Medieval naming practices have been a hobby of mine for a
long time, so I thought that I'd add a few comments on
these.
At 11:42:56 AM on Friday, November 13, 2009, Fred and Grace
Hatton wrote:
> Hann sat í Kunnjáttaborg.
> He sat in Kunnjattaborg.
<Kunnjátta> is the Old Norse respelling of Old Irish
<Connechta> '(inhabitants of) Connaught', so <Kunnjáttaborg>
would literally be 'fortress of Connaught'.
> Bróðir hans var Úlfur hræða
> His brother was Ulf the intimidating??
The byname appears in various forms in different
manuscripts, including <hreða>. Its meaning isn't certain,
but it may go with <hrða> 'disquiet, disturbance'.
> Fóstri Brjáns konungs hét Kerþjálfaður.
> A foster son of King Brian's was called Kerthalfad.
<Kerþjálfaðr> is an Old Norse attempt at Old Irish
<Tairdelbach>, which was pronounced very roughly
\TAR-ðel-vakh\.
> Hann var son Kylfis konungs
> He was a son of King Kylfis
Nominative <Kylfir>. I've never been able to figure out
what Old Irish name -- if any! -- underlies this one.
> Dungaður hét son Brjáns
> A son of King Brian was called Dungad
<Dungaðr> is for Old Irish <Donnchad>, which was roughly
\DOHN-khað\.
> konungs en annar Margaður,
> and the second, Margad,
Old Irish <Murchad>.
> þriðji Taðkur, þann köllum vér Tann.
> third Tadk - that we call Tann.
Old Irish <Tadc>, pronounced like Old Norse <Taðk>.
> Ekki var Kormlöð móðir barna Brjáns konungs.
> Kormlod was not the mother of King Brian's children.
<Kormlöð> is Old Irish <Gormflaith>, roughly \GORM-laþ\.
> Sigtryggur konungur og Gilli jarl vildu heyra tíðindi þau
> er gerst höfðu um brennuna og svo síðan er hún varð.
> King Sigtrygg and Earl Gilli wanted to hear the news what
> had happened concerning the burnings
<Brennuna> is accusative singular, 'the burning'.
> and also afterwards what became of it.
<Síðan er hún varð> is 'after it (= the burning) happened'.
> Þá var fenginn til Gunnar Lambason að segja söguna og var
> settur undir hann stóll.
> Then (it) was fitting that Gunnar Lambi' son tell the
> story and a stool was placed under him.
Zoëga s.v. <fá> (12): <fá e-n til at gøra e-t> 'to get
someone to do a thing'. Gunnarr was chosen (or perhaps
persuaded) to tell the story.
Brjánn