Re: Star Wars 36 end - Rob's Translation

> Dreif þá fólkit til skipanna og rǭku af tjǫldin.

> The people dispersed to the ships and took down the
> awnings. (An Icelandic Primer gives: reka af tjǫld = take
> down awning.)

> Then the people disperse to the ships and drew off tents.

'Dispersed': past tense. I think that it means that they
took down the tents that had been set up on the ships. CV
notes that tents were pitched on ships, especially in
harbor, and it seems likely that these tents would be struck
in preparation for battle.

> En þau in stóru skip, es áðr hǫfðu siglt ok þeir hugðu at
> Dauðastjarna væri, þat vas it fyrra Tæfætr inn skammi en
> it síðara Tæfætr inn skammi.

> But they the big ships, which had sailed in front and they
> believed was the Death Star, that was the former Taefaetr
> the short but later Taefaetr the short. (???)

> And these, the great ships which previously had sailed and
> they thought was Death Star, it was the previous Taefaetr
> the short and the later one Taefaeter the (long) typo.

<Þau in stóru skip> is simply 'those large ships'. <Væri>
is third person plural to match 'those large ships': 'But
those large ships that had sailed before and [that] they
thought were [the] Deathstar'. (<Tæfætr> is of course 'TIE
fighter'.)

> Vǭru þat einkamál þeira tveggja hǫfðingja at sá þeira es
> fyrst gingi á Dauðastjǫrnu skyldi eignask allt þat
> hlutskipti es þar fekksk ok hver þeira þau skip es sjálfr
> hryði.

> That was a special agreement, they the two leaders that
> that they who first went to the Death Star should become
> the owner of all that booty there obtained and they each
> the ships which himself (hryði?).

> It was a special agreement (between) those two chieftains
> that that one who first should go on Death Star should be
> entitled to all that share which there is seized and each
> of them those ships (he) himself disabled.

<Hryði> is the 3rd sing. past subjunctive of <hrjóða>, here
in sense (Z2); as is normal for strong verbs, its stem,
<hryð->, is the past plural stem <hruð-> with i-mutation.
I'm with Rob on 'booty'.

> Villarðr jarl hafði barða einn geysimikinn es hann vas
> vanr at hafa í víking, ok gaf hann Lúki þetta skip.

> Earl Willard had one very large axe which he was commonly
> to have in viking, and he gave Luke this ship.

> Earl Villard had a very great prow (figurehead or ram?)
> which he was accustomed to have a-harrying, and he gave to
> Luke this ship.

<Barða> is the direct object of <hafði>, so it must be in
the accusative case. That rather limits the possibilities:
it could be the accus. sing. or plur. of a weak masc. noun
<barði>, or it could be the accus. plur. of a strong masc.
noun <barðr>. Since it's modified by <einn geysimikinn>,
however, it must be singular, so the noun must be <barði> 'a
kind of ship'. The entry in CV refers to the entry for
<barð> 'the beak or armed prow of ships' in a way that
suggests to me that <barði> is primarily a term for a
warship; I'd say 'had a very large warship'.

> Heitir þetta skipit Eksvængr, ...
> This ship is named Eksvaengr, ...
> This ship was named Eksvaenger, ...

<Eksvængr> is of course 'X-wing'; since <vængr> really is
'wing', 'Eks-wing' is another legitimate translation.

> En es Lúkr gekk á borði skips þess, heyrði hann raust
> Víga-Óbívans, ...

> And when Luke went aboard this ship, he heard the voice of
> Slayer Obiwan, ...

> But when Luke went aboard this ship, he heard Slayer
> Obiwan’s shout, ...

Like Rob, I make it 'voice'.

> Vas Dauðastjarna í miðju liði en þar á annat borð Tæfætr
> inn skammi en annat borð Tæfætr inn langi.

> The Death Star was in the middle of the troops and there
> on one side of the ship Taefaetr the disgraced and one one
> side Taefaetr the long.

> Death Star was in the middle of the fleet, but there on
> one side Taefaeter the short and on (the) other side
> Taefaeter the tall.

This <en> looks to me like narrative 'and' rather than
'but', and <langi> here is definitely 'long' (to contrast
with <skammi> 'short').

> En þá es þeir tóku at tengja stafnana þá bundu þeir saman
> stafnana á Tæfæti langa og Dauðastjǫrnu.

> And when they began to tie together the ends then the tied
> together the ends of Taefaet the long and the Death Star.

> And then when they began to tie the prows then they bound
> together the prows of Taefaetr the long and Death Star.

Rob: Not just 'ends', but specifically 'stems, prows' (i.e.,
the front ends).

> En es Veiðr sá þat, kallaði hann hátt, bað þá leggja fram
> betr it mikla skipit ok láta þat eigi aftast vesa allra
> skipa í herinum.

> When Vader saw that, he called loudly, asked them to place
> from better the large ship and not cause that to be
> furthest back of all the ships in the troops.

> But when Vader saw that, he called loudly, bade them
> better thrust forward the great ship and let it not be
> last of all the ships in the navy.

'Navy' is preferable to 'troops' in this context, but
'fleet' seems better yet: this fleet presumably isn't the
whole navy.

> Þá svarar Tarkinn Stórmofsjarl: “Ef Dauðastjarna skal því
> lengra fram leggja sem hann es lengri an ǫnnur skip, þá
> mun ávinnt verða um sǫxin.”

> Then Earl Tarkin of Stormof says: “If the Death Star shall
> thus longer from sail as it is longer than another ship,
> then those in the bow will be hard put to it. (not sure
> how “ verða” fits here) (Z. ávinnt - þa mun á. um söxin,
> then those in the bow will be hard put to it.

> Then Tarkinn Earl of Stormof answers, “If Death Star shall
> lie the further forward as it is longer than (the) other
> ship, then will become profit? concerning the hand axe?.”

Rob almost has it: 'If [the] Deathstar shall lie as far out
in front [of] as it is longer than the other ships, those in
the bow will be hard put to it'. See Zoëga s.v. <sax>: the
plural <söx> can be 'the forepart of a ship'. Since
<ávinnt> is 'difficult, toilsome', the phrase is pretty
straightforward: 'then [it] will be difficult in the bow'.

> Veiðr segir: “Eigi vissik at ek ætta stafnbúann bæði háran
> ok ragan.”

> Vader says: “I don't know that (ætta ?) I the
> forecastle-man both high and cowardly.”

> Vader says, “I didn’t know that I have a forecastleman
> both hairy and cowardly.”

<Ætta> is the 1st sing. past subjunctive of <eiga>: 'I
didn't know that I had ...'. <Háran> is the masc. accus.
sing. of <hárr> 'hoary, grey-haired'.

> Tarkinn segir: “Ves þú eigi meir baki lyptingina en ek mun
> verja stafninn.”

> Tarkin says: “You are not more back the raised decks but I
> will defend the stern.”

> Tarkinn says, “You stay not? more in back on the raised
> deck and I will defend the prow.”

This drove me nuts until I realized that Jackson slipped up.
The original, from 'Ólafs saga Tryggvasonar', is <Ver þú
eigi meir baki lyptingina, en ek mun verja stafninn>. In
this <ver> is the imperative of <verja>, and <baki> is an
instrumental dative, 'with [the] back'; <verja e-t baki> is
'to defend something with one's back', i.e., to show
cowardice. In other words, 'You no more defend the raised
afterdeck with [your] back, and I will defend the prow'.
Tarkin is getting his own dig in.

I suspect that Jackson was flying on autopilot a bit here:
the various forms of <vera> with <r> need to be restored to
their older <s> versions, and he performed the same
operation here without stopping to think that <verja> never
had <s> forms.

> Veiðr helt á boga ok lagði ǫr á streng ok sneri at Tarkni.

> Vader held a bow and placed an arrow to string and turned
> to Tarkin.

> Vader held a bow and laid an arrow in (the) bowstring and
> turns to Tarkinn.

See <snúa> (Z7): 'and turned on Tarkin'.

> Tarkinn mælti: “Skjót annan veg Veiðr, þannig sem meiri er
> þǫrfin.

> Tarkin said: “Shoot another direction Vader, so as more is
> the need.

> Tarkinn spoke, “Shoot another direction Vader, thither
> where more is needed.

<Þannig> is indeed 'thither', but I think that the sense is
'thither where [it] is needed more'.

> Þér vinn ek þat es ek vinn.”
> Your gain I that is I gain.”
> I win for you that when I win.”

'I win for you that which I win.' Remember that <es/er> is
a very general complementizer: it can be at least 'when',
'where', 'what/which', and 'who'.

> Veiðr stóð í lyptingu á Dauðastjǫrnu.
> Vader stood on the raised deck of the Death Star.
> Vader stood on the raised deck on Death Star.

Specifically the raised afterdeck, the raised deck towards
the stern.

> Bar hann hátt mjǫk.

> He bore very much high. (Z bera - b. hátt (lágt) höfuðit,
> to bear the head high (low))

> He bore (himself) very proudly (He was in high spirits?).

I think that this is a continuation of the ideas in the
previous sentence, and that <hann> is the accus. object of
<bar>, not the nom. subject: 'It [= the raised afterdeck]
bore him very high'.

> ... hann vas auðkenndr frá ǫðrum mǫnnum.
> ... he was of distinguished appearance from other men.
> ... he was easy to distinguish from other men.

'Easy to distinguish/easily distinguished'.

> En es Veiðr sá at riðluðusk flokkarnir fjándmanna ok upp
> vǭru sett merki fyr hǫfðingjum þá spurði hann: “Hver er
> hǫfðingi fyr liði því er gegnt øss es, með in gylltu
> merkin?”

> When Vader saw ranks of enemy troops and were set up
> banners over the leaders then he asked: “Who is leader
> over this band who is opposite us, with the gold banner?”

> And when Vader saw that throngs of enemies moved and the
> standards were set up for chieftains then he asked, “Who
> is (the) chieftain before these troops who is across from
> us, with the gilt standard?”

<Riðlask> here is 'to cluster': 'And when V. saw that the
hosts of enemies clustered and standards were set up before
chieftains, he asked: "Who is [the] chieftain over this host
that is across from us, with the gilded standard?"'

> Engi es hugr í Hjaltlendingum.
> There is no courage in the Shetlanders.
> No courage is in Shetland.

'In Shetlanders'.

> En hver hǫfðingi fylgir þeim merkjum es þar eru út í frá
> hǿgra veg, með in rauðu merkin?”

> And which leader follows the banners is there are out in
> from the right way, with the red banner?”

> But which chieftain follows those standards which are out
> in advantageous? position, with the red standard?”

Here <hǿgra> is 'right' as opposed to 'left'; see <til hœgra
vegs> 'on the right hand, to the right' in Zoëga. <Út í
frá> can be 'on the outside of, beyond', so I expect that
this is something like 'that are over there on the right'.

> Þá svarar Veiðr: “Hann mun þykjask eiga við øss skaplegan
> fund ok øss er ón snarprar orustu af því liði.

> Then Vader answers: “He will not think himself with us a
> suitable battle and is hope of a keen battle of that body
> of men.

> Then Vader answers, “He will think himself entitled to a
> suitable meeting with us and to us ? a sharper battle from
> the troops.

<Eiga> here is simply 'to have'. <Er> is the verb. <Ón> is
an old form of <ván> -- the etymologically correct form, in
fact, later changed by analogy with other case forms.
<Orusta> is feminine, so <snarprar> is genitive singular,
and <ón snarprar orustu> is 'hope of a hard battle': 'He
will think to have a suitable battle with us and for us is
hope of a hard battle from that host'.

> ... ok sék at ...
> ... and I know (?) that ...
> ... and I see that ...

Grace's 'I see' is right.

Brian