Eysteinn thought that "yank" would be a fair translation of 'kippa' in
these examples.

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <600cell@...> wrote:
>
> --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Patricia" <originalpatricia@>
> wrote:
> >
> > Thank you LN but I see I have misread
> > Kippti upphávum I could not get upphávum properly nevertheless
I saw
> > Kippti defined as jerked and saw that he was putting his boots
on so
> > I took it as meaning jerked to his feet and went for his boots to
> put them
> > on
> > And his tunic - well it's cold out there upp seemed to go with
> Jerked and I
> > got
> > Jerked (I.e. Suddenly) to his feet and got decently dressed to go
to the
> > door
> > I have misunderstood - should I have rendered it as "he got up and
> jerked
> > on his boots"
> > Would that have been better
> > Please advise
> > Patricia
>
>
> `upphávum' is an adjective, masculine dative plural of `upphár' (upp
> "up" + hár "high") "reaching high up the leg", agreeing with `skóm'.
>
> Kippa. CV has various expressions with this verb such as pulling in
> the gangway of a ship, weighing anchor, etc., including `kippa skóm á
> fætr sér' [
http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/png/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0338.png ].
>
> I asked Eysteinn if `kippa' implied that the shoes were put on in a
hurry.
>
> His reply: "I don't exactly think so. The modern Icelander would tend
> to sense hurry here, but in these examples I sense a meaning closer to
> "slide", "snap", or something like that. It is not easy to translate
> one-on-one. Obviously the shoes are put on in one, quick movement, but
> I don't think any hurry is necessarily implied. I would depend on the
> context, I suppose. The translators of N. obviously feel there is a
> need to add an implication of urgency to the translation, but
> correctly decide that using a "speedier" verb would be overkill. So,
> all in all, I would say, yes - a swift move is implied, but not
> necessarily hurry. It is very probably a type of shoe that could be
> pulled on with one swift movement. In modern usage, "kippa" usually
> implies "tug", "jerk"."
>
> I wondered if `to slip on one's shoes' might be a good match.
>
> Eysteinn: "Not quite. "Kippa" is more forceful. I note that H's shoes
> are "upphávir", so he would need some force. I suspect the meaning of
> "kippa" here indicates that he almost "jerks" on his shoe in a single,
> forceful movement, rather than in smaller, more numerous movements one
> would usually perform in order to put on a shoe like that. "Slip"
> sounds rather effortless, which "kippa" is not. Ultimately, this
> somewhat implies hurry - but the context is all important. For
> example, you could say "hann kippti á sig skónum, og sat svo lengi og
> starði út um gluggann". No hurry whatsoever is implied, although the
> shoes are put on rather abruptly."
>
> Some other examples I found:
>
> Nj. 44. Njáll kippti skóm á fætur sér og gekk út og öðrum megin
> hússins. Magnús Magnússon and Hermann Pálsson translate: "Njal
> *pulled* on his shoes and went out at once, round to the other side of
> the house." Here too they use that technique of adding some extra
> words to indicate speed, to make up for the neutral verb `pull'.
>
> Fljótsdoela saga 18. Í þennan tíma vaknar Austmaðurinn í tjaldinu.
> Hann þarf að ganga örna sinna. Hann rís upp í skyrtu og línbrækur.
> Hann kippir skóm á fætur sér en hneppir ei. "Meanwhile, the Norwegian
> awakes in the tent. He needs to go to relieve himself. He gets up in
> his shirt and linen breeches. He pulls on his shoes but doesn't ties
> the laces." (Or at the risk of overkill: yanks on?)
>
> Heiðarvíga saga 9. kippir fljótlega skóm á fætur sér "quickly
> pulls/yanks(?) on his shoes"
>
> LN
>
>
>
> >
> >
> > -------Original Message-------
> >
> > From: llama_nom
> > Date: 01/09/2006 23:33:28
> > To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [norse_course] Re: Njal Ch 17 part two from Patricia
> >
> > --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Patricia" <originalpatricia@>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Those high shoes of yours Grace I have called boots in my
> > translation, they would be maybe high up around the leg
> > >
> >
> > > Hrútur hafði vakað og kippti upphávum skóm á fætur sér, fór í treyju
> > og tók sverð í hönd sér.
> >
> > MM & HP: "H. had been lying awake. He jumped up at once and pulled on
> > his tunic and boots. He took his sword..." But I think the "he
> > jumped up at once" has been added by the translators, perhaps (and I'm
> > just speculating here) to give the sense of sudden movement in 'kippa'
> > which might have been lost by rendering it "pull on".
> >
>