From: "llama_nom" <600cell@...>

> --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Neil Peterson"
> <neil@...> wrote: >
>
> > Verse 19 of the havamal offers "Haldit maðr á keri"
> > which has the concept of "don't hold the cup" which
> > isn't quite right for me. Zoega also doesn't seem to
> > have any help on "haldit".
>
> 'haldi' is the 3rd person subjunctive singular of the verb
> 'halda' "to hold", used here in an imperative sense "let a
> man hold", "one should hold". The suffix -at negates the
> verb. The -a- of the suffix is dropped after a vowel, so
> 'haldi' + 'at' = 'haldit' "let him not hold".
>
> Haldit maðr á keri, ........ One should not hold onto

the

> cup

A wonderful response. In this way we could have

Haldi maðr á keri "one should hold the cup"

which is actually more a statement than a nickname
'cupholder' so not quite what I want but a useful lesson
(the "at" was a new concept to me)

Takk!

Neil