> Yes, it was the vowel shift u-y of subjunctive form hlyti that I failed
> to recognise, but isn't the present hlýti rather than hlyti?

Hi Alan,

The present 3rd person subjunctive plural is 'hljóti'. The reason is
that the 'i' in this instance comes from Proto-Germanic /ai/ which
became Proto-Norse /e:/ -- so at the time when i-mutation took place,
there was no /i/, /i:/ or /j/ in the ending, unlike the past.

Present 3rd pers. pl. subj. Proto-Norse */hliute:n/ > ON 'hljóti'.
Past 3rd pers. pl. subj. Proto-Norse */hluti:n/ > ON 'hlyti'.

See 'viðtengingarháttur' (subjunctive), 'nútíð' (present), 'þátíð' (past).

http://iceland.spurl.net/tunga/VO/leit.php?q=hlj%C3%B3ta

That's the Modern Icelandic conjugation. Apart from the use of 'i' in
the past plural inflections in Old Icelandic, the other difference in
the subjunctive is that the first person singular, past and present,
had the ending 'a' rather than 'i', so that (as in the indicative) the
first person was originally distinct from the third.

því að heldur vildi eg vera ógildur en margir hlytu illt af mér.

The past, 'hlytu', here matches the tense of 'vildi': "for I would
rather remain uncompensated for than [that] many should suffer ill on
my account."

LN

> -----Original Message-----
> From: norse_course@yahoogroups.com [mailto:norse_course@yahoogroups.com]
> On Behalf Of llama_nom
> Sent: Tuesday, 17 June 2008 11:22 PM
> To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [norse_course] Re: Njall 109 end / Alan's Translation
>
>
> > "Illa er það," segir Höskuldur,
>
> MM & HP: "That is a pity."
>
> > "því að heldur vildi eg vera ógildur en margir hlytu (hljóta?) illt
> af mér."
> > 'That is badly (done),' says Höskuld, `because I would rather be
> unpaid (not recompensed) than (that) many got ill from me (suffered as
> a result of me).'
>
> I.e. "I'd rather no compensation be paid for me (if I'm killed) [...]"
> 'hlytu' is the modern form of the past third person subjunctive of
> 'hljóta'. In the early medieval period (and in normalised Old Norse),
> the plural was 'hlyti', just like the singular.
>
> > og var hlaðbúin í skaut niður.
>
> MM & HP: "bordered with lacework down the front"
>
> > En hin sama er óþykkt (úþykt) með þeim allan veturinn.
> > Höskuld was a man so popular that few were his enemies. But the same
> (ie unchanged) is the discord between them all the winter.
>
> Or you could maybe translate it: "There is the same discord [...]"
>
> > Nú vorar (vára) snemma um vorið
> > Now (it) becomes spring early during the spring (well strike me lucky)
>
> Talk about uncanny coincidences!
>
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