Re: Laxdaela Saga 33 beginning - Rob's Translation

> Gestur Oddleifsson bjó vestur á Barðaströnd í Haga.
> Gest Oddleifson lived west at Barda-beach in Haga.
> Gest Oddleif’s son lived west in Bardastrand in Hagi.
> Gestr Oddleifr’s-son lived west at Barðaströnd
> (Shore-of-Ships´- prows, perhaps?) in Hagi.

<Barði> is also a kind of whale and a masculine forename, so
it could be 'whales' strand' or 'Barði's strand'. However,
the likeliest source seems to be <barð> 'border, edge, rim';
CV notes that the sense 'verge of a hill' is common in
Icelandic place-names.

> Einhverju sinni bar enn svo til að Gestur reið til þings
> og gisti á Hóli.

> Once conveyed still so to that Gest rode to the Thing and
> stayed the night at Hol.

> One certain time it happened so that Gest rode to (the)
> Thing and stayed overnight at Hol.

> One time (sinn, Z1) (it) happened (bera til, Z11) (yet so)
> that Gestur rode to (the) Thing and passed-the-night at
> Hóll.

<Bar svá til> 'it so happened' -- just like English! <g>

> Örnólfur
> Onrolf
> Örnóldr

Titivillus seems to have it in for poor Örnólf! (If you've
not met the little devil, see
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titivillus>.)

> Gestur tók henni vel og taka þau tal saman og voru þau
> bæði vitur og orðig.

> Gest received her well and they begin to talk together and
> they were both wise and wordy.

> Gest accepted her well and they begin to talk together and
> they were both wise and talkative.

> Gestr received her well and they take conversation
> together and they were both intelligent and wordy
> (talkative according to Z, but could one say articulate?
> ).

CV glosses 'wordy, plausible'; the second gloss suggests
that 'articulate' ought to be within the word's semantic
range, as does Fritzner's gloss <ordrig>. Certainly that
fits this context better than the alternatives.

> Guðrún mælti: "Dreymt hefir mig margt í vetur en fjórir
> eru þeir draumar er mér afla mikillar áhyggju en engi
> maður hefir þá svo ráðið að mér líki og bið eg þó eigi
> þess að þeir séu í vil ráðnir."

> Gudrun spoke: "I have dreamt much this winter, and they
> are four dreams which bring me much anxiety, but no person
> has so explained to me a form and although I asked that
> they were not interpreted to my liking (Z. vil 2 - to
> one's liking (ráða drauma í v. e-m))

> Gudrun spoke, “I have dreamt much in winter and four are
> those dreams which cause me great anxiety and no man has
> interpreted them so to my liking and yet I ask not this
> that they be interpreted to one’s liking.”

> Guðrún spoke: “(It) has dreamt me (ie I have dreamt) many
> (a dream) in (the) winter (ie this winter) but four are
> those dreams which produce in me great anxiety but no
> person (man) has interpreted (see ráða, Z11) them such
> that (their interpretation) should-please (as in make
> sense to, líka, verb) me and (but) nevertheless I
> am-asking not that, that they should-be interpreted to
> (one´s) ‘liking’.”

Translating <að mér líki> as 'to my liking' isn't wrong, but
it's potentially ambiguous; my choice would be 'to my
satisfaction', especially since she herself makes a point of
the distinction.

> Og enn mælti Guðrún: "Það var upphaf að öðrum draum að eg
> þóttist vera stödd hjá vatni einu.

> And Gudrun still spoke: "That was (the) beginning of
> another dream that it seemed to me (that I) had stood by
> some (body of) water.

> And still Gudrun spoke, “It was the beginning of another
> dream that I thought myself to be standing near some
> water.

> And still Guðrún spoke: “That is (the) beginning of the
> other dream that I bethought-myself to be standing by a
> certain lake.

<Öðrum> here is 'second'; if you look ahead, you'll see that
she continues the enumeration (<inn þriði draumr minn>,
<inn fjórði draumr minn>).

> Svo þótti mér sem kominn væri silfurhringur á hönd mér og
> þóttist eg eiga og einkar vel sama.

> It seemed to me as a silver ring had come (i.e., appeared)
> on my hand and it seemed to me I owned (it) and (it)
> became me extremely well (Z. einkar - e. vel, extremely
> well)

> So (it) seemed to me as if a silver ring were come on my
> hand and I seemed to own (it) and (It) suited (me) very
> well.

> So (it) seemed to me like a silver-ring were (had) come
> on-to my hand (arm) and I bethought-myself to own (it) and
> exceedingly well to suit (it). (does she suit it, or does
> it suit her?)

It suited her. <Sama> takes the thing in the nominative and
the person suited in the dative. (Besides, that's much the
likelier reading just on grounds of sense.)

> Þótti mér sjá skaði miklu meiri en eg mætti að líkindum
> ráða þótt eg hefði einum grip týnt.

> It seemed to me that greatly harmed me, and I could guess
> at it although I had lost the same treasure. (Z. líkindi 1
> - ráða (sjá) e-t at líkindum, to guess at a thing)

> This seemed to me a much greater loss than I could guess
> at a thing though I had lost a valuable thing.

> This loss (skjaði is a noun) seemed to me much greater
> than I might in (all) likelihood expect (interpret, ráða
> e-t at líkindum, Z11, to judge from probabilities) even-if
> I should-have lost only (merely) a valuable-treasure.

Since <einum> precedes <grip>, I'd not expect it to mean
'only', and in fact the intended sense points in the other
direction: she'd expect to feel the loss of a valuable
treasure, but this seemed much worse than even that would
justify. 'This loss seemed to me much greater than I might
reasonably expect, even had I lost a valuable treasure.'

Brian