Re: Star Wars XIV end + XV beginning - - Grace's translation

At 4:01:06 PM on Thursday, October 21, 2010, Fred and Grace
Hatton wrote:

> Gerið sem ykkr líkar við mey; ek held inum fyrirspáða
> hefndarmanni ættar mínar.

> Do as is pleasing to you both with (the) girl, I keep to
> the prophecy of an avenger of my line.

<Fyrirspáða> isn't a possible form of the noun <fyrirspá>,
so we have to look a little further. The <-ða> ending
suggests the past participle of a weak verb, but neither
Zoëga nor CV has a verb <fyrirspá>. However, they *do* have
a weak verb <spá> 'to prophesy, to foretell', and <fyrirspá>
would be a natural compound verb derived from it and having
essentially the same meaning. <Hefndarmanni> is masculine
dative singular, and <-a> is the weak adjectival ending
consistent with it, so <inum fyrirspáða hefndarmanni> must
be 'the prophesied avenger' (masc. dat. sing.). <Held> is
then simply 'hold': 'I hold the prophesied avenger of my
line'.

> Eptir þat sveinbarn hafði mjök drukkit tók Víga-Óbívan
> Kvæggansson barnit í höndum.

> After it (the) boy-child had drunk much, Slayer Obiwan
> Kvaeggan's son took the boy in hand. (in his arms)

Note that <hönd> can be 'the arm and the hand' and 'the arm'
as well as just 'the hand'.

> Lengi gekk hann vestr, unz hann kom endilega til
> Tattúínárdals, ok hann sá æ eldsuppkvámu nyrðri.

> He went west for a long time until he came finally to
> Tattouin River Dale and he saw ever more northerly
> volcanic eruptions.

That's 'eruption' (singular). Here I think that <æ> is
'always': 'and he always saw a volcanic eruption further
north (of where he then was)'.

> At Vatnabœ lét hann sveinbarnit á þröskuldi eina nótt, en
> Óinn Kléggsson kom út.

> At Water Farm he left the boy-child on a threshold one
> night, and Oinn Klegg's son came out.

This <en> appears to be 'but' rather than 'and': it appears
to me that he intended to leave the child anonymously but
was caught in the act.

> En ek mæli, at þú segir eigi honum frá feðr hans, ok væri
> þat trúlegt bezt, ef honum þœttisk faðir dauðr."

> And I say that you do not tell him of his father, and it
> is credibly best, if he would think (his) father dead."

CV offers 'likely' as a possible gloss for <trúligr>, and
the modern meaning of the adjective is 'probable'; 'probably
best' would likely be a more idiomatic translation.

> Ok Víga-Óbívan Kvæggansson hvarf í skugga.

> And Slayer Obiwan Kvaeggan's son turned into (the)
> shadows.

I expect that this is Zoëga's sense (2) of <hverfa>: he
disappeared into the shadows.

> "Siglir þar Víga-Óbívan Kvæggansson," segir hann, "Á skipi
> sínu, ok vill hann efalaust fœra mik í brottu frá óléttri
> konu minni."

> "There sails Slayer Obiwan Kvaeggan's son," says he, "On
> his ship and he will certainly lead me away from my woman
> heavy with child."

Here <vill> has its stronger sense, 'wants to, wishes to'.

> Ok hann sendir menn sína til skipsins, ok hann eggjar þá
> liðit mjök til framgöngu, ...

> And he sends his men to the ship and he urges the crowd
> (liðit?) then much towards advancing in battle, ...

I'd probably use 'the host', since the context is
quasi-military. But yes, that's the word in question.

Brian