Re: Njal 36 beginning + part 2 / Alan's Translation (e-m ferr vel/i

Thanks Eysteinn, and my apologies to Alan! I'll keep an eye out for
more examples of this idiom. Looking again at how MM & HP actually
translate the second one, it's not so clear that they did interpret it
as I thought: "We must never allow ourselves to forget our frequent
words of friendship; I FEEL SURE THAT YOU WILL NOT FAIL..." I assumed
that they were paraphrasing this with the idea that he would do the
right thing, but maybe they were thinking of it as it as: it will go
well with you, i.e. you will be successful in remembering our
friendship. Is that what will "go well for him", or is Njáll just
saying that he won't come to grief in the short term at least?

LN


--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Eysteinn Bjornsson"
<eysteinn@...> wrote:

>
> --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "llama_nom" <600cell@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > From Njal 36 beginning:
> >
> > > "og fer þér illa þar sem eg hefi mælt
> > > `and (it) goes to you badly (reflects badly on you) where I have
> spoken
> >
> > From Njal 36 part 2:
> >
> > > Og væntir mig að þér fari vel en þó munt þú verða mjög að
> þreyttur."
> > > spoken-with-each-other well (been on good terms?) . And (it)
> > gives-hope to me that (it will) go well for you but still you will
> be
> > much tested (sorely tried)
> >
> > In each of these examples, isn't the sense of the expression 'e-m
> ferr
> > vel/illa' rather "one acts/behaves well/badly"? -- the person who
> acts
> > being in the dative. This is how Magnuús Magnússon and Hermann
> > Pálsson take it, and the idiom is defined thus by Zoega
> under 'fara' (10).
>
> My sense for the language (which may be wrong, of course) tells
> me that the meaning of these two is not quite the same. In the
> first instance, I think "fer þér illa" means "it suits you badly,
> it is not well fitting for you, it behoves you ill". Hallgerðr
> is saying that it is not fitting for Kolr to drag his legs in
> this matter, after all the times she has spoken up for him - it
> looks bad for him and makes him less of a man (in Alan's words,
> it "reflects badly on him"). Today, we say "fötin fara þér illa"
> meaning "the clothes do not suit you well, do not look good on you,
> fit you badly". It is a similar sense.
>
> In the second instance "væntir mig að þér fari vel" is more
> straightforward (from the viewpoint of English), i.e. "I expect
> that this will go well for you" (as Alan phrases it) - the sense
> of "suitability" or "fittingness" doesn't enter the picture in
> this instance.
>
> Hope I haven't caused even more confusion.
>
> Regards,
> Eysteinn
>