Re: Laxdaela Saga 67 end + 68 part 1 -- Rob's Translation

> Menn heyrðu að heklan kvað þetta: [Even the shirt wants to
> recite a poem!]

At least it didn’t indulge in the tortured syntax of
dróttkvætt metre!

> Hangir vot á vegg
> Hangs wet on a wall
> (It-she) hangs wet on a wall
> (It) hangs wet (vátr) on (the) wall,

> veit hattkilan bragð,
> the hat-(something?) knows a trick,
> gave embroidered hat???
> the-hood-cloak (presumably an older form of hekla?) knows
> a trick (scheme),

No, <hekla> is old, kin to Old English <hacele> ~ <hæcele>
'cloak, mantle, cassock' and Gothic <hakuls> 'cloak'. This
is apparently the unique appearance of <hattkila>. Everyone
seems to agree that it’s a compound whose first element is
from <hattr> 'a hat' and that it refers to Þorgils’ <hekla>
previously mentioned, but after that opinions diverge
widely. So far I’ve seen three different suggestions:

1. It’s akin to <-kili> in <einkili> 'a fondling, one who
is fondly loved, one who is much fondled or caressed; a
pet'. I agree with Valdimar Ásmundarson that this
seems unlikely on semantic grounds.

2. The word is actually <hattskýla>, with second element
<skýla> 'a veil, a cover'. This has some manuscript
support: one manuscript has <hat∫k.>. If the compound
can be understood as 'hat and (body) covering', it
isn’t absurd semantically, but that would make it a
very unusual compound: in Old Norse compounds the first
element almost always modifies the second.

3. Kålund suggests that the word perhaps refers to a
narrow hood or cowl, in which case, he says, it should
probably be <hattkíla>, with long <í>. He doesn’t give
his reasoning; I’m guessing that he’s thinking of a
relationship with <kíll> 'an inlet, a canal'. The
semantics are reasonable, at least.

> þvígit oftar þurr,
> not the more often dry,
> not often dry
> not the more-often dry (þurr, adj nom fem sg) (ie it will
> not be dry ever again)

> þeygi dyl eg að hún viti tvö.
> I yet not keep one in ignorance that she would know two.
> I keep? silent that she knows two.
> Yet I conceal not that it (ie the cloak, feminine) knows
> two (tricks, schemes).

In view of the events that follow, I’m inclined to think
that <bragð> here is 'scheme' more than 'trick', and that
<viti> is 'knows' in the sense 'is aware of the existence
of'.

Kålund says that the two schemes in the last line are
Snorri’s getting Guðrún to persuade Þorgils to lead the
expedition against Bolli with that apparent promise of her
hand in marriage (Chap. 59), and the Auðgísl’s killing of
Þorgils, which Snorri encouraged earlier in this chapter.

> Auðgísl Þórarinsson gekk þar hjá og í því er Þorgils
> nefndi tíu þá hjó Auðgísl til hans og allir þóttust heyra
> að höfuðið nefndi ellefu er af fauk hálsinum.

> Audgisl Thorarinson went beside (him) there and at the
> very moment when Thorgils cited (i.e., counted) ten, then
> Audgisl cut at him (with a sword) and all thought to hear
> that the head counted eleven when the neck flew off.

> Audgisl, Thorarinn’s son went there near and at that
> (moment) when Thorgils counted ten, then Audgisl hewed at
> him and all thought to hear that the head said eleven when
> (it) flew off from the neck.

> Auðgísl Þórarinn’s-son walked there alongside and in that
> (instant) when Þorgils named (counted) ten then Auðgísl
> hewed at him and all bethought-themselves to hear that
> the-head named (counted) eleven when off (it) flew-of
> (fjúka, Z2) from-the-neck.

I’d say simply ‘walked by there’ or ‘walked near there’.

> Maðurinn segir: "Enda fauk höfuðið af bolnum."

> The man says: "And yet his head flew from his body
> (literally, `the head' and `the body')."

> The man says, “And yet the head flew off the trunk.”

> The-person (man) says: “And-besides the-head flew-off from
> the-trunk.”

I’m with Rob and Grace that <enda> here is Z6, 'and yet'.

> Hann var þá svo auðigur maður að hann átti tvo knörru í
> förum.

> He was then such a rich man that he had two merchant ships
> on trading voyages.

> He was then such a wealthy man that he had two knarrs in
> merchant shipping.

> He was then (ie at that time) so wealthy a man that he
> owned two knars (merchant-ships) in (trading) journeys
> (voyages).

I’d say ‘two knörrs’ to match the nom. sing. <knörr>.

> Varð þeim og margt talað.

> Much talk also happened (between) them.

> Also much discussion happened (between) them.

> (It) became (was) also friendlily (much, communicatively,
> see both margr, Z1 and Z3) spoken with them (ie they had a
> good old chinwag).

Here I agree with Rob and Grace: I think that <margt> has
its basic meaning, 'much'.

Brian