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

>
> "Þau ein skipti munum við við eigast," segir Helgi, "að þér mun ekki

betur

> gegna."
>
> "We will only separate?? dealing (with you)," says Helgi, "that will

not

> suit you better."

The first 'við' is the 1st person pronoun (we two (parties)) = Old
Norse normalised spelling 'vit'; the second is an adverb that goes
with the verb 'eigast', 'eigast við' "to fight, to deal/contend with
one another". 'skipti' is a noun: (1) division; (2) change; and (3)
pl. dealings, transactions, disputes, fights. These are the
definitions in Zoega, and this quote is given there under the third
definition. For 'eigast við', see the end of the 'eiga' entry, at the
top right of p. 105. Compare especially: 'eigast við deildir' "to be
engaged in strife", 'áttust þeir höggvaskipti við' "they exchanged
blows with one another".

'þau' "those" and 'ein' "only, alone" are both neuter plural, agreeing
with 'skipti'. In English we would express the idea of "only" as an
adverb here: "We'll only have those (i.e. such) dealings together as
won't suit you better" (...that you won't come out of it better than
we do). For more examples of this sense of 'gegna', see CV [
http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/png/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0195.png ]. The CV
entry is divided up the same was as Zoega's, but has more examples,
including examples with '(all)vel', 'betr' and 'bezt' / 'illa', 'verr'.

Here it is in the spelling of Konráð Gíslason and Eiríkur Jónsson's
1875 edition of Njáls saga, at least as it appears online: `þau ein
skipti munu vit við eigaz' segir helgi `at þjer mun ekki betr gegna' [
http://dp.rastko.net/projects/projectID438a3f4017f9f/projectID438a3f4017f9f_TEI.txt
].

> "Enga," sagði Skarphéðinn, "vér ætlum ekki að sækja þetta nema á
> vopnaþingi."
>
> "None," said Skarphedinn, "we do not intend to prosecute this except

at the

> weapons Thing."

'vápna-þing' "meeting/moot/assembly/congress of weapons" is a typical
sort of kenning for battle [
http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/kennings/meeting.html ].

> var vin Þráins mikill

KG & EJ have 'vin' here too. A scribal error for 'vinr'? It can only
be nominative. I thought 'sonr' was the only word that sometimes
dripped the nominative singular 'r' like this, regularly in patronymic
compounds, but also sometimes when it stands as a separate word:
'Snorri hét son þeira', 'þeira son var Guðmundr' (both examples from
Þorgils saga ok Hafliða).

> "Haf þú lítinn við húsfreyja," segir Kári, "að eggja sonu þína því

að þeir

> munu þó ærið framgjarnir."
>
> "Housewife, you make little (of this)," says Kari, "to urge your sons
> because they will still (be?) eagerly? enraged."

'hafa sik við' "to exert oneself". So: "Don't make much of an effort,
housewife, to incite (egg on) your sons, for they will be (or: I
reckon they are) eager enough." Maybe you could get across the
contrastive force of 'þó' with something like "regardless". Magnús
Magnússon and Hermann Pálsson have: "Spare yourself the trouble of
goading your sons [...] They are eager enough already." To find 'ærið'
in Zoega, look under 'oerinn'; 'ærið' is the modern spelling of the
neuter, Old Norse 'oerit'.

> Því lýsti og Þráinn að hann ætlaði að vera í Mörk
> með Katli
>
> It ??? and Þráinn that he expected to stay in Mork
> with Ketill,

"Þráinn also announced (made it known) that he intended to stay at
Mörk with Ketill." The demonstrative pronoun 'því' (dative singular
neuter) is acting as a correlative or antecedent to the subordinate
clause 'að hann ætlaði [...]' "that he intended [...]". The infinitive
of the verb is 'lýsa' (see Zoega 'lýsa' (4)). 'Þráinn' (nominative) is
the subject of 'lýsti', and 'því [...] að hann ætlaði að vera í Mörk
með Katli' is the object.

Incidentally, the verb 'lýsa' can also mean "light up, illuminate,
shine" or "show, manifest". It is derived from the noun 'ljós'
(neuter) meaning "light".

LN