Thanks LN that is precisely what I had in mind - except I rather fancy that

dwarves are as fond of a cheese and pickle sandwich as the "Tall folk"

are - with a mug of ale of course.

That link is a good one

Kveðja

Patricia

 

 

 

> "Please, don't give cheese to dwarfs",

If you're talking to just one person, my guess would be:

Ek bið (þik), at þú gefir eigi ost dvergum.
Bið ek (þik), ...

Literally "I ask (you), that you give not cheese to dwarfs." (Pronoun
in brackets optional.) Here is is a page of search results showing
similar examples in context. These are all from medieval texts
although most are given here using Modern Icelandic spelling.

http://www.lexis. hi.is/corpus/ leit.pl?lemma= &ofl=&leita= 1&flokkar= Fornrit&m1= bi%F0&l1= Leita&lmax= 1

If you were talking to two or more people, you would use 'gefið'
rather than 'gefir'. These are subjunctive forms of the verb. If
talking to two people, replace 'þik' with 'ykkr', and replace 'þú'
with 'it' or 'þit'. If talking to more than two people, replace 'þik'
with 'yðr', and replace 'þú' with 'ér' or 'þér', thus:

DUAL, x2: Ek bið (ykkr), at (þ)it gefið eigi ost dvergum.
PLURAL, >2: Ek bið (yðr), at (þ)ér gefið eigi ost dvergum.

The forms 'it' and 'ér' are earlier. I'm not sure of the exact
timing, but I think 'þit' and 'þér' took over by or during the 13th
century.

Another variation is:

Þess bið ek, at...
"For this is ask, that..."

Ek bið þess, at...
"I ask for this, that..."

And another form of the negative particle 'eigi' is 'ekki'.

Llama Nom

--- In norse_course@ yahoogroups. com, "Jamie" <wyrdplace@. ..> wrote:
>
> ...I have been unable to track down the ON word for "please", as
> in "Please, don't give cheese to dwarfs", etc. NOT as in, "Does this
> please you?"
>
> I've been searching through Zoega and did a word search on an online
> English translation of Njal's Saga, but I haven't been able to find
> it. Does anybody know what it is, just off the top of their head? Or
> would it be said differently in ON?
>
> Jamie
>