Re: Star Wars XIV part 2

At 10:16:50 AM on Thursday, October 14, 2010, Fred and Grace
Hatton wrote:

> I am still confused about the dual. If one person is
> speaking to two, the dual is used. But,as the translation
> of "mun sokja ykkr barn aldrigi á Íslandi" the author
> has"..he will never seek you and the child on Iceland." So
> this is a construction like "They, Padme (and company)
> went on a ship?"

Yes.

> Hon kyssti börnin, ok þá mælti hon: "Þeim var ek verst, er
> ek unna mest."

> She kissed the children and then she spoke, "I was worst
> to those who I love most."

Here <þeim> is masculine singular: 'I was worst to him whom
I loved most'. This is a very famous line spoken by Guðrún
at the end of Laxdæla saga.

> En inir írskir hirðmenn vildi ala þau upp í Þíðborg í
> Aldiransveitum á Írlandi meðal konunglega frænda þeira.

> But the Irish retainers wanted to bring them up in
> Thidborg in Aldiran-district in Ireland among their royal
> kinsmen.

<Aldiransveitum>, like <Aldiransveitir> later, is plural, so
it's '(the) Aldiran districts'.

> "Tökum vér eitt barn með hana aptr til Írlands."
> "(Let us) take one child with her back to Ireland."

Not so much 'Let us take', I think, as 'We will take'.

> "Tökum vér skip þitt," segir Beilorgana, "Ok mun Anakinn
> himingangari spyrja tíðindi, at skip þitt er farit frá
> Íslandi, ok mun sœkja ykkr barn aldrigi á Íslandi.

> "(Let us) take your ship,"

Here again I think that it's 'We will take'.

> says Beilorgana, "And Anakinn skywalker will learn
> (the)news that your ship has sailed from Iceland, and (he)
> will never look for (dual) your child in Iceland.

The genitive would be <ykkar>; <ykkr> is dative/accusative,
so this is 'look for you (and the) child'.

> "Ok menn segja, at þat sé friðsamt land, ok eitt land án
> vápna.

> "And people say that it be a peaceful land and not a land
> without weapons.

There's no 'not' there: 'and a land without weapons'.

> man ek eptir engum góðum köppum.
> I recall no good man of valour after.

The construction doesn't seem to be in CV or Zoëga, but
<eptir> is part of a compound verb here, not the adverb
'after': Fritzner gives <muna e-t eptir> 'beholde noget i
Erindringen' ('retain something in memory'). Thus, it's
simply 'I remember no good champions'.

> norrœnni ætt."
> northern family."

Not 'northern', but 'Norse' (or sometimes 'Norwegian').

Brian