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

> Þóttist hann glöggt skilja að hann mundi hafa borið af

> Eldgrími ef þeir hefðu reynt með sér svo lítið sem fyrir
> hann lagðist.

> 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.

Laxdæla Saga, Mál og Menning, 1993 student´s edition provides this explanation of the expression: „svo lítið sem fyrir hann lagðist: þegar ekki þurfti meira til að verða honum að fjörtjóni. e-ð leggst fyrir e-n: eð hendir e-n, kemur fyrir e-n“ which I translated (with difficulty) as „when (it) needed not more to cause his loss-of-life“ which is similar to the CV gloss and, I think consistent with my translation where overcome = slay. No mention of destiny in their explanation, if my translation of it is correct.

 

Brian