Thanks, much , LN I have kept a copy of this with my printed copy of my translation
That "hol" - I mistakenly read as though he made a hole in Hjort - poor boy -
When they had Gunnar saying virtually - they were unmarked - no proof of having been in battle -
I read this as an oblique accusation of cowardice
Came to blows - yes - not good at all I saw it as expressing the idea of singling out someone for attack
I checked in CV and saw there were two meanings for feðgum - father and son together and also CV gives it as Ancestors - I see I got confused there
I was glad with reading into it - Starkad's assumption that the Njalssons were not of entirely human origin
Thanks a lot for your comments - I shall value them
Patricia
I find it much easier to see (hindsight being clearsight) where I went awry
-------Original Message-------
From: llama_nom
Date: 25/05/2007 13:53:48
Subject: [norse_course] Re: Njal 63 part two - Patricia's translation > Austmaðurinn hleypur að honum og höggur framan á brjóstið og þará hol. 'hol', neuter = an internal cavity of the body. I don't think it's saying literally that he made a hole (albeit we can infer that a hole was made), but that his blow penetrated into Hjort's chest. > varpar sér skjótt til höggsI think you have the right idea although "came to blows" just sounds a bit odd to me in the context, since they are already on opposite sides in a battle. Maybe "he quickly/swiftly hurled himself at the Norwegian (and struck at him)", or something like that. > "Þess galt eg nú,"Or rather: "I have now paid for that" (þess = gen.sg. of 'þat'). > Þá mælti Starkaður: "Flýjum nú, ekki er við menn um að eiga."(the implication being - they are Berserkers and not subject to ordinary men's weakness) Or trolls -- something not altogether natural anyway... > Gunnar mælti: "Það mun ykkur feðgum þykja illt til frásagnar ef ekkiskal mega sjá á ykkur að þið hafið í bardaga verið." "That will seem bad to you father and son (=you Stakaður and your son Þorgeir) if it can't be seen from you (i.e. from your wounds) that you've been in a battle." 'feðgar' "father and son" 'ykkur' dative of 'þið' (old spelling '(þ)it'). > Síðan hljóp Gunnar að þeim feðgum og veitti þeim áverka. Eftir þaðskildu þeir og höfðu þeir Gunnar marga þá særða er undan héldu. > Then leaps Gunnar at them and dealt them each a wound, after thatthey broke off And those Gunnars ( G and his brothers) wounded many that tried to get away (?escape) "Then G. leapt/rushed at that father-and-son (Starkad and Thorgeir) and dealt them wounds / a wound. After that, they parted, and G. and his brothers had wounded many (of those) who fled." 'særða' is masc.acc.pl. agreeing with 'þá' (the men who escaped). The past participle of a verb used with 'hafa' to express the perfect tense is usually neuter nom.acc.sg. in prose, but sometimes this more archaic construction is used where the past participle is accusative and agrees with the object. LN | |||
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