Hei everyone,
Really need some help with this conjugation I found in the Völsunga Saga.
Sigurðr mælti: "Sit heil, frú, eða hversu megi þér?"
Hún svarar: "Vel megu vér, frændr lifa ok vinir, en háttung er í, hverja giftu menn bera til síns endadags."
The only available translation I could find suggested this meaning:
Sigurd spake, "Abide, fair and hale lady, -- how farest thou?"
She answered, "Well it fares; my kin and my friends live yet: but who shall say what goodhap folk may bear to their life's end?"
Now what I'm confused with is "megi þér" and "megu vér".
I cannot work out what form they are supposed to be.
It cannot be past because the stem of the verb form here is "meg-" and not "mátt-" or "mætt-"...
So surely it must be present.
But isn't the present conjugation for þér "megið" and the conjugation for vér as "megum"?
It's not as if it's different because it's subjunctive because the subjunctive for þér and vér is the same as the indicative.
Are "megi" and "megu" just rare forms where the last letter is skipped... megið = megi. And megum = megu.
I'm really confused, and hoping someone can provide me with some clarity.
Thanks.
-Sveinn