Re: Kjalsnesinga Saga, chapter 3 - - Grace's translation

This bit was definitely easier.

At 1:03:10 PM on Friday, January 15, 2010, Fred and Grace
Hatton wrote:

> Hann vildi aldrei blóta og kveðst það þykja lítilmannlegt
> að hokra þar að.

> He never wanted to sacrifice and said of himself it to
> seem in a paltry manner to crouch thereto.

<Lítilmanligt> is the adjective, not the adverb: '... and
said that it seemed to him unmanly to crouch thereat'.

> Hann vildi og aldrei með vopn fara heldur fór hann með
> slöngu eina og knýtti henni um sig jafnan.

> Also he never wanted to go (about) armed (but) rather he
> went with a certain sling? and always knotted it about
> him.

It is indeed a sling; CV has the nom. sing. <slanga>.

> Með henni fæddist upp son hennar er Kolfinnur
> hét.

> With (by her?) her was brought up her son
> who was called Kolfinn.

I'd say 'by'; <með> here seems both instrumental and
locative, but 'by' implies 'with' and so covers both. (It
may be that from a contemporary point of view the
significant thing here is that K. wasn't fostered out.)

> Hann lagðist á eldgróf og beit börk af viði steiktan og
> gætti katla móður sinna.

> He (completely lost here.) laid himself down?? in the
> fire-groove and bit?? bark from the roasted?? wood ? and
> watched his mother's kettle.

<Eldgröf> is a lexicalized compound meaning 'fire-pit', but
otherwise this is pretty much right: 'He lay in the fire-pit
and bit bark from the charred wood and watched his mother's
kettle'.

> Sættu þeir af honum hinum mestum afarkostum.
> They came to (received) from him the most severe terms.

The verb is <sæta> in sense (2) in Zoëga, 'to suffer': 'They
suffered from him the most severe terms'.

> Létu þeir Þorsteinn son hans þá fara mikil orð til Búa
> er hann vildi eigi blóta og kölluðu hann Búa hund.

> They, (Thorgrim and his wife?), let Thorstein, his son,
> have a lot to say about Bui when he did not want to
> sacrifice and called him, dog-Bui.

'They had Þ., his son, take many messages to B. when he
would not sacrifice and called him Búi the dog.' ('Dog-Búi'
would be <Hund-Búi> or the like.)

> Það vor er Búi var tólf vetra en Þorsteinn son Þorgríms
> var átján vetra

> That spring when Bui was twelve years old then Thorstein,
> Thorgrim's son was eighteen years old,

... when Búi was 12 years old and Þorsteinn, Þorgrím's son,
was 18 years old, ...

> stefndi Þorsteinn Búa um rangan átrúnað til
> Kjalarnessþings og lét varða skóggang.

> Thorstein summoned Bui regarding false belief at the
> Keelsnees Thing and had (him) punishable by outlawry.

'Þ. summoned B. before the þing for false belief and asked
that he be punished by outlawry.' (For the 'asked that' bit
see the last example in Zoëga s.v. <varða> (5).)

> Hann fór jafnan í Brautarholt að finna föður sinn og móður
> og svo gerði hann enn.

> He went always to Roadholt to meet his father and mother
> and did so still.

'He had always gone to B. to meet his father and mother, and
he did so still' (or 'and he continued to do so') probably
captures the actual sense a little better; tense usage just
doesn't always match up well.

> Af þessu öllu saman urðu fáleikar miklir millum húsa.

> From this all together became great melancholy between
> (the) houses.

Under the circumstances, 'coldness' seems a better choice
than 'melancholy': 'All of this brought about a great
coldness between the houses' (more literally, 'on account of
all this a great coldness occurred ...').

> Um vorið er á leið er þess getið að Búi fór til
> Brautarholts.

> During the spring on the way, this was mentioned, that Bui
> went to Roadholt.

<Leið> here is the past tense of <líða> 'to pass', not the
noun; <líðr á e-t> 'the time draws to a close'. Thus, <um
várit er á leið> is 'towards the end of spring' (more
literally, 'in the spring, that was coming to an end'). <Er
þess getit> is simply 'it is said': 'It is said that Búi
went to Brautarholt as spring drew to a close'.

Brian