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

>
> I wasn't sure how to translate Þrjóta mun okkur bræður illsku við þig.
>
> Clearly they weren't happy with her, but everything I came up with

seemed

> awkward and not right.

Patricia had the right idea with this one. You could paraphrase it
something like "We brothers won't match you for wickedness." Or more
literally, "Wickedness will be lacking to us brothers compared to you."

'þrjóta' "to be lacking, to fail one" (impersonal, with accusative for
the person who lacks, and accusative for the thing they're short of).

'við' "in comparison with, compared to" (some examples of this sense
from CV: þrjóta mun mik íllsku við þik; mik skortir við hann; Skotland
er þriðjungr ríkis við England).