Thanks, Eysteinn. Is it common to leave off the 2nd sg. ending -t in
manuscripts of this time -- 'drap þú' as opposed to 'drapt þú' /
'draptu' -- and would that only be done when the pronoun follows
immediately after the verb?



--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Eysteinn Bjornsson"
<eysteinn@...> wrote:

>
> --- "llama_nom" wrote:
>
> >> og drap svo niður málinu.
> >
> >MM & HP "and so you threw the claim out of court", but they must be
> >paraphrasing here, as this is the 3rd person sg. of 'drepa'. What is
> >the subject; is it impersonal "and so the case was thrown out"?
>
> Yes, if you use this variant of the text - apparently it
> derives from S ("Skafinskinna").
>
> The ÍF text reads: "ok drap þú svá niðr málinu" which
> is adopted from the gamma fragment of AM 162b. Gráskinna
> (GKS 2870) has an almost identical text: "ok draptu svá
> niðr málinu".
>
> Reykjabók (AM 468) and Oddabók (AM 466) have: "ok drápu
> svá niðr málinu", which would make "vinir" the subject.
>
> One should always keep in mind that the manuscript tradition
> of Njáls saga is extremely complex - possibly the most complex
> of all sagas. There are between 50 and 60 manuscripts in
> existence. 19 of these are thought to date from 1300-1550,
> all on vellum, but none of them complete. A description of
> the manuscripts can be found on pp. cxlix-clviii of the ÍF
> edition.
>
> Happy reading,
> Eysteinn
>