Re: Njall 157 part 6 -- Verse

> Og munu Írar
> angr um bíða,
> það er aldrei mun
> ýtum fyrnast.
> Nú er vefr ofinn,
> en völlr roðinn,
> munu um lönd fara
> læspjöll gota.

> And Irelanders will
> suffer grief,
> since it will never
> be forgotten by men.
> Now the web is woven,
> and (the) ground reddened,
> baleful tidings will go about the land
> (don't know what gota is).

> And will (the) Irish
> suffer (bíða + acc, Z2) grief
> that (grief) which never will
> be forgotten by men.
> Now is (the) web woven,
> but (and) (the) field (ground) reddened,
> will across (the) lands go
> stories-of-woe (?)

And (the) Irish will
suffer grief,
that which never will
by men be forgotten.
Now is (the) web woven,
and (the) field reddened (with blood);
across (the) lands will fare
baleful tidings of men. [<gotar> 'men']

<Gotar> is literally 'Goths', but in poetry it also appears
in the sense 'men'. (Neither Z nor CV mentions this.)

> Nú er ógurlegt
> um að litast
> er dreyrug ský
> dregr með himni.
> Mun loft litað
> lýða blóði
> er sóknvarðar
> syngja kunnu.

> Now (there) is awfulness
> to look about (at)
> where bloody clouds
> obscure the heavens.
> Will be looked to the sky?
> by men with blood
> when the guardians? of ?
> happen to sing?

> Now (it) is awful
> to look about
> when bloody clouds
> move through (the) sky.
> (It) will dye (stain) (the) sky
> with (the) blood of men
> when the battle-watchers (?)
> are-able to sing

Now is (it) terrible
to look about,
when bloody clouds
draw across (the) sky.
(The) sky will be dyed
with men's blood
when (the) attack-women [= valkyries; vörð 'woman' poet.]
can sing.

I don't see why the medio-passive <litast> is used here. I
take <sóknvarðar> to be a variant of <sóknvarðir>, the nom.
pl. of <sóknvörð>; this is a compound of <sókn> 'attack' and
<vörð> 'woman' (poet.), pretty clearly a kenning for
'valkyrie'.

> Vel kváðum vér
> um konung ungan
> sigrhljóða fjöld,
> syngjum heilar.
> En hinn nemi,
> er heyrir á
> geirfljóða hljóð,
> og gumum segi.

> We speak well
> about the young king
> victorious ?? multitude?
> we sing greetings??
> But that one take,
> who listens silently? to
> spearwomen,
> and tell men.

> We recite well
> about (the) young king
> a multitude of victory-tunes,
> (let-us) sing hale.
> But that-one (he) should hear-and-learn (see nema, Z6 and Z7)
> who listens to
> (the) sound of spear-women
> and say (tell it) to (all) men.

Well did we (compose and) sing
of (the) young king
a multitude of victory songs,
sing we hale.
And let him learn (it) by heart
who listens to
spearwomen's tune,
and tell (it) to men.

<Kváðum> is past tense. <Syngjum heilar> is a bit obscure.
<Heilar> appears to be nom. pl. fem., agreeing with the
implied subject of <syngjum>, so I've translated it with the
adjective 'hale', but after looking at the examples in CV
s.v. <heill> (adj.), I think it possible that the sense is
something like 'we sing well'. <Geirfljóð> is presumably
another kenning for 'valkyrie'. <Hljóð> could be singular
or plural; I've taken it to be singular, referring to the
present song.

> Ríðum hestum
> hart út berum
> brugðnum sverðum
> á braut heðan.

> (We) ride horses
> hard out (we) carry
> drawn swords
> away from here.

<Berum> is the masc. dat. pl. of <berr> 'bare, naked',
modifying <hestum>, not from the verb <bera>.

> (let-us) ride on bare-(backed)* horses
> hard out (away).
> with brandished swords
> away from here.

Let us ride horses
bareback hard out
with drawn swords
away from here.

I.e., 'let us ride hard away from here, bareback with swords
drawn'.

I didn't look at the rest: it's the end of the semester, and
I've spent most of my time marking final exams and making
out course grades.

Brian