Re: Jokull's Thattr 3 Part 2 -- Rob's Translation

I had to be off-line for a while there, but I intend to
catch up on everything that I missed. I think that this is
the oldest outstanding assignment. It certainly has its
moments, though the only bit that caused me really serious
problems was the second half of the sentence near the end
that begins <Þetta þolir Jökull ekki>.

> "Mál er komit at ferðast," segir Gnípa.
> "The time has come to travel," says Gnipa.
> “Time has come to travel,” says Gnipa.

'[The] time has come to travel,' says Gnípa.

> "Ekki dvelr mik," segir Jökull.
> "I do not delay," says Jokull.
> “Nothing’s keeping me,” says Jokull.

'Nothing's keeping me [from going],' says Jökul.

Rob: <Ekki> is the subject: this is Z's <dvelja e-n frá
e-u> 'to keep one from doing a thing' with the <frá e-u>
omitted.

> Fara þau leið sína.
> They go on their way.
> They go on their way.

They go their way.

> Gengr Gnípa fyrir, en Jökull eftir.
> Gnipa goes in front, and Jokull behind.
> Gnipa goes ahead and Jokull after.

Gnípa goes in front and Jökul behind.

> Verðr hon heldr greiðfara.
> It happens she walks rather quickly.
> She is walking with great speed.

She walks rather quickly.

> Þau ganga inn með firðinum, þar til er hann þrýtr.
> The go in along the firth, until he comes to an end.
> They walk in along the firth, until it ends.

They go in along the fjord until it comes to an end.

> Er þá langt af nóttu.
> It's then long into the night.
> It is then well into night.

[It] is then well into night.

> Þá koma þau at hömrum stórum ok bröttum björgum.
> Then they came to a large precipices and steep cliffs.
> Then they come to a great crag and broken rocks.

Then they come to great crags and steep cliffs.

Grace: <bröttum> is from <brattr>.

> Hon víkr þar upp at, sem einstigit er, ok koma þau þá at
> helli stórum.

> She goes up there to where the narrow path is, and they
> then come to a large cave.

> She turns up there where (there) is a narrow path, and
> they come then to a great cave.

She goes up to where the narrow path is, and they come then
to a great cave.

I'm inclined to agree with Rob's that the <at> in <þar upp
at> makes it 'up to where' instead of 'up where'; <sem>
definitely goes with <þar>.

> Gnípa mælti: "Hér er hellirinn Skráms konungs.
> Gnipa said: "Here is the cave of King Skram.
> Gnipa spoke, “Here is the cave of King Skram.

Gnípa said: 'Here is the cave of king Skrám.

> Hefir hann boðit hingat öllum jötnum ok flagðkonum, er í
> óbyggðum búa, ok munu þeir færa þik til heljar, er þeir
> sjá þik, hverju ek vilda ekki valdit hafa.

> He has invited here all the giants and ogresses, who live
> in the wilderness, and they will send you to the afterlife
> (more literally, send you to death), if they see you,
> which I would not want to have caused.

> He has invited all giants and ogresses hither who live in
> the unsettled area and they will bring you to (your) doom
> when they see you, which I do not want to be the cause of?

He has invited hither all giants and ogresses who live in
[the] unpeopled wildernesses, and they will bring you to the
land of the dead when they see you, which I would not want
to have caused.

> Hér er gull eitt, er ek vil gefa þér.
> Here is a gold ring, which I will give you.
> Here is a gold ring which I want to give you.

Here is a gold ring that I want to give you.

> Þar er í sá náttúrusteinn, ef þú dregr gullit upp á fingr
> þér, þá sér þik engi framar en þú vilt."

> There is in that a stone possessing special virtues: if
> you put the ring on your finger (literally "draw the ring
> up on your finger"), then no one sees you (any) more than
> you wanted."

> There is in (it) that stone with magic power, if you draw
> the ring up on your finger, then no one sees you more than
> you wish.”

Therein is the stone with this power: if you draw the ring
up onto your finger, then no one sees you more than you
wish.'

Rob: <í> goes with <þar>, and <sá> modifies <náttúrusteinn>.

> Jökull þakkar henni gjöfina, ok ganga þau síðan í hellinn.

> Jokull thanks her for the gift, and they then go in the
> cave.

> Jokull thanks her for the gift and they go then into the
> cave.

Jökul thanks her for the gift, and then they go into the
cave.

> Jökull sá, at þar var tröllum skipat á báða bekki, ok
> heilsuðu allir Gnípu.

> Jokull saw, that there trolls were divided in both
> benches, and all greeted Gnipa.

> Jokull saw that there trolls were arranged on both benches
> and all greeted Gnipa.

Jökul saw that there were trolls arranged on both benches,
and all greeted Gnípa.

Rob: <skipa>, not <skipta>.

> Skrámr bað hana ganga um beina þeira.

> Skramr asked her to wait upon the guests. (Z. beini -
> ganga um beina, to wait upon the guests)

> Skram bade her go about their accomodations

Skrám asked her to wait upon them.

Literally <ganga um beina þeira> is something like 'to go
about their hospitable entertainment'.

> Hon kvað svá vera skyldu.
> She said she it would be so.
> She said so (it) would be.

She said it would be so.

> Lét hon þá bera inn öl þat, sem áfengast var, en þeir
> slokuðu stórum, ok var drykkjan óstjórnlig, svá þeir urðu
> allskjótt drukknir.

> She had brought in the beer, as was intoxicating (from
> "áfengr"?), and they greatly quenched (their thirst), and
> the drinking was disorderly, so they very soon became
> drunk.

Yes, <áfengast> is the superlative of <áfengr>.

> She had all that carried indoors which was most
> intoxicating, and they slopped (it up) greatly, and
> drinking was ?? so that they became drunk very quickly.

Then she had all that ale brought in that was most
intoxicating, and they drank deep, and the drinking was
immoderate, so [that] they very quickly became drunk.

The 'slake, quench' verb is <sløkkva>, with a 3rd plur. past
tense <sløkktu>; it definitely wouldn't form a past tense in
<-uðu>. After a bit of digging I found a modern Icelandic
verb <sloka> that *does* have <slokuðu> as its 3rd plur.
past indicative. I didn't find any English translation of
it, but a Latin-Icelandic dictionary of 1738 glosses Latin
<absorbeo> ('to swallow, devour') as <sloka í sig>. I found
an authoritative site that translates <sloka í sig vatnið>
and <ég slokaði í mig úr glasinu> into Danish, Bokmål,
Nynorsk, and Swedish; the translations could reasonably be
further translated into English as 'to drink the water in
great gulps, to pour the water into oneself, to guzzle the
water' and 'I emptied the glass at one go, in a few gulps,
in the wink of an eye'. This fits nicely with such
sentences as <þennan drykk slokaði hann í sig mjög
græðgislega>, which is apparently 'He guzzled that drink
very greedily', and <Við og við slokaði hann drjúga teyga úr
vínflöskunni, og blóðið fossaði hraðara og hraðara í æðum
hans, og reiðin og vonzkan magnaðist meira og meira>, which
seems to be 'Now and then he swallowed great gulps from the
wine bottle, and the blood flowed faster and faster in his
veins, and his wrath and anger grew more and more'.

<Ústjórnligr> 'immoderate' is in CV.

> Þá mátti heyra illyrði nóg ok árásir, einnig sjá margan
> hnefapústr ok hárrykkjur.

> Then some abusive language and assaults could be heard,
> likewise fists-boxing-ears and (hárrykkjur?) seen.

> Then (one) could hear enough abusive language and
> assaults, (and) likewise see many boxes on the ears with
> closed fists and hair pulling.

Then abundant abusive language and assaults could be heard,
likewise many a box on the ear and pullings of hair seen.

<Nóg> is the neut. plur. of the adj. <(g)nógr>. The element
<rykkjur> of <hárrykkjur> is clearly related to <rykkja> 'to
pull, to jerk' and <rykkr> 'a pull, a tug, a jerk'; it seems
to be the acc. plur. of a weak feminine <rykkja> pretty much
synonymous with the strong masc. <rykkr>.

> Þetta þolir Jökull ekki, ok hleypr inn í þvöguna ok drepr
> hvern af öðrum ok hvern um þveran annan, ok er nú eigi
> traust um, at hverr kenndi öðrum þessi fádæmi ok undr, en
> engi sér Jökul.

> Jokull doesn't bear this, and jumps in to the crowd and
> slays one after another and each against each other, and
> (there) is now no help concerning, that each attributed to
> another these remarkable things, but no one sees Jokull.
> (Z. af 1 - one after another, in succession)

> Jokull did not bear this and leaps into ?? and slays every
> other one? and each across from the other and now is no
> trust about, that each recognized the other ? this
> exceptional thing and wonder, but no one sees Jokull.

Jökul does not suffer this and leaps into the disorderly
crowd and slays one after another and in heaps, and [there]
is now no trust about, [so] that they blamed these
exceptional things and wonders on one another, but no one
sees Jökul.

<Þvaga> 'a disorderly crowd' is in CV; <þverr> Z1 has
<lá hverr um annan þveran> '[lay] in heaps'. In order to
make sense out of the second half of the sentence, I've made
several guesses: I've taken <at> to be short for <svá at>,
and I've taken <hverr kenndi öðrum þessi fádœmi ok undr> to
be a variant of modern Icelandic <kenna e-m um e-ð> 'blame
sby for sth'. By its form <þessi fádœmi ok undr> must be
neut. nom. or acc. plur., and here it's pretty clearly acc.

> Er nú næsta gangmikit í hellinum.
> (There) is now the next much going (?) in the cave.
> Now (there) is a very great tumult in the cave.

[It] is now very tumultuous in the cave.

Despite the gloss given by CV for <gangmikit>, I chose an
adjectival translation, because <gangmikit> is actually a
neut. plur. adjective, not a noun.

> Rotslær hverr annan ok drepr um síðir, þar til allir váru
> fallnir, konur ok karlar, útan Skrámr ok sonr hans.

> Each hits the other into senselessness and at last kills
> (the person, until all had fallen, women and guys, except
> for Skramr and his son. (similar to Z. rot - slá e-n í
> rot, to stun, render senseless by a blow)

> Each knocks the other unconscious and slays for a time,
> until all had fallen, men and women, except Skram and his
> son.

They knock out and at last kill one another until all had
fallen, women and men, except Skrám and his son.

> Jökull gekk innar at Skrámi ok leggr sverðinu í gegnum
> hann, ok dettr hann þá fram á gólfit, svá þá varð dynkr
> mikill.

> Jokull goes more in towards Skram and thrusts his sword
> through him, and he drops then down to the ground, so then
> there occurred a great noise.

> Jokull goes more inside to Skram and thrusts him through
> with the sword and then he thumps then forward to the
> floor, so then a great din happened.

Jökul attacked Skrám further in and thrusts through him with
his sword, and he then falls forward onto the floor, so that
there was then a great crash.

<Gekk> is past tense.

Brian