Indeed - "sáðland" here barely means much more than "field".
And it is safest to translate korn as "grain" (or "cereal",
depending on the context). "Corn" is far too ambiguous, in
England it can refer to wheat, in Scotland to oats, and in
the US to maize (according to my trusty Chambers dictionary).

E.


--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Fred and Grace Hatton"
<hatton@...> wrote:

>
> I think one should not take the Zoega translation too literally

because if

> the land were already sown, Gunnar wouldn't be sowing seed grain,

unless

> some of the cropland were already sown, perhaps. I used the term

crop-land

> as opposed to pasture land which would not be plowed up and sowed

to grains.

>
> Also in American English, corn is understood to be maize - - not

possible in

> those times. So that is why I used the word grain since it covers

the whole

> shebang - - oats, barley, wheat, rye or spelt.
>
> Off to have a lovely holiday in the South! Thanks, Patricia.
> Grace
> Fred and Grace Hatton
> Hawley Pa
>