Thank you Alan - so it was well received - good -
we have been  having quite a bit of trouble with emails one way and another
but it's all a part of life's rich tapestry
Kveðja
Patricia 
 
-------Original Message-------
 
From: AThompson
Date: 08/04/2009 12:38:51
Subject: RE: Re[2]: [norse_course] Njall 135 beginning / Alan's Translation
 

THat's very good - it is almost like the copy I sent forward sometime this morning ,

which I had copied up from the Complete Sagas of the Icelanders - one thing is

certainly clear my message was not received  for it has not been sent out -

I have never unsubscribed so how might this happen, can Haukur or Llama Nom throw

light upon it - I have been using a gmail address would it be better to use a Yahoo, or

does it not officially matter

Kveðja

Patricia

Thank you Brian - i cannot fault your translation but I took care to copy the

item from the CSOI because I was not sure of that !!

 

-------Original Message----- --

 

Date: 07/04/2009 20:13:49

Subject: Re[2]: [norse_course] Njall 135 beginning / Alan's Translation

 

At 7:10:11 AM on Tuesday, April 7, 2009, AThompson wrote:

 

> Here´s my translation. A curse on the verse ? impossible.

 

Gleymdi þú vísa korti þínu?  <g>

 

It's been *long* time since I tried one of these bloody

things, but this one seems to have fairly normal syntax,

at least compared with the verbal jigsaw puzzles in 'Gisla

saga', so I'll take a stab at it.

 

[...]

 

> Hjálmskassa fór hvessir,

> ? went ?

 

CV s.v. <hjálmr> includes <hjálmskass> in a list of <hjálm->

terms for weapons, but it took me a while to track down

<skass>: it's apparently a pronunciation spelling of <skars>

'a monster, ogress, giantess', under which CV has

<hjálmskars> 'helm-ogre', meaning 'an axe'.  According to

CV, the gender is uncertain, which would suggest that

<hjálmskassa> is a genitive plural.  <Hvessir> is a nomen

agentis from <hvessa> 'to whet': 'whetter, one who whets'.

Thus, <hjálmskassa hvessir> is 'axes' whetter, whetter of

axes' (= warrior).

 

> herðimeiðr, af reiði

> sword-tree (man), from anger

 

According to the Lexicon Poeticum, <herðimeiðr> is indeed

from a poetic <herðir> 'sword', so 'sword-pole, sword-tree'

(= warrior) is right.

 

> út úr elris sveita

> out out-of alder smoke,

 

out from alder's sweat (= smoke from the timbers)

 

> ófús Níals húsa

> unwillingly, from Njál's farm-buildings

 

<Húsa> is a genitive plural, and so far as I can see, the

only candidate to be its head noun is <sveita>: 'unwillingly

out from the smoke of the timbers of Njál's farm buildings'.

 

> þá er eld-Gunnar inni

> when fire-Gunnar inside

 

> óðrunnar þar brunnu.

> ? there burned

 

<Gunnr> (literally 'war, battle') is the name of a valkyrie.

According to Lex. Poet., the kenning is <eld-Gunnar

óðrunnar>, which it expands to <Gunnar elds óðrunnar>; here

<eldr> is apparently a kenning for 'sword', and <runnr>,

normally 'bush, grove', is 'tree' (= man, warrior).  <Óðr>

is 'furious, raging', so the whole thing is '(the) sword's

raging trees' = 'warriors', and these two lines are 'when

(the) warriors burned inside there'.

 

Trying for a translation that is as literal as possible

while still making some sense in English, I get something

like this:

 

  The whetter of axes went,

  the sword-tree, for wrath

  out from the alders' sweat

  of Njál's farm buildings, unwillingly,

  when inside Gunnr's fire's

  raging trees burned there.

 

Going strictly for the sense:

 

  In a rage the warrior (= Kári) unwillingly went out from

  the smoke of the burning timbers of Njál's farm buildings

  while warriors burned inside.

 

> Menn nemi mál sem eg inni (inna, Z3)

> Men  as I relate

 

> mín, harmsakir tínum.

> mine, causes of grief ?

 

<Nemi> is a 3rd person present subjunctive, here expressing

a wish.  <Mín> is a nominative or accusative neuter plural,

which makes sense only if it modifies <mál>, which is then

plural: 'May men hear/understand my words as I relate ...'.

 

I don't see how <tínum> can be anything but the 1st

person plural present indicative of <tína> 'to gather, to

pick; to present in series, to enumerate; to recount', and

<harmsakir> must be its object and hence an accusative

plural.  (I think, by the way, that despite its literal

compositional sense, in this context it's simply 'griefs,

sorrows'.)  I'd be much happier if it were <tíni>, 1st

person singular, making it 'I recount', but as it stands, my

best guess is 'May men hear/understand my words as I relate

(them): we recount (our) griefs', where 'we' is perhaps Kári

and his words.

 

Brian

 

 

 

 

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