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

>
> Þar koma niður ræður Njáls að hann segir svo: "Það er erindi mitt

hingað að vér förum bónorðsför og mælum til mægða við þig Flosi en til
eiginorðs við Hildigunni bróðurdóttur þína."

> (It) comes down there to Njall's discussion that he says this, "It

is my errand hither that we go on a wooing journey and speak ? to you
Flosi about affinity by marriage and about marriage with Hildigunn,
your niece.

Notice that 'koma' is plural because the subject is 'ræður'. I think
the idea is that he starts off with small talk, and the discussion
moves to marriage. Magnus Magnusson & Hermann Pálsson paraphrase:
"and eventually N. said, 'The purpose of our visit is to make a
proposal of marriage, to link our family with yours, Flosi. We are
asking for the hand of your neice Hildigunn.'"

> og mælum til mægða við þig Flosi

'mæla til e-s' "to speak of" or "to express a wish for, make a request
for".

> "Fyrir hvers hönd?"

"On whose behalf."

> "Vel er slíkt stofnað," segir Flosi, "en þó hafið þér mikið í hættu

hvorir við aðra eða hvað segir þú frá Höskuldi?"

> "Such is well founded," says Flosi, "but still you have much risk

each with others or what say you of Hoskuld?"

MM & HP: "'That is a good offer,' said Flosi. 'On the other hand,
there are dangerous flaws in your family relationships. What can you
tell me of Hoskuld?"

"your" = you, on the one hand, and Hoskuld on the other.

> Hún kvaðst vera kona skapstór "og veit eg eigi hversu mér er hent

við það, er þar eru svo menn fyrir, en það þó eigi síður að sjá maður
hefir ekki mannaforráð. Og hefir þú það mælt að þú mundir eigi gifta
mig goðorðslausum manni."

"She said she was a proud woman, 'and I don't know whether this
[offer] suits me, given that such people [as these] are here, and [I
have my doubts] not least [given] that this man doesn't have a
position of authority. And you've said you wouldn't give me in
marriage to anyone who didn't have the rank of chieftain."

MM & HP: "'I have my pride,' said H., "and I am not sure whether this
proposal suits me, considering the kind of people involved -
particularly since this is a man without authority. You made me a
promise that you would naver marry me to a man without the rank of
chieftain."

> er þar eru svo menn fyrir

The 'er' has the job of introducing a relevant circumstance or
explanation, rather than being temporal, but in this case the English
word "when" could be used, in that sense of "what with", "given that",
"seeing as (how)", "considering that".

> "Það er ærið eitt til," segir Flosi, "ef þú vilt eigi giftast

Höskuldi að þá mun eg engan kost á gera."

> "It alone is sufficient for (it)," says Flosi, "if you don't want to

be married to Hoskuld that then I will not do that option.

Good, that's right, except that 'þá mun eg engan kost á gera' = "then
I will give no choice in [the matter]", i.e. "I won't offer him any
possibility of marrying you".

> Njáll mælti: "Þá vil eg bíða láta mín um þetta mál þrjá vetur."
> Njall spoke, "Then I wish to ask (you) to allow me three years for

this case."

Yes, more literally (and in less idiomatic English): "Then I wish to
be waited for, in this matter [of my request], for three years." The
verbs are embedded in the following order: 'vil' is the verb in the
main clause, its subject being 'eg'; directly subordinated to 'vil' is
the infinitive 'láta'; and subordinated to 'láta' is the infinitive
'bíða'. 'mín' "me" is the genitive object of 'bíða' "to wait for",
representing what (or who) is waited for.

> ef þessi ráð tækjust

'ráð' can also mean specifically "marriage", as I think it does here:
"if this marriage does take place". 'tækjust' is the modern form of
the past subjunctive 3rd person plural, corresponsing to normalisd Old
Norse 'toekisk'. I guess the past is used here because of 'vildi' in
the main clause. Incidentally, I see that another version has
'takast' instead at ths point [
http://www.visindavefur.is/svar.php?id=2067 ]. Konráð Gíslason and
Eiríkur Jónsson's edition reads:

`þann hlut vilda ek til skilja' segir hildigunnr `ef þessi ráð tækiz,
at vit værim austr hjer'.

I suppose we could translate 'skilja' "specify" or "stipulate" here.
MM & HP have "stipulate".

> Njáll kvaðst það vilja skilja undir Höskuld en Höskuldur kvaðst

mörgum vel trúa en engum betur en fóstra sínum.

> Njall declared of himself to wish it (that) to decide (lie) with

Hoskuld but Hoskuld said of himself to trust many well but none better
than his father.

Yes, that's right. MM & HP: "Njal said that he would rather leave that
to Hoskuld to decide. Hoskuld said that he trusted many men, but none
so well as his foster-father Njal."