Re: Laxdaela Saga 37 part 3 - Rob's Translation

> Eldgrímur mælti: "Ger þú Þorleik varan við ef þú vilt því
> að þú mátt sjá að eg hefi svo heiman búist að mér þótti
> vel að fund okkarn Þorleiks bæri saman" og hristi
> krókaspjótið er hann hafði í hendi.

> Eldrim said: "You warn Thorleik if you wanted that, that
> you could see that I had so gotten ready at home that
> seemed to me that our meeting met Thorleik. (??) (Z. varr
> - gera e-n varan við e-t, to warn a person)

> Eldgrim spoke, “You make a warning to Thorleik if you wish
> it that you can see that I have so prepared myself from
> home that seemed well to me to our meeting (mine and)
> Thorleik’s” and shakes a barbed spear which he had in
> hand.

> Eldgrímr spoke: “Make you a warning to Þorleikr, if you
> want (2nd pers sg present tense), because (því at) you can
> (2nd pers sg present tense) see that I have
> got-myself-ready (to go) from-home so that (svá … at) it
> would-seem to me fine (well, no problem) that a meeting
> would bring us, Þorleikr (and I) together” and shook
> the-barbed-spear which he had in (his) hand.

I'm inclined to think that <svo> goes with <búist>, not with
<að>: 'so prepared/equipped that'. I'm also not sure
whether <heiman> modifies <hefi ... búist>, or whether (as
so often) there's an implied verb of motion, and we should
understand something like <ek hefi heiman farit svá búizk
at> 'I have gone from home so prepared/equipped that'; I find
the latter quite attractive.

> Hrútur mælti: "Heldur mun eg annars á leita en fara á
> Kambsnes því að mér er fótur þungur.

> Hrut said: "I will rather otherwise seek for help than go
> to Kambsness because to me is a heavy foot.

> Hrut spoke, “Rather will I seek otherwise than to go to
> Kambsness because my feet are heavy.

> Hrútr spoke: “I will rather proceed (leita, Z3 and Z6)
> otherwise than to go to Kambsnes because my legs are
> heavy.

Both <er> and <fótur þungur> are singular; Rob's version of
the last clause is literally correct, though I'd probably
make it 'because my foot is heavy'. I see that M&P make it
the more idiomatic 'I am heavy of foot'.

> Eldgrímur mælti: "Er eigi það að þú ætlir að taka af mér
> hrossin?"

> Eldrim said: "Is it not that you intend to take from me
> the horses?"

> Eldgrim spoke, “You (an 80 year old) don’t expect to take
> the horses from me?”

> Eldgrímr spoke: “Is it not that, that you intend to take
> the-horses from me?”

After looking at a number of instances of the construction
<Er eigi þat at ...?>, I have the impression that it can
mean something like 'Does this/Do you mean that ...?' or
'It's true that ..., isn't it?', which would fit nicely
here.

> En er Hrútur sá það reiddi hann upp bryntröllið og setur
> milli herða Eldgrími svo að þegar slitnaði brynjan fyrir
> en bryntröllið hljóp út um bringuna.

> But when Hrut saw that, he raised up the halberd and sets
> (it) between Eldrim's shoulders so that at once broke the
> mail over and the halberd ran out of the chest.

> But when Hrut saw it he raised up the halberd and sets
> (it) between Eldgrim’s shoulders so that immediately (the)
> chaim mail snapped before and the halbard sprang out of
> the chest.

> But when Hrútr saw that he brandished (raised up)
> the-halberd and sets (it) between Eldgrímr’s shoulders so
> that at-once (it) snapped the mail before (?) the-halberd
> leapt out through the-chest.

<Brotna> is inherently passive, 'to be rent, to break';
<brynjan> 'the-mail-coat' is the subject of <brotnaði>, not
an understood 'it'. <Fyrr en> would definitely be 'before',
but I think that what we have here is an adverbial <fyrir>,
modifying <slitnaði>, and the conjunction <en>. Since the
halberd passed through him from behind, what's remarkable is
the damage to the front of the armor, and I'm inclined to
read <fyrir> as 'in front': 'so that the mail coat at once
snapped in front and the halberd sprang out through/beyond
the [= his] chest'.

> Féll Eldgrímur dauður af hestinum sem von var.
> Eldgrim fell dead of (his) horse as was usual.
> Eldgrim fell dead from the horse as was expected.
> Eldgrímr fell dead from the-horse as was expectation (as
> one might expect).

Or 'as was to be expected', which is my usual translation of
<sem ván var>.

> Eldgrímsholt (Eldgrímr’s Wood)

Although <holt> is originally 'wood', like its English
cognate, CV says that in Icelandic usage it's mostly 'any
rough, stony hill or ridge', and I suspect that that's the
likelier sense here.

> Hrútur kvað hann mundu því ráða.
> Hrut stated he would decide that.
> Hrut said he would decide it.
> Hrútr declared he (Þorleikr) would decide (ráða, Z6) that.

I agree that <hann> refers to Þorleikr, but <ráða> can't be
(Z6): that requires the accusative, and <því> is dative. It
looks to me like some version of (Z9) with a sense something
like 'would/must have his way [in] that, would/must act
according to his desires [in] that'.

> Hrútur var þá áttræður er hann drap Eldgrím og þótti hann
> mikið hafa vaxið af þessu verki.

> Hrut was then 80 years old when he slew Eldgrim and it
> seemed he had much grown from this deed.

> Hrut was then eighty when he killed Eldgrim and it seemed
> he had grown greatly (in respect) from this deed.

> Hrútr was then eighty-years-of-age when he killed Eldgrímr
> and he was-thought to have grown greater (in fame) from
> this deed.

I agree with Grace: neuter <mikit> is functioning as an
adverb, 'had grown greatly'.

> Þóttist hann glöggt skilja að hann mundi hafa borið af
> Eldgrími ef þeir hefðu reynt með sér svo lítið sem fyrir
> hann lagðist.

> It seemed to him clearly separate that he would have
> surpassed Elgrim if they had tried with himself so little
> as he take a rest. (??)

> He thought clearly to part with him would have happened
> due to? Eldgrim if they had made a trial of each other so
> little as for him lay on it.

> He bethought-himself clearly to discern (skilja, Z5) that
> he would have disposed of (bera af, Z10) Eldgrímr if they
> had put-it-to-the-test between themselves, so little as
> was-placed before (ie as was needed to overcome?) him (ie
> beaten by an 80 year old man).

The last bit seems to be covered at (Z15), <lítit leggst
fyrir e-n> 'one has but a poor destiny': 'so poor a destiny
he [had] had'. CV actually has this as an example, glossing
'who had been so easily slain, had made so poor a defence';
'so poor a showing he had made' would seem to be a
reasonably literal version of this reading. I suppose that
in this culture's terms making a poor showing in this
setting *is* having a poor destiny.

Brian