> Lambi reiddist mjög við orðtak þeirra og kvað þá kunna sig
> ógerla er þeir veittu honum átölur "því að eg hefi dregið
> yður undan dauða," segir hann.
> Lambi became very angry with their words and told them to
> know not exactly when they gave him a rebuke "because I
> have escaped your death," he says.
> Lambi became very angry with their mode of expression and
> said then to understand unclearly when they gave him
> rebukes “because I have delayed your deaths,” says he.
> Lambi got very angry by their words and declared them to
> know him inexactly when they inflicted rebukes on him
> because I have drawn death away from you (ie prevented
> you from being killed), he says.
I think that this is <kunna sik> 'to behave well' (Z5): ‘and
said that they behaved not exactly well when they ...’.
‘Note exactly well’ appears to be another lovely example of
Old Norse litotes, the actual sense being ‘bloody poorly’.
> Hann hafði þá lagt af sér kápuna og svo vopnin og sat þá
> upp til stafa.
> He had them taken off his cloak and also his weapon and
> then sat up on a staff. (??)
> He had then taken off a hooded cloak as well as weapons
> and set them up against a post.
> He had then (ie by that time) removed from him the (his)
> hooded-cloak and the (his) weapons (plural) and sat then
> up on (against?) (the) posts (uprights, plural).
I think that these are posts that reach the ceiling, so he
must be leaning back against them.
> (We) let (the) raven swallow (the) corpse (nár) (rather
> than letting the swallow raven the corpse J)
Got to watch out for those ravenous swallows!
There’s some question about the second word in the third
line: apparently some mss. give it as <farrǫðuls> and some
as <fagrrǫðuls>. Unlike this one, my other two editions
assume that the former is correct. <Farrǫðull> is
'ship-sun'; <fagrrǫðull>, 'fair-sun'. Either would be a
kenning for 'shield', and a shield’s oak timber is then a
sword. The helm’s fir-tree is a warrior.
Sóttum heim at Helga.
Hrafn létum ná svelga.
Ruðum farrǫðuls eiki,
þás fylgðum Þorleiki.
Þrjá létum þar falla,
þjóðnýta gǫrvalla,
hjalms allkœna þolla.
Hefnt teljum nú Bolla.
We attacked Helgi at home.
We let the raven swallow the corpses.
We reddened ship-sun’s oak timber
when we followed Þorleik.
We caused to fall there three,
all very excellent,
most skilful fir-trees of the helm.
We now reckon Bolli avenged.
We attacked Helgi at home. We let the raven swallow the
corpses. We reddened swords when we followed Þorleik. We
caused to fall there three most skilful warriors, all very
excellent. We now reckon Bolli to have been avenged.
Brian