Hi Diego,

The 'sé' in these examples is the 3rd person present subjunctive
singular of the irregular verb 'vera' "to be".

> "Seint er um langan veg at spyrja tíðenda, eða er annan veg en ek
> hygg, er þessi sveinstauli SÉ Öku-Þórr?"

It takes a long time to hear news over a great distance (Faulkes
paraphrases further in his glossary: "news travels slowly"), but is it
otherwise than I think: that this little lad is Öku-Þórr (Thor the
Driver)?

> "Þá segir Útgarða-Loki, at þetta er góð íþrótt, ok kallar þess meiri
> ván, at hann SÉ vel at sér búinn of skjótleikinn ef hann skal þessa

íþrótt inna, en þó lætr hann skjótt skulu þessa freista."

Then says Utgarda-Loki that this is a good skill, and says there is a
greater expectation (i.e. it is more to be expected) that he (þjálfi)
is (will/would be) well endowed for running if he
accomplishes/performs this feat, but he (Utgarda-Loki) soon causes
(will soon cause) that to [have to] be tested.

I hope my clumsy translations won't add to the confusion... In these
two passages from Gylfaginning, I think the subjunctive mood is used
(rather than the indicative 'er' "is") because of the uncertainty or
contingency of what's being stated or asked: can it really be that
this *is* the great Driving Thor (even though he looks so small and
puny)? He's not entirely convinced of it, or rather he's pretending
not to be. And Thjalfi will/would be a fine runner *if* he wins the
race -- but of course Utgarda-Loki knows that he won't.

The subjunctive doesn't always express doubt in questions though.
Sometimes it just indicates indefiniteness or uncertainty:

PRESENT INDICATIVE: Hvat manna ertu? "Who are you?"
PAST SUBJUNCTIVE: Hann spurði, hvat manna þeir væri. "He asked who
they were."

The course Old Norse Online has a section introducing the subjuctive
that you might find useful [
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/lrc/eieol/norol-8-X.html#Nor08_GP38
]. It's used in various other contexts, as you can see from the
examples there.

LN

--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Diego" <diegof@...> wrote:
>
>
> Hello,
> I'm currently translating Gylfaginning 46 into English and I cannot
> understand the role of the word "sé". It seems to me it is somehow
> related to the verb "sjá", but the context and the translations I
> have read do not help me. Here are a couple of examples:
>
> "Seint er um langan veg at spyrja tíðenda, eða er annan veg en ek
> hygg, er þessi sveinstauli SÉ Öku-Þórr?"
> (paragraph 2)
>
> "Þá segir Útgarða-Loki, at þetta er góð íþrótt, ok kallar þess meiri
> ván, at hann SÉ vel at sér búinn of skjótleikinn"
> (paragraph 6)
>
> Can someone possibly help me?
> If someone is interested, we could translate also other parts of the
> text together in the group.
>
> Kveðja,
> Diego
>