At 6:39:53 AM on Friday, October 23, 2009, AThompson wrote:
I'd punctuate and translate it like this:
[O]k felaz þar sem okkr þykkir vænligast, meðan leitin er
sem áköfust, ef þeir ríða eptir.
[A]nd hide ourselves there where (it) seems to us most
promising, while the search is at its peak, if they do
ride after (us).
This is definitely correct. Translating ‘meðan leitin er’ as the beginning of a sentence would subvert the usual syntax (verb second). Anyway isn’t ‘meðan’ on its own basically a conjunction (while…) rather than an adverb (meanwhile)?
> "Svo mun þér reynast," sagði Björn, "að eg mun ekki vera
> hjátækur (hjátoekr) í vitsmunum eigi síður en í
> harðræðunum."
> ’So will (it) be proven to you,’ said Björn, ‘that I will
> not be missing-(my) -hold (lacking?)
That's how I read it.
> in wits, no less than (see eigi síðr en, under síðr, adv,
> Z1) in the hardihoods.’
In other words, 'I will not be lacking in wits any more than
in hardihood'. (There just doesn't seem to be any way to
construe a literal translation so that it has the right
English sense.)
1. I would translate ‘svo’ as ‘then’.
2. How about this?
‘Then it will be proven to you,’ said Björn, ‘that I will not be lacking in wits, no less than [it will be proven to you that I will not be lacking] in hardihood.’
The basic meaning:
‘You will not find me lacking in wits then,’ said Björn, ‘any more than in hardihood.’
Russell _._,___