At 1:29:30 PM on Monday, April 20, 2009, Fred and Grace
Hatton wrote:
[...]
> Þeir ríða nú þar til er þeir eiga skammt í Tungu.
> They ride now until when they have scarcely (reached?)
> Tongue.
<Skammt> in this context is 'a short distance'. <Eiga
skammt til þeira> is 'to be a short distance from them', so
this ought to be 'until they are a short distance into
Tongue'; 'scarcely reached' seems to capture the intended
sense.
[...]
> Ásgrímur stóð úti og nokkurir menn með honum. Þeir sjá
> þegar flokkinn er mátti heiman.
> Asgrim stood outside and some men with him. They could see
> the crowd at once from home. (not sure what role "er" has
> here)
It's the second half of the discontinuous element <þegar er>
'as soon as': 'They saw the band as soon as they might from
home', i.e., 'They saw the band as soon as it was possible
to do so from home'. More idiomatically, 'They saw the band
as soon as it came into view'.
[...]
> Ásgrímur lét sópa hús og tjalda og setja borð og bera mat
> á.
> Asgrim had house and tents (? or hangings placed in the
> house) swept and table set and food carried out.
Here it pretty much has to be hangings, tapestries.
Brian