Re: Njal Ch 24 / Alan´s Translation

--- "AThompson" wrote:

>
> 24. kafli

Just a few pointers:

> að þeir megi heyra mál mitt?"
> that they are able to hear my suit?'

I'm pretty certain that "mál" here simply means
"speech, words" - i.e. "... that they can hear
what I'm saying?".

> Það hefir mig aldrei hent
> That has never befitted me

Simply: "That has never happened to me ..."

> ef eg ræð
> if I (may) advise

Note that this can also (and probably does) mean: "if
I am the boss, if I'm in charge, if I control, if I'm
in command". ('Ráða' is often a rather difficult verb
to translate, as it has no real close equivalent in
English. It sometimes means "advise", sometimes "rule,
be the boss".)

> Síðan spurðu þeir bræður
> Afterwards, those brothers asked

"Those brothers" feels wrong (it implies that the text has
"þessir bræður"). I've seen you use "they, the brothers"
elswhere. This is preferable and much closer to the force
of the Icelandic. Even simply "the brothers" is better.

Regards,
Eysteinn