Thank you, Brian!
Yes, just to follow up with a couple of things you mentioned I see that I mixed up norðan (=from the north) with norðr (=northwards). Also, your explanation of what was being negated in the discussion between Hoskuld and Bjorn (the idea was that it could not be a better marriage) clarifies that sentence certainly for me.
Rob
--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott" <BMScott@...> wrote:
>
> At 8:07:11 PM on Friday, March 12, 2010, rob13567 wrote:
>
> > As previously, comments in double brackets [[xyz]] were
> > added after consulting the translations of my colleagues.
>
> > Þorgerður bjó ferð sína til Íslands og sækir heim Höskuld
> > son sinn í Laxárdal.
>
> > Thorgerd made ready for a journey to Iceland and visits
> > (the) home of Hoskuld her son in Laxardal.
>
> The sense is fine, but <heim> here is the adverb, not the
> noun; Zoëga s.v. <heim> even has <skja e-n heim> 'to visit
> one; to attack one'. Thus, <skir heim Höskuld> is 'to
> visit Höskuld'.
>
> [...]
>
> > Nokkurum vetrum síðar tók Þorgerður banasótt og andaðist
> > og var hún í haug sett en Höskuldur tók fé allt en Hrútur
> > bróðir hans átti hálft.
>
> > Some years (lit. winters) later Thorgerd took
> > death-sickness (i.e., became mortally ill) and died and
> > she was set in a cairn and Hoskuld took all the wealth but
> > his brother Hrut had half. [[Apparently, this is "Hrut had
> > a right to half," though I am not sure how.]]
>
> See Zoëga s.v. <eiga> (4): 'to have a right to, to have a
> claim to' is simply one of the meanings of the verb.
>
> [...]
>
> > Hann var jafnan sinn vetur hvort með Hákoni konungi eða að
> > búi sínu.
>
> > He was always [sinn vetur??] whether with King Hakon or
> > at his farm. [["He was always in winter either with..."]]
>
> See Zoëga s.v. <sinn> (poss. pron.) (5); literally it's
> something like 'He was always his winter either ... or ...'.
>
> [...]
>
> > Sá fjörður skerst í land norður frá Steingrímsfirði og
> > gengur þar fram háls í milli.
>
> > The fiord stretches inland from the north from Steingrim's
> > fiord and goes from the a ridge in (the) middle.
>
> It stretches inland northwards from S. I'm pretty sure that
> <háls> is the subject of the second clause; <í milli> is
> 'between', and the best sense that I can make of it is that
> the land separating Steingrímsfjörðr from Bjarnarfjörðr
> where the latter branches off to the north from the former
> ends in a ridge: 'That fjord stretches inland northwards
> from Steingrímsfjörð, and a ridge extends forth there
> between [the two fjords]'.
>
> [...]
>
> > Sá þótti þá kostur bestur í öllum Vestfjörðum.
>
> > (She was) thought then the best match in all Vestfiord.
> > [[OK, "sá" means "that" rather than "then" here?]]
>
> <Sá> is the masc. nom. sing. demonstrative pronoun 'that
> (one)'; it's masc. to agree with <kostr>. 'That [= she] was
> thought then [the] best match in all the West Fjords.'
>
> > Af þessi konu hefir Höskuldur fréttir
>
> > Of this woman Hoskuld began to hear
>
> <hefir fréttir> 'has news/intelligence'
>
> > Höskuldur reið heiman með tíunda mann og sækir heim Björn
> > bónda í Bjarnarfjörð.
>
> > Hoskuld rode from home with 9 men and visits farmer
> > Bjorn's home in Bjorn's fiord. [[I see I could have been
> > more literal referring to the "tenth man."]]
>
> Yes, but <með tíunda mann> 'with the tenth man' actually
> means 'with nine (other) men', so 'with nine men' is right.
>
> [...]
>
> > Síðan vekur Höskuldur bónorð en Björn svarar því vel og
> > kvaðst það hyggja að dóttir hans mundi eigi vera betur
> > gift en veik þó til hennar ráða.
>
> > Next Hoskuld makes a proposal and Bjorn answers this well
> > and states that (he) believes that his daughter would not
> > be better married but handed it over to her decision to
> > agree. [[I was fairly certain that I had to be wrong
> > about the "not be better married" part. Apparently it
> > might mean "given in marriage"?]]
>
> He thinks that she 'would not be better given in marriage',
> i.e., that H. would be the best of matches for her. There's
> no 'to agree': he simply handed it over to her decision.
>
> [...]
>
> > en þó mun faðir minn mestu af ráða því að eg mun því
> > samþykkjast hér um sem hann vill."
>
> I make it 'but nevertheless my father will mostly decide (af
> ráða), because I will consent here to that which he wants.'
>
> [...]
>
> > Sækir Björn norðan til boðsins með fríðu föruneyti.
>
> > Bjorn visits from the north to his wedding feast with a
> > fine retinue. [["Sækir" is "go" rather than "visit"?]]
>
> It can be: see Zoëga s.v. <skja> (10).
>
> [...]
>
> > En er veisluna þraut þá fer hver heim til sinna heimkynna
> > með góðri vináttu og sæmilegum gjöfum.
>
> > And when the banquet comes to an end, then everyone
> > goes home to his household with good friendship and [?] gifts.
>
> <Smiligr> 'honorable, becoming, fitting'; it's cognate with
> English <seemly>.
>
> [...]
>
> > Vel var um samfarar þeirra Höskulds og ekki margt
> > hversdaglega.
>
> > Their travelling together was well and not a lot of
> > commonly. [[Apparently, translating this is a bit of a
> > tough nut to crack. I know my version does not make sense
> > in English.]]
>
> <Samfarar> is the nom. plural of <samför>, which most often
> appears in the plural. The relevant sense is 'wedded life':
> '[Things] were well concerning their married life', i.e,
> they had a good marriage. <Hversdagliga> can be 'in
> general, generally, with few exceptions', and Fritzner uses
> this sentence to exemplify that sense, but <ekki margt> is a
> bit of a puzzle. I'm inclined to take it to be parallel to
> <vel>, <ekki margt var um samfarar þeirra hversdagliga>,
> with <margt> meaning 'communicative' (Zoëga s.v. <margr>
> (3)): they got on well enough with each other in their
> married life, but they generally weren't very communicative,
> very outgoing with each other.
>
> Brian
>