and tell
> me.'
> >
> > nær er "when" (Zoega's nær (7) + the relative 'er', which can
also
> > mean "when" on its own).
> >
> > MM & HP: "Keep watch and let me know when they arrive in town."
> > More literally perhaps: "But now get news/intelligence of [them]
> when
> > they come to town and tell me." According to the
> dictioanries 'njósn'
> > can be either the action "spying, scouting, keeping watch" or the
> > result "news, intelligence". Maybe both are implied here?
> >
> > LN
> >
>