At 12:44:06 PM on Thursday, August 22, 2013, rob13567 wrote:

> --- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "Brian M. Scott"
> <bm.brian@...> wrote:

>> At 5:45:53 PM on Wednesday, August 21, 2013, rob13567
>> wrote:

>>> Síðan ríður Bolli suður til Borgarfjarðar….
>>> Síðan ríður Bolli suður til …Hvítár….

>> Hann ríður og ríður og ríður. Alltaf ríður Bolli suður!
>> :-)

> I was going to say maybe he's riding to Disneyworld, and I
> see Modern Icelendic has "kannski," but I don't see that
> or anything similar in Zoega.

It’s not of fully native stock. It’s originally a compound;
the first element is from the verb <kunna> in the sense 'be
able to', and the second is a borrowing from a Middle Low
German verb akin to German <geschehen> 'to happen'. CV has
it in the form <kann-ske>, noting that it’s modern.

> I do find, however, (Z. NEKKVERR B IV 2 - perhaps, may be;
> vilt þú nökkut taka við fjárfari mínu?).

CV, not Z. Baetke confirms the possibility, offering (II.2)
the glosses 'etwa, vielleicht', with the examples <átt þú
nǫkkut langskip> 'hast du vielleicht ein Langschiff' and
<hvern hǫfðingja vili þér þar yfir setja, hvárt nǫkkut
danskan> '... etwa einen dänischen'. But I think that
there’s a more natural choice.

> So would I say

> Bolli ríður nökkut til Disneyworld.

> Or something else?

I’ve seen both of the following often enough to have
remembered them:

<má, at> 'it’s possible that'
<má vera, at> 'it may be that'

So how about:

Má (vera), at Bolli ríðr til Disneyheims.

Brian