--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Patricia" <originalpatricia@...>
wrote:

>
> Líður nú sumarið til Alþingis.
> It turned in Summer to (time for) Althing.

You could paraphrase it as: "Now summer passes till it comes to the
time of the Althing."

> Gerði þá margur sem vant var að fara til fundar við Njál
> Many went there because they needed a meeting with Njal

"Then many people went to see Njal, as usual." ('sem vant var' "as was
usual").

> en hann lagði það til mála manna sem ekki þótti líklegt að eyddust

sóknir og varð af því þræta mikil er málin máttu eigi lúkast og riðu
menn heim af þingi ósáttir.

> but he laid/arranged cases of people so people thought it likely

that cases break up in attacks and led to much dispute and quarrels.
when a case was not resolved/finished , and folk went home from Thing
dissatisfied (or unresolved) [got stuck there]

"but he offered such advice regarding people's cases that, contrary to
what was considered likely, the prosecutions [of them] came to
nothing, and there came about great wrangling because the cases
couldn't be concluded, and people rode home from the assembly without
having reached any settlement between them."

leggja til "contribute (advice)"
mál "case"
þykja "seem, be thought"
sem ekki þótti líklegt "as did not seem likely", "against all expectation"
eyða "destroy, make void, bring to nothing"
eyðast "come to nothing"
sókn "prosecution"
þræta "dispute, quarrelling, wrangling"

af því ... er "as a result of this ... namely (because)". The 'er'
might be correlated with 'því' like this, or it could be taken on its
own as "because, since, seeing as", or maybe even as "when" - I don't
know - but it all adds up to the same.

ósáttur "(of two parties) not having reached a settlement, not having
come to an agreement"

> Og er fyrst kyrrt þingið allt þar til er Njáll talar að mönnum væri

mál að lýsa sökum sínum.

> And at first it seemed quiet/calm until Njal called for the folk

(those present) to announce/declare their lawsuits.

MM & HP: "until Njal said that it was time that people notice of their
lawsuits". Zoega has two separate entries for 'mál' (neuter), the two
words having different origins. You'll find this meaning "time" under
the second 'mál', sense 2.

> Margir mæltu að til lítils þætti það koma er engi kæmi sínu máli

fram þó að til alþingis væri stefnt "og viljum vér heldur," segja
þeir, "heimta vort mál með oddi og eggju."

> Many spoke of it being of little worth to come to court with a case

[could not rightly get the drift of this] - for at Althing it came to
nothing "And we wish to hold to" they say "to settling our disputes
with sharp points (?weapons) and force of arms"

"Many said that that didn't seem to get anywhere / that that seemed to
come to nothing (i.e. there was no point), since no one could make any
progress with his case, even if it was raised in the Althing, 'and
we'd rather,' they say, 'settle our claim with point and edge/blade.'"

'með oddi og eggju' "with point and blade" is a fixed expression /
idiom / formula, meaning exactly what you said: "by force of arms".

> hlýðir það hvergi að hafa eigi lög í landi.

"it won't do at all...", "it's not at all right to not have any law in
the land"

> En þó hafið þér mikið til yðvars máls um það og kemur það til vor er

lögin kunnum og þeim skulum stýra.

> But though you have to yourselves great cases we who know the law

should steer it (?shape it)

MM & HP: "But your complaints are more than justified, and it imposes
a responsbility on those of us who know that law and are lawmakers."
('þeim' = "the law(s)"; 'stýra' "manage, govern, have control of,
steer", takes a dative object for what is managed or steered).

> Þykir mér það ráð að vér köllumst saman allir höfðingjar og tölum um."
> I think for me the advice is to call up together all the Chieftains

(?high chiefs) and talk about it"

"I think the best thing to do is for us chieftain to get together and
talk about it." (Literally "call/summon ourselves together.)

> mér þykir sem málum vorum sé komið í ónýtt efni
> I think - to me to bring out cases to court has become useless

(ó-nýtt ??)

"I think (it seems to me) that our legal cases have come into (i.e.
reached) a useless state-of-affairs." ('ónýt(u)r' "useless", an
adjective.)

> ef vér skulum sækja mál í fjórðungsdómum og verði svo vafið að eigi

megi lúkast né fram ganga.

> when if we should seek a case in the Quarter Courts (as in Quarter

Sessions??) and become so uncertain (vafið?) that no conclusion
or result can be gotten [here I tried to measure what the other
translations said and got nowhere]

"if (when) [it's got to the stage where] we prosecute a claim in the
District Courts (the courts for each of the four districts) and it
(the case) becomes so entangled (neuter nominative singular past part.
of 'vefja') that it can't be concluded or advance (i.e. doesn't get
anywhere)."

> Þykir mér það ráðlegast að vér ættum hinn fimmta dóm og

sæktum þar þau mál er eigi mega lúkast í fjórðungsdómi."

> Now I think to myself the most advisible to make a Fifth court

and prosecute there cases that cannot be settled at the Quarterly Courts"

Yes, more literally "that we have a fifth court" ('ættum' is the
modern form of 'ættim', 1st person plural preterite subjunctive of
'eiga').

> "Hversu skalt þú," sagði Skafti, "nefna fimmtardóminn, er fyrir forn

goðorð er nefndur fjóðungsdómur, þrennar tylftir úr fjórðungi hverjum?"

> "How can you" said Skafti "set up a fifth court, the four

traditional Quarter courts were set up with thirtysix (three of
Twelves) from each quarter [they stick to their tradition - what they
are used to]

Yes. On 'forn goðorð' (maybe an anachronistic thing to say when a 5th
has only just been suggested?) see CV [
http://lexicon.ff.cuni.cz/png/oi_cleasbyvigfusson/b0165.png ]. By the
way, the Gothic cognate is misquoted here. It should read 'fairneis',
not 'fairnis' (although, by chance, the word isn't attested anywhere
in the surviving Gothic texts in the masculine nominative singular).

> "Sjá mun eg ráð til þess," segir Njáll, "að taka upp ný goðorð, þeir

er best eru til fallnir úr fjórðungi hverjum, og segist þeir í þing
með þeim er það vilja."

> "I see my advice to be this" says Njal "to take up new Chieftains

those (that) are best suited (G) from the four quarters and they
(who the voters) declar (alleigance?) to the Thing with those
(Chieftains) as they wish

"I think I can see a solution to this [...]" I think 'mun' here could
be being used in its modal sense to express a likelihood or strong
suspicion. Of course, *he* knows he has the answer...

> "Þennan kost viljum vér," segir Skafti, "eða hversu vandar sóknir

skulu hér vera?

> "We choose this plan " says Skafti "but what cases will be brought

(or tried?) at this court?"

Yes, "we chose this option", MM & HP: "We shall accept this plan."

> eða hversu vandar sóknir skulu hér vera?

I think this is lit. "how difficult/complex cases should be [held]
here" (Of what level of complexity should the cases be which are held
here.) But this differs a little from MM & HP: "What is to be the
court procedure, and what kind of cases will be referred to this court?"

LN