Re: Star Wars 34 end - Rob's Translation

> Þá sǭ þau, at norrǿnir hermenn vǭru komnir á skeið ok
> hǫfðu með þeim stafnljá, þá es þeir þrifu upp ok kǫstuðu á
> meðal skipanna ok í skipit Hana og dró þegar at sér.

> They then saw that Norwegian warriors had come to (the)
> warship with the grappling hooks, that which they grabbed
> up and threw between the ships and in Han's ship and drew
> at once to themselves.

> Then they saw that Norse warriors had come on (the)
> warship and had a grappling hook with them, that which
> they picked up and cast in (the) middle of the ship and on
> Han’s ship and drew it at once towards them.

I may have forgotten, but I don't think that the Falcon has
been described as a warship; this makes me think that this
<skeið> is a different ship, one on which the Norwegian
warriors had arrived. In fact I now see that this is
confirmed later, when Tsiubakka throws the anchor: <ok
hljópu menn allir af skeiðinni ok á Fálkann> 'and all the
men leaped off the warship and onto the Falcon'. <Stafnljá>
is masc. acc. plur.; that it's plural can also be seen from
the fact that it's the antecedent of <þá> in <þá es>. <Á
meðal skipanna> is 'between the ships'. I'd say 'had
grappling hooks, which they snatched up and threw between
the ships and into Han's ship'.

> Lúkr brá nú sverðinu ok hafði hann eigi sett á sik
> hjálminn, hleypr þegar á saxit á skip norrǿna hermanna og
> hjó þegar mann til bana.

> Luke now drew the sword and he had not placed on himself
> his helmet, jumps at once on the Norwegian warrior's
> gunwale and at once struck a man dead.

He 'at once leaps onto the forward gunwale of the Norwegian
warriors' ship' (or, as Grace has it, 'of the ship of the
Norwegian warriors').

> Luke now drew the sword and he had not put on his helmet,
> leaps immediately to the gunwale near the prow (Z) of
> (the) ship of (the) Norse warriors and hewed a man to
> death at once.


> Maðr lagði at ǫðrum megin norrǿnu skipi ok skaut spjóti um
> þvert skipit og stefndi á hann miðjan.

> A man lay at the other side of the Norwegian ship and
> threw a spear athwart the ship and aimed at him in the
> middle.

> A man thrust at (the) other side of (the) Norse ship and
> shot with a spear across the ship and aimed at him in the
> middle.

I think that there's a mistake in this sentence. He
apparently wanted to give the location of the attacker, but
<lagði> is from <leggja> 'to lay' and is transitive except
when impersonal (which is not the case here). It might be
possible to say <lá at> 'was situated at', but not <lagði á>
with that sense. Now in Chapter XXX of Njála I found this,
which is clearly the model for this whole passage:

Vandill þreif upp stafnljá ok kastaði á meðal skipanna ok
í skip Gunnars ok dró þegar at sér. Ölvir hafði gefit
Gunnari sverð gott. Gunnarr brá nú sverðinu, ok hafði
hann eigi sett á sik hjálminn, hleypr þegar á saxit á
skip Vandils ok hjó þegar mann til bana. Karl lagði at
öðrum megin sínu skipi ok akaut spjóti um þvert skipit --
ok stefndi á Gunnar miðjan.

On investigation it turns out that Vandil and Karl are on
different ships, and that they've split to catch Gunnar
between them. Here, then, <lagði at> seems to be much as in
(Z14) <leggja at landi> 'to land': Karl laid his ship
against the other side of Gunnar's from the one that Vandil
was attacking. He then threw a spear across Gunnar's ship
(since Gunnar was on the far side), aiming at Gunnar's
waist. In our story, however, this interpretation won't
work: at this point we have only one enemy warship. I'd
emend it to <Maðr stóð at öðrum megin norrœnu skipi ok skaut
spjóti ...>.

Jackson also apparently wanted <hann> to refer to the
Falcon. That may just be possible, since <Falki> is
masculine; I'm not sure what the rules of gender agreement
are in a case like this, in which the name is masculine but
the underlying noun (skip) is neuter. If we interpret
<hann> following the model of the passage in Njála, however,
<hann> would refer to Luke; I actually like that
interpretation best, since it makes the most sense
dramatically.

(The entire remainder of the chapter is based directly on
the first part of Ch. XXX of Njála.)

> Tsiubakka inn fríski hóf upp akkeri Fálkans ok kastar á
> þetta norrǿna skipit ...

> Chewbacca the Frisian lifted up Falcon's anchor and throws
> at this Norwegian ship ...

> Chewbacca the Frisian pulled up (the) anchor of the Falcon
> and cast (it) at the Norse ship ...

'Casts (it)': present tense.

> Lúkr hljóp nú aptr á Fálkann, ok tóksk bardagi mikill.

> Luke jumped now back to the Falcon, and a great battle
> took place.

> Luke leaped now back on the Falcon and a great battle
> occurred.

I'd translate <tóksk> here as 'began', I think. 'Took
place' is certainly possible, but this part of the narrative
seems to be pretty sequential.

> Hani gørði ýmist at hann hjó eða skaut øxi sinni, ...

> Han now did this, that he cut or threw his ax, ...

> Han worked alternately that he hewed or shot with his axe
> ...

I agree with Grace that <øxi sinni> 'with his axe' applies
to both the hewing and the throwing. English syntax just
doesn't match the ON very well; I'd be inclined to make it
'Han alternately hewed with and threw his axe'.

> Þá kom at Tsiubakka ok bǫrðusk þeir þrír þaðan um daginn.

> They came to Chewbacca and the three fought from that time
> all day.

> Then Chewbacca came (along) and they three fought after
> that during the day.

<Kom> is singular, so it can't have 'they' as subject, and
<þá> as a third person pronoun is accusative (plur. masc.),
so it can't be a subject. Thus, it must be Ch. who came,
and <þá> must be 'then', as in Grace's version. Rob's idea
that <þaðan um daginn>, literally 'thenceforth during the
day', is to be understood as 'all day from that time on, for
the rest of the day' seems very likely.

> Síðan tók Lúkr jústu eina af miði fulla ok drakk og
> barðisk eptir þat.

> Then Luke took a (jústu?) of full mead and drank and
> fought after that.

> Afterwards Luke took a cup full of mead and drank and
> fought after that.

I don't know why <justa> 'bowl, cup; unit of liquid measure'
is sometimes given a long vowel; it's a borrowing of
medieval Latin <justa> 'a flagon; a just (lawful) allowance
of ale', whose vowel would most naturally have been borrowed
as <u>, not as <ú>. But note the placement of <eina> after
<justu>: he took *only* one cup of mead. It's not just a
whim or error on Jackson's part, however, since it's also
found in the old Altnordische Saga-Bibliothek edition of
Njála.

> Ok þar kom at fleiri hermenn hljópu upp á skip þeirra frá
> skeið annarri ok gekk Lúkr með ǫðru borði en Hani með
> ǫðru.

> And it happened there that more men jumped up on their
> ship from the other warship and Luke went to one side and
> Han the other.

> And there (it) happened (that?) more warriors leaped up on
> their ship from another warship and Luke went on one side
> and Han on the other.

I think that <þar> is 'at that point' in a somewhat
figurative sense, referring to both place and time: 'and at
that point [it] happened that more warriors leaped up onto
their ship from another warship'.

> Lúkr hjó í móti og sýndisk hinum þrjú vesa sverðin á lopti
> ok sá hann eigi hvar hann skyldi sér helst hlífa.

> Luke struck back and it seemed the sword was three in the
> air and he didn't see where he should best protect
> himself.

> Luke hewed in return and it seemed three swords to be
> aloft and he saw not where he should best protect himself.

You both left out <hinum>: 'and there seemed to him [= L's
opponent] to be three swords in the air' or, more literally,
'the swords in the air seemed to him to be three'. Rob:
Note that <sverðin> is plural; the singular would be
<sverðit>.

> Lúkr hjó undan honum báðar fǿtr.
> Luke cut both legs from under him.
> Luke hewed both feet off him.

I'll definitely go with 'from under him'; it could be either
legs or feet.

> Tsiubakka lagði marga menn spjóti í gegnum.
> Chewbacca dropped many men through with a spear.
> Chewbacca thrust through many men with a spear.

Rob: In this context <leggja> is definitely 'to stab,
thrust' (Z12). Or as we might say, he ran them through with
a spear.

Brian