Re: Star Wars XXVI part 2 - - Grace's translation

> En þá es Gríðó sá Hólmgǫngu-Hana
> And when Grido saw Dueler-Han
> But then when Grido saw Duel Han

I'd say simply 'But when G. saw D-H'.

> Hann gekk með reidda øxi segjandi, “Hvert ferr þú,
> Hólmgǫngu-Hani Sólósson?”

> He went with a brandished ax, saying, "Where did you go,
> Dueler-Han, Soloson?"

> He went with poised axe saying, “Where are you going, Duel
> Han Solo’s son?”

Rob: <Ferr> is present tense; 2nd person sing. indic. past
tense would be <fórt>.

> “Komdu heill ok sæll, Gríðó,” segir Hólmgǫngu-Hani, “Ok
> vitjak konungs þíns snart.

> "Come good luck and fortunate, Grido," says Dueler-Han,
> "And go to thy King swiftly.

> “(May) you arrive hale and well,Grido,” says Duel Han,
> “and I visit your king soon.

<Kom(du) heill ok sæll> is a greeting, literally 'come (you)
hale and happy!'; it could reasonably be translated
'welcome', 'hail', or even 'hello'. <Kom(du) heill> by
itself is also used, and it (without the pronoun) could
almost literally be translated simply as 'welcome'. (See
Zoëga s.v. <heill> (3).) <Kom(du) sæll> is also used.

<Vitjak> is a contraction of <vitja ek>, which means that in
this case <vitja> must be a 1st person sing. form of the
verb; a quick check of the conjugation tables shows that
it's the present subjunctive. To quote Michael Barnes:

Subjunctive endings are found chiefly in sentences where
the predicate denotes something regarded by the
speaker/writer as hypothetical: a wish, request,
instruction, supposition, possibility etc.

Thus, the subjunctive appears to introduce an element of
uncertainty into what would otherwise be a definite
assertion, and the problem is to decide just what sort of
uncertainty is involved: is it a wish that might not be
fulfilled, a possibility that might not be realized, or
what? In this context it doesn't really look like a wish,
and 'possibility' is pretty vague; here it looks to me like
an intention that might be frustrated by events. I'd make
it 'I should be visiting your king soon', 'I intend to visit
your king soon', 'I plan to visit your king soon', or the
like.

I agree with Grace that 'soon' fits the context better than
'swiftly'.

> “Of seint es þat,” kvað Gríðó inn grœni hlæjandi, “Fyr hví
> galtstu eigi hann þá áðr, þá es þú vart nærri Danmǫrku?

> "If (of = ef?) that is true," said Grido the Green
> laughing, "Why didn't you pay (galstu = gjalda?) him then
> before, when you were nearer Denmark?

> “It is too late,” said Grido the green laughing, “Why
> didn’t you pay him then before, then when you were closer
> to Denmark?

Rob: This is the second <of> in Zoëga, the adverb whose
basic sense is 'too (much)'. <Galstu> is indeed from
<gjalda>; specifically, it's a contraction of <galzt þú>
'you paid'.

> Mikil laun eru þau, es fengi maðr sá, es drepi
> Hólmgǫngu-Hana ok Tsiubakka inn fríska.

> Big rewards are they, who catch the man, who slay
> Dueler-Han and Chewbacca the Frisian.

> Great are the rewards ???? that man who kills Duel Han and
> Chewbacca the Frisian.

<Laun> is formally a plural, but the natural English
translation is singular, 'reward'. (This goes for all of
the later instances as well.) 'It is a great reward that
that man would get who would kill D-H and Ch. the Frisian.'

> Þau laun sé meiri en nekkvat skattfjá þinna sé virð,
> ætlak.

> The rewards are more than some of your tribute money is
> worth, I think.

> Those rewards be more than some of your tribute money be
> worth, I expect.

<Nekkvat> here is probably 'any' rather than 'some': the
reward is worth more than any of the tribute money.

> “Ef þú gefr mér skattfé þetta, es þú kveðsk sjálfan hafa,
> fæ ek því gleymdu, at ek sá þik,” segir Gríðó, “En annars
> ertu drepinn.”

> "If you give me this tribute, which you youself say for
> yourself (to) have, I can thus forget, that I saw you,"
> says Grido, "But otherwise you are slain."

> “If you give me this tribute money, which you say of
> yourself to have, I can forget it, that I saw you,” says
> Grido, “But otherwise you are dead.”

Grace is right about <því>: it's simply the pronoun. An
idiomatic English translation would simply ignore it: 'I can
forget that I saw you'.

> “Þegiðu, Hani,” segir Gríðó hlæjandi enn, “Ertu hvítasti
> manna, jafnan óviljaðr á þat at berjask.”

> "Be silent, Han," says Grido still laughing, "You are the
> whitest (??) man, always unwilling at that to attack."

> “Shut up, Han,” says Grido still laughing, “You are the
> whitest (most cowardly?) of men, always unwilling to
> fight.”

I did some digging. It appears that a fairly strong case
can be made that to call a man <hvítr> was to suggest that
he was effeminate, unmanly, and by implication cowardly,
pretty much the same as calling him <argr>. Apparently at
some point the adjective had became rather strongly
associated with women. G's comment was therefore a pretty
strong insult, more than reason enough for a hólmgang.
'Most cowardly' or 'most unmanly' seems a reasonable
rendering.

> “Þat es níð, ok vil ek bjóða þér til hólmgǫngu um þetta
> mál,” segir Hólmgǫngu-Hani.

> "That is an insult, and I will invite (i.e., challenge)
> you to a duel concerning this matter," says Dueler-Han.

> “That is an insult, and I want to offer you a duel about
> this issue,” says Duel Han

It's definitely stronger than 'offer'; 'bid' would work, but
'challenge' would be my choice.

> “Hvers konar hólmganga væri sú?” spyrr Gríðó.
> "Which kind of duel is that?" asks Grido.
> “What kind of duel would that be?” asks Grido.

As Grace notes, <væri> is subjunctive, 'would be'.

> “Engi hólmgǫngustaðr es sjá.”
> This is not a duel city."
> “No duel place is this.”

Rob: <Staðr> is very rarely 'town, city'; the basic meaning
is 'place', which is what's wanted here.

Brian