Re: Laxdaela Saga 46 part 2 - Rob's Translation

> Hann varð skjótari til að svara en Hrefna ...

> He was faster to answer than Hrefna ...

> He was quicker to answer than Hrefna, ...

> He needed (ie felt compelled, verða + inf, Z7,or is it
> simply “happened” here?) to answer more-quickly than
> Hrefna: ...

My reading of the situation is that 'felt compelled' is
probably too strong, but that he definitely wanted to have
the first (and last) word.

> Síðan gekk hann til rúms síns þar sem sverðið hafði verið
> og var þá á brottu.

> Then he went to his room, where the sword had been and it
> was then away (i.e., gone).

> Afterwards he went to his room there where the sword had
> been and (it) was gone then.

> After-that he walked to his seat (bed, place, room, not
> sure which but obviously that spot where he was
> immediately before he started helping out) where the-sword
> had been and (it) was then away (ie missing).

I'd play safe with 'place', as I see MM&HP have done, though
a footnote in a German edition says that it was customary
for a man to hang his sword over his bed.

> Hann gekk þegar að segja föður sínum þessa svipan.

> He went at once to tell his father about this quickly. (CV
> svipan - kasta með harðri svipan, quickly)

> He went at once to tell his father of this swiping.

> He walked at-once to say (report) this sweeping (swiping,
> theft? sudden loss? fem acc sg of svipan = svipr?,) to his
> father.

I think that we have to take it as '(sudden) loss'; nothing
else makes sense in context. And yes, it seems that
<svipan> has acquired here another of the senses of <svipr>.

> hjá Ljárskógum

The place-name is discussed at
<http://arnastofnun.is/page/ornefni_lja> in the collection
of articles on Icelandic place-names published on the web by
the Stofnun Árna Magnússonar. The wood is named after the
river Ljá, but the etymology of the river-name is uncertain;
quite a variety have been proposed. Svavar Sigmundsson, the
author of the column, admits that none really stands out but
is inclined towards the derivation from Old Icelandic <læ>
'damage, destruction', referring to the consequences of
heavy spring floods on the low-lying lands by the river.

> Eigi taldi Þórólfur mein á því þótt hann hefði hvergi
> farið.

> Thorolf didn't count (any) harm to that although he had
> each done.

> Thorolf said it was no loss in it though he had by no
> means gone (along).

> Þórólfr reckoned (there to be) not harm in that, even-if
> he (ie Án) had travelled not-at-all (ie he didn´t see the
> point of Án’s coming along for the ride –and this was just
> as Án would want it).

I take it to be 'Þórólf said [there would have been] no
drawback to it, if he had not travelled at all'. In other
words, I don't think that Þórólf was saying that there was
no harm in Án's turning back at this point; rather, he was
saying that it would have been no loss if Án hadn't
accompanied them in the first place.

Brian