On 20/09/2007, llama_nom <600cell@...> wrote:

As we seem to have a majority in favour of this one now, here's the
first part of Hjálmarskviða. Apologies to everyone who would have
preferred a different poem; I hope we can have a go at one of those
some time too. Everyone's welcome to have a go, whether you expressed
a preference or not. Happy translating! (See the foot of this page
for a couple of clues about archaic grammar found in poetry.)

Note: there are two versions of this poem, one in Hervarar saga, one
in Örvar-Odds saga; this is the version from Hervarar saga. You can
see the poem in context here [
http://www.heimskringla.no/original/fornaldersagaene/hervararsaga.php ].

The story so far: Angantýr and his brothers are twelve bad berserks,
noted marauders; they were never in a fight they didn't win, and they
make such a fearsome reputation for themselves that there's no king
who won't give them whatever they ask for. Hjálmarr inn hugumstóri
(Hjalmar the great-of-heart) and Örvar-Oddr (Arrow-Odd), also known as
Oddr inn víðförli (Odd the Far-traveller), are fine warriors both and
good friends. They're staying at the king's court in Sweden when in
march these berserks. Angantýr's brother Hjörvarðr has sworn an oath
to marry the king's daughter Ingibjörg. He makes his demand. Then
Hjálmarr asks to marry her too. The king says Ingibjörg must decide.
She choses Hjálmarr because she knows him to be good, 'en eigi hinn,
er hún hefir sögur einar frá ok allar illar' (and not that one she's
only heard stories about and all of them bad). At which Hjörvarðr
challenges Hjálmarr to a duel.

The duel is fought on the island of Sámsey, modern Danish Samsø [
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samso ]. Hjálmarr and Örvar-Oddr go up
into the woods to look for their enemies, but the berserks arrive
after them, kill their entire crew in a berserk rage, then walk ashore
with their bloody weapons, screaming. But now the berserk state
wears off them and they become weaker, "as if after some kind of
sickness." Hearing the screams, Hjálmarr and Örvar-Oddr come down
from the woods. Oddr suggests they flee, but Hjálmarr will have none
of that. Örvar-Oddr, protected by his magic shirt, kills Angantýr's
brothers one after another. Hjálmarr insists on fighting Angantýr,
the oldest and strongest of the berserks, against Oddr's advice.
Eventually Angantýr is slain, but not before dealing Hjálmarr 16
wounds, each of them fatal, with his cursed sword Tyrfingr.

Oddr gekk þar til, er Hjálmarr var, ok kvað:

"Hvat er þér, Hjálmarr?
Hefir þú lit brugðit.
Þik kveð ek moeða
margar undir;
hjálmr er þinn höggvinn,
en á hlið brynja,
nú kveð ek fjörvi
of farit þínu."

Hjálmar kvað:

"Sár hefi ek sextán,
slitna brynju,
svart er mér fyr sjónum,
séka ek ganga;
hneit mér við hjarta
hjörr Angantýs,
hvass blóðrefill,
herðr í eitri."

Ok enn kvað hann:

"Áttak at fullu
fimm tún saman,
en ek því aldri
unða ráði;
nú verð ek liggja
lífs andvani,
sverði undaðr,
í Sámseyju.

Drekka í höllu
húskarlar mjöð
menjum göfgir
at míns föður;
moeðir marga
mungát fira,
en mik eggja spor
í eyju þjá.

*

Clues: there are a couple of examples here of the personal pronoun
'ek' being suffixed to a verb. When this happens, it loses the 'e'.
The suffixed pronoun can be used on its own after the verb, or in
combination with the free standing form 'ek'. There is also an
example of the negative verbal suffix -a. These are both archaic
grammatical features mainly found in poetry.

--
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Ontario 2009: Known World Dance Symposium
"Yey! Dancing!"