Re: Njall 153 part 2 / Alan's Translation

At 3:49:15 AM on Friday, November 6, 2009, AThompson wrote:

Again I've added Grace's translations.

> Það var einu hverju sinni að þeir fengu (fá) áföll (pl of
> áfall) stór þrjú nokkur.

> That was one particular time that they received some three
> great blows (from waves) (? MM&HP say the waves were
> threefold in size rather than in number but I don´t know
> why).

Nor do I; I translate it as you do. (So does Finnur
Jónsson.) But I don't think that I'd use 'blows', even
if <áfall> is etymologically 'on-fall', a falling on
(something): as I understand it, it refers specifically to a
heavy sea breaking over a ship.

> It was one certain time that they endured some three very
> heavy seas (enormous waves).

Zoëga s.v. <sinn> says that <einhverju sinni> = <eitt sitt>
= <einu sinni> 'one time, once'. I'd translate <Þat var
einu hverju sinni at> the same way, 'once, on one occasion'
or the like; a fairly literal 'It was on one occasion that'
is understandable but sounds a bit odd. Overall perhaps 'On
one occasion they took some three heavy seas'.

> Sagði Flosi þá að þeir mundu nokkur vera í nánd löndum og
> þetta væru grunnföll.

> Flose said to them that they would be somewhere in
> proximity to land and (that) this was breakers-on-a-shoal.

> Flosi said then that they would be somewhat in the
> vicinity of land and these were breakers on a shoal.

I think that 'must be' is closer to the intended sense than
'would be'.

[...]

> en skip braut allt í spón

'But (the) ship broke all to spoons'? <g>

Amusingly enough, Old Norse <spánn> ~ <spónn> really is
cognate with English <spoon>. In fact, the usual meaning of
<spoon> is borrowed from Scandinavian: Old English <spón>
meant only 'a sliver, a chip, a shaving'. Presumably this
says something about the construction of early Scandinavian
spoons.

[...]

> "Fá máttum vér betri landtöku," segir Flosi, "því að Helgi
> Njálsson var hirðmaður Sigurðar jarls Hlöðvissonar er eg
> vó."

> ’We might receive better landing (I can think of better
> places to land),’ says Flosi,’because Helgi Njál’s-son was
> (the) ‘king’s-man’ of Earl Sigurð Hlöðvi’s-son who I
> slew.’

> "We might (have) got better landfall," says Flosi,
> "because Helgi Njall's son, who I slew, was a king's man
> of Sigurd, earl of Hlodviss."

<Máttum> is from <mega>; with an infinitive it's 'be able
to', so I'd make this 'We could have made a better
landfall'.

[...]

> Fóru þeir þá til þess er þeir fundu menn þá er þeim vísuðu
> til jarls.

> They went then to that (point) where (ie until) they met
> those men who showed them to (the) earl.

Perhaps it's what you meant, but I'd make it 'showed them
the way to (the) earl' or, better yet, Grace's 'directed
them to the earl', as in the example in Zoëga s.v. <vísa>.

> Then they went (along) until this when they met men, they
> who directed them to the earl.

<þess> is the genitive of <þat>, so it's 'that' rather than
'this', but neither is needed here: <til þess er> is simply
'until' (as is <þar til er>). (See Zoëga s.v. <til> (7).)
Note that <þá> here is the *accusative* plural and so can't
be the subject of <vísuðu>; it must belong to <menn>, as
Alan has it.

[...]

> Jarl spurði hvað manna þeir væru.

> (The) earl asked what (kind) of men they were.

> The earl asked what men they were.

<Hvat> with the genitive is 'what kind of' (Zoëga s.v.
<hvat> (1)).

> Flosi nefndi sig og sagði úr hverri sveit hann var af
> Íslandi.

> Flosi named himself and said out-of which district he was
> from Iceland.

> Flosi gave his name and said out of which company he was
> from Iceland.

I agree with Alan: 'district, community' seems much the
likelier sense here.

Brian