Thanks a bunch LN I understand it better - sometimes I find it easier not so much to simply guess - but to grasp when I know what I know and then to try filling in the blanks
I thought he was to get to practicing magic, but now you explain it in that light - yes it sounds a bit further on from mere Prophecy, and yes I thought it went much further that Halgerð being simply - placated by a kind elder relative it did sound sinister - but I was at a loss to express that opinion
Again thanks
Kveðja
Patricia
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: llama_nom
To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 8:03 PM
Subject: [norse_course] Re: Chapter 10 (first part) Njal's Saga (Patricia's translation)



> hvað ætlað var

Yes, what was intended/planned. MM & HP "what was to happen".

> Þú munt vera gefin í annað sinn
> og munt þú þá eftir spurð

"You will be given in marriage a second time, and you will be asked
then." (A sinister way of saying that, after the terrible thing that
he will do on her behalf, her father will be sure to consult her next
time, so as to avoid similar trouble in future.)

> alls staðar mun eg gera að þínu skapi nema
> þar er faðir þinn er eða Hrútur."
> in all things I will do that will you be happy except where it
touches your father or Hrut

Yes, you've got the idea. MM & HP "I will carry out your every wish,
except where your father or Hrut are concerned." (i.e. as long as it
doesn't mean crossing these two).

> Síðan tala þau ekki um fleira
> Afterwards they discussed it no further.

That's right

> ef þér þykir sæmd í."

MM & HP "if you think my presence would honour it."

> og var eigi boðið færra en hundraði.
> and the wedding feast was no less than a hundred

"and no fewer than a hundred were invited". As in English, verbs
which take an accusative direct object turn that into the nominative
in the passive:

ek drap hann : hann var drepinn
I killed him : he was killed

But, unlike anything in English, verbs which take a dative or genitive
direct object have an impersonal passive. Instead of turning into the
nominative, the passive subject of such verbs stays in the dative (or
genitive), and the neuter singular of the past participle is used:

ek bauð honum : honum var boðit
I invited him : he was invited

ek bauð þeim : þeim var boðit
I invited them : they were invited

Notice that 'hundrað' is in the dative here, 'hundraði'.

> Honum bauð Hallgerður til boðs síns

> (if I have it right him - accusative Halgerd - nom and her feast is
dat (?)

honum = Svanur, dat. governed by the verb 'bjóða'.
Hallgerður, nom. is the subject of the sentence.
boðs síns "her feast", gen., governed by the preposition 'til'.

"H. invited him to her wedding."

The subject and object have swapped over their usual positions for
reasons of style or emphasis. Accusative would be Hallgerði.