From: Eysteinn Bjornsson
Message: 7184
Date: 2006-10-01
>>From: "Fred and Grace Hatton" <hatton@...>væri að
> >Haukadals og komu sér þar er eigi mátti finna þá fyrr en riðið
> >þeim.(them) then,
>
> >Hawkdale and came themselves there where not (none) might find
> >who before were (had) ridden after them.vera in the
>
> I'm not certain percisely how it would be better translated; but
> subjunctive could give aThe sentence, without a doubt, means: "... and stopped in a place
> slightly different meaning; "who would have rode after them" (?)
>> Urðu því engir menn varir við brautferð þeirra.especially
> >
> >(that) no men anticipated their get-away.
>
> It has been my practice that when I came across the dative því,
> in a context such as this with verða in the plural, I wouldinterpret it not
> as a general "it is the case that...." or "there was theoccurence...." type
> structure but that því = "of this" "because of this" etc."Því" simply means "therefore". The origin is "(af) því" = "for
> Literally, Urðu = These things occurred því = because of it
> Which would be normalized into
> Because of these things
> or simply
> For these/this reason(s)
> no men anticipated their get away.