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

>
> Látum geisa Gamminn,
> Let The Vulture rage (?)

Here it might make more sense to say something like "rush/surge
(forward)". Lexicon Poeticum has "rase, fare voldsomt" (rage, go
violently) [
http://www.septentrionalia.net/lex/index2.php?book=d&page=177&ext=png
]. Examples of subjects here include sea, rivers and especially fire.

> gerrat (göra-at?) Þráinn vægja.
> Þráin does-not give-way

That's right. This is an old-fashioned form taken by 'gørir' =
'gerir', the 3rd person present indicative of 'gera' = 'gøra', before
the negative suffix 'at' [
http://www.usask.ca/english/icelanders/proverbs_BNS.html ], [
http://www.septentrionalia.net/lex/index2.php?book=d&page=213&ext=png
]. It's used here, as often in poetry, as a meaningless auxiliary
verb for the sake of the metre, in the same way that 'do' can be used
in English verse.

Adue, fair Eskdale, up and down
Where my poor friends do dwell!
The bangisters will beat them doun,
And will them sore compell.

--Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight.


Svá beið hann _________So he waited
sinnar ljóssar_________for his fair
kvánar, ef hánum_______wife, lest to him
koma gørði.____________she might come [back].

--Völundarkviða

> fékk Þráinn honum bú
> Þráin obtained for (gave) him a farm

Simplest to just translate it "Th. gave him a farm", as I don't think
it necessarily means that Th. had to go and get one for him first.

en í móti nótt váru þar búnir tveir góðir hestar með enu bezta reiði.
Þá mæltu þau við Úlf: «Far þú nú vel, ok fæ ek þér í hendr son minn,
þann einn er ek á

"but towards night, two fine horses were got ready there with the best
of riding gear. They said then to Ulf, "Fare you well now. I give you,
my son, the one thing I own"

--Knýtlinga saga.


kom jarl svá sínum fortölum, at Sveinn konungr fekk honum í hendr
Þyri, systur sína, nauðga

"the earl succeded in persuading King Svein to give him his sister
Thyri without her consent"

--Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar in mesta. Presumably the kings didn't have
to go out and obtain a sister called Thyri first; he already had one!

> Allir báðu hann fyrir sjá. Tóku þeir þá vopn sín.
> All asked him for this (to pursue that course of action?).

'sjá' infinitive verb "to see", rather than 'sjá' nominative masculine
pronoun "this". 'fyrir' goes with 'sjá' rather than 'báðu'. "They all
asked him to see to [it]"--the making of the decision? (=báðu hann
ráða?), i.e. "it's your call"? MM & HP have "They all said that they
would accept his decision".

> Jarl bauð öllum grið, þeim er eigi vildu verja (`defend') hann (not

reflexive so can´t refer to the earl),

I think you're right that 'hann' must be Helgi (accusative). I would
suppose that if it had been reflexive the most natural assumption
would be "whoever didn't want to defend himself" = verjast. Compare:
'Helgi svaraði: "þat vilja kaupmenn at verja sik."' But in theory,
it's quite possible for a reflexive pronoun to refer back to the
subject of the main clause (matrix clause). e.g.

En at skilnaði, þá mælir Útgarðaloki til Þórs ok spyrr hvernig honum
þykkir ferð sín orðin eða hvárt hann hefir hitt ríkara mann nökkurn en
sik.

"But at their leave-taking, U. speaks to Th. and asks [him] how he
feels his journey's gone and if he's [ever] met any man more powerful
than him (=Utgarðaloki)."

--Snorra Edda: Gylfaginning.