--- "llama_nom" wrote:

> > I'd say 1p subjunctive, thus: "Ek vænti (at) ek hafa heyrt ..."
>
> 'vænti' for earlier 'vænta', right? Stefán Karlsson in 'The

Icelandic

> Language' writes: "About 1300 3rd person singular forms were

replacing

> the 1st person forms. [...] Thus in the preterite indicative 'ek
> sagða' for instance became 'eg sagði'". Is 'vænti' subjunctive too:
> "I would expect..."?

I must be missing something here, - I'm not quite sure where
you are heading with this? "Vænti" - as far as I know - is just
1st person present indicative (which ought to end in -i, or what?).
The past tense would end in -a, and so would the subjunctive, but I
don't think this is either of those.

> Are ones like 'álmr hrings' or 'álmr undirgerðar þráðs jarðar'
> referring just to the fact that a man would wear gold ornaments such
> as gold arm-rings, or are these to do with generosity too?

Both? The rich/generous man would probably both own them, wear
them, and give them freely away. But a word of warning: we should
always beware of looking to deeply into the literal meanings of
kennings - they tend to be pretty mechanical (and meaningless,
despite the wealth of allusion). Thus a man might be called by
any of the man-kennings (fighter, sailor, rich man) without them
necessarily being TRUE. They are most often simple conventional
constructs, especially in later days. Even though a man is named
by any of the three constructs, it doesn't necessarily imply that
he IS one of these three things (although there is usually a good
chance that he is!) They might even be used sarcastically at
times, or for comical effect. I always thought it was rather funny
when Hymir (in Hymiskviða) refers to himself as "kjóla valdi" -
ruler of ships - when the only fleet in sight is the boat he
uses to fish for flounder and sole.

> Also derogatory, even if they do follow these patterns, if the
> base-word is some less respectable supernatural being, such as a

giant

> or troll-woman: "kent er ok við jötna heiti, ok er þat flest háð eða
> lastmæli."

Indeed they do.

Best,
Eysteinn