> "Gjarna, dróttning mín," segir Hani, "Allt vas í lagi fyrr
> en þú fœrðir øss higat.
> "Willingly, my queen," says Han, "All was in due place
> before you brought us hither.
> “Gladly, my Princess,” says Han, “Everything was in order
> before you brought us hither.
'In order' is a bit more idiomatic here.
> Þat es eigi langt nú fyrr en þeir læra hvat kom fyr øss."
> That is not long now before they learn what came for us."
> It is not long now before they learn what became of us.”
I'm sure that Grace's version is the intended meaning,
though at the moment I can't point to a clear instance of
the construction elsewhere; this is <koma> in its 'come to
pass' sense.
> "Allt fengi hafa komizk fyr øss verr," ...
> "All could have come worse for us," ...
> “All have been able to escape worse before us?,” ...
I think that we're dealing here with one of the 'come to an
end, reach' senses of <komask>: 'could have turned out/ended
up worse for us'.
> En es hann þetta segir, heyra þau dryn stórs dýrs, ok
> harki undir þeim hreyfðizk nekkvat.
> But when he says this, they hear roar a big animal, and
> rubbish under them stirs somewhat.
> But when he says this, they hear noise of a large animal,
> and (it) scrapes under them (as?) something stirred.
<Dryn> is a noun, 'roar, roaring': 'they hear [the] roar of
a large animal'. Rob has the rest of it.
> Tsiubakka hræddisk mjǫk, ok sótti at renna hærr upp á
> harkakesti.
> Chewbacca became very afraid, and sought to run higher up
> on (the) garbage pile. (see Z. hár - hæri en, higher than)
> Chewbacca became very fearful and tried to run high up on
> the garbage ??
I can't find any justification for the form <hærr>; I'd have
expected <hær(r)i>. This may be a typo. At any rate, I'm
sure that the comparative, 'higher', is intended. Grace:
The second element of that last compound is <köstr> 'a
pile', dative sing. <kesti>.
> "Verr?" segir Hani, "Þat verðr verr.
> "Worse?" says Han, "That happens to be worse.
> “Worse?” says Han, “It becomes worse.
I'm with Grace on this one. 'It's getting worse [now]' is
another possibility.
> Nekkvat lifir hér."
> Something lives here."
> Something is living here.”
I think that 'is alive here' is probably best: 'is living
here' suggests 'is dwelling/residing here', but <lifa>
actually refers to the condition of being alive. (If it
helps, it's the difference between German <wohnen> and
<leben>.)
> ... ok fnýsti eitri alla leið fyr sik fram.
> ... and blew out poison all (the) way before himself
> forward.
> ... and blew poison out in every place before it.
<Alla leið> is an accusative. Gordon (§156) notes that one
of the uses of the accusative was to express direction:
<hamhleypa fór annan veg> 'the skin-changer went off in
another direction'. That, I think is what we have here:
'and blew out poison in every direction before it'.
> En eigi hræddizk Hólmgǫngu-Hani né óttask við þann orm.
> But Dueler-Han wasn't afraid nor feared the dragon.
> But Duel Han neither became afraid nor angry with that
> serpent.
It's a bit redundant: 'But H.-H. neither was afraid of nor
feared the dragon'. Normal modern English storytelling
style would simply eliminate one of the verbs.
> ... ok rúna vegna fengi hann með þann talazk við Þrípíó ok
> Artú á Fálkinum.
> ... and runes proceeded he could with that talk to 3PO and
> R2 on the Falcon.
> ... and by means of (is this use similar to the German
> *wegen* ?) runes he was able with that to speak with 3PO
> and R2 on the Falcon.
As for instance <wegen der Runen> 'on account of the runes,
because of the runes'? Yes, and that's how I'd translate
it. They may even have the same origin: the German
preposition derives from the dative plural of the noun <Weg>
in the sense 'side; place' that it had in Middle Low German,
and <vegna> is thought by some to be a borrowing of the same
MLG word. It's also been suggested that <vegna> is an
independent ON development from <vegr>, one of whose senses
is indeed 'side'. I don't know what the current consensus
is.
Rob: You want the second entry <vegna>, and <fengi ...
talazk> is yet another <fá> + past part. X construct meaning
'to be able to do X'. <Fengi> is a past subjunctive,
'could, would be able to'. I expect that the subjunctive is
used because it's talking about the possibility of such
speech rather than about a specific instance of it.
I make it 'and on account of the runes he would by means of
it be able to talk with 3PO and R2 on the Falcon'.
> ... fyrr en hann drepr okkr Lúk.
> ... before he slays us, Luke (and me). ...
> ... before he kills us, (all of us and) Luke.
<Okkr> is the dual pronoun, so it refers only to Hani and
Lúk.
> En Þrípíó svarar, "Gør grǫf í harka, ok sit þar í, ok legg
> til hjartans orminum."
> And 3PO answers, "Make a grave in (the) garbage, and sit
> there in (it), and thrust at the worm's heart."
> And 3PO answers, “Make a ditch in (the) garbage and sit
> therein, and thrust at the serpent’s heart.”
The idea is to keep from making a grave! <g> 'Ditch'
suggests a particular shape (relatively long and slender)
that probably isn't intended; I'd go with 'pit' or perhaps
simply 'hole'.
> En Hólmgǫngu-Hani gørir eptir þessu.
> And Dueler Han imitates this.
> And Duel Han made (the ditch) following this (advice).
<Gørir> is present tense and, in the absence of an explicit
direct object I'm inclined to read it as 'acts' rather than
as 'makes', but I agree that <eptir þessu> is 'following
this [advice]' or 'according to this [advice]'.
> Ok es ormrinn skreið yfir grǫfina, þá leggr Hani øxini
> undir bæxlit vinstra, svá stóð við hamri.
> And when the worm crawled over the grave, then Han thrust
> the ax under (its) left shoulder, so stood with a hammer.
> And when the serpent crawled over the ditch, then Han
> thrusts the axe under the left shoulder so that it
> (remained) standing in the skin.
From Völsunga saga, Ch. 18:
Hann fnýsti eitri alla leið fyrir sik fram, ok eigi
hræddisk Sigurðr né óttask við þann gný. Ok er ormrinn
skreið yfir gröfina, þá leggr Sigurðr sverðinu undir
bæxslit vinstra, svá at við hjöltum nam. Þá hleypr
Sigurðr upp ór gröfinni ok kippir at sér sverðinu ok hefir
allar hendr blóðgar upp til axlar. Ok er inn mikli ormr
kenndi síns banasárs, þá laust hann höfðinu ok sporðinum,
svá at allt brast í sundr, er fyrir varð.
The only real difference is the substitution of an axe for
the sword. <Svá at við hjöltum nam> in the original is 'so
that [it] touched the crossguard' (i.e., all the way to the
hilt), and Jackson seems to have had this in mind with his
'all the way to the shaft'. If this is what he had in mind,
then <við hamri> must be 'against [the] skin'. I'd have
expected <svá at skapt stóð við hamri> 'so that [the] shaft
stood against [the] skin' (or possibly <skaptit>, with the
article); I don't know whether the omission of <at skapt> is
a legitimate ellipsis or an oversight.
> Þá hleypr Hólmgǫngu-Hani upp ýr grǫfinni ok kippir at sér
> exinni ok hefir allar hendr blóðgar upp til axlar.
> Then Dueler Han hops up out of the grave and draws quickly
> for himself the ax and has all (his) arms bloody up to
> (the) shoulders.
> Then Duel Han leaps up out of the ditch and quickly draws
> the axe to himself and has hands all bloody up to the
> shoulders (armpits?).
Shoulders; 'armpit' is <handarkriki>. And since his hands
probably don't attach at the shoulders, this would seem to
be a case in which <hönd> means '(hand and) arm'. Rob: <at
sér> is 'towards himself'.
> Ok es inn mikli ormr kenndi síns banasárs, þá laust hann
> hǫfðinu ok sporðinum, svá at allt brast í sundr es fyr
> varð, ok Lúkr varð leystr.
> And when the great worm felt its mortal wound, then he
> freed his head and tail, so that all broke in pieces which
> was a hindrance, and Luke was freed. (Z. verða 8 - v.
> fyrir e-m, to be in one's way, as a hindrance)
> And when the great serpent recognized his death wound,
> then he loosed (relaxed?) his head and tail so that all
> broke apart which was before and Luke was freed.
In this case <fyr(ir)> is simply 'in front of' (or perhaps
even 'present', if <allt> can be understood as not including
the people).
Brian