--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "AThompson" <athompso@...> wrote:

>
> Thanks LN for comments on last section. Further to your comment:
>
> * "Fann eg það er meira mundi varða," segir hann.
> Alan: 'I found that which would be-of-greater--importance,-' he says
>
> Apart from its use to form future tense, 'muna' can add a sense of
> likelihood to a statement; the speaker is saying it's very probable,
>
> Where I come from, English "would" can also add a sense of likelihood to
> a statement – and so I found no need to substitute or paraphrase here.

Fair enough; just making sure :-) I use "would" and "will" in a
similar way too in some contexts.

> En fyrir þessi fjörráð skal eigi koma minna, er við alla þá er um að

eiga, en eigi skal meira koma fyrir víg annars hvors þeirra nafna þó
að það kunni við að bera.

> But for this plot-on-(your-) life, (it) shall not come-to less than

with all those who have-a-claim to (it), but (it) shall come-to more
for (the) killing of either of those namesakes even-if that happens to

This threw me at first, but (with a bit of help from MM & HP), I think
I see now how it works. The clause 'er við alla þá er um að eiga' is
a sort of parenthetical note of explanation for why such a high
compensation can be claimed. The first 'er' = "since, seeing as how,
given that", a conjunction introducing the reason or circumstance for
something; I'm not sure if Zoega has this meaning, but it's mentioned
in Gordon's glossary. And 'eiga um við' "to have to deal with", "to
be a matter of". Zoega cites the examples: 'við brögðótta áttu nú um'
"you're dealing with a cunning one here"; 'þar sem við vini mína er um
at eiga' "where my friends are concerned". So:

"But for this { attempt on, plot against } [your] life it (the
compensation) won't come to [any] less --

seeing as how all those men are involved/concerned (given that it's a
matter of so many men [who tried to kill you])

-- than [such a large amount that] more won't be paid for the killing
of one of those namesakes, if that should happen to occur."

Hmm, I hope that hasn't made it more complicated...

LN