> Þóroddur Þorbrandsson hafði svo mikið sár aftan á hálsinn
> að hann hélt eigi höfðinu.
> Thoroddr Thorbrandson had so great a wound behind his neck
> that he didn’t hold up his head.
Þórodd Þorbrandsson had so great a wound on the back of his
neck that he could not hold his head up [‘held not the
head’].
> Hann var í leistabrókum og voru votar allar af blóðinu.
> He was in trousers and stockings of one piece, and they
> were all bloody.
He was in long hose, and [they] were all wet with the blood.
> Heimamaður Snorra goða skyldi draga af honum.
> A house servant of Chieftain Snorri should drag him off.
One of Snorri goði’s household was to draw [them] off him.
> Og er hann skyldi kippa brókinni fékk hann eigi af honum
> komið.
> And when he should pull the one leg of a pair of breeches,
> he didn’t get it to come off him (?).
And when he was to yank the hose [off], he was not able to
get [them] off him.
> Þá mælti hann: "Eigi er það logið af yður Þorbrandssonum
> er þér eruð sundurgerðamenn miklir að þér hafið klæði svo
> þröng að eigi verður af yður komið."
> Then he said: “It is not lied that you, Thorbrand’s sons,
> when you are greatly distinguished in dress that you have
> clothes so tight (Z. says “narrow”) that it doesn’t happen
> to come off you.”
Then he said: ‘It is not lied about you sons of Þorbrand
that you are men greatly distinguished from others in dress,
in that you have clothes so tight that [they] won’t come off
you.’
> Þóroddur mælti: "Vantekið mun á vera."
> Thoroddr said: “It will be difficult to receive.”
Þórodd said: ‘[It] must have been grasped badly.’
This one is tough. Despite Z and CV, I think that this
really *is* <vantekit>, not <vandtekit>, with the prefix
<van-> that typically means something like 'lacking,
insufficient'. It would then be the past participle of a
verb <vantaka> meaning something like 'to grasp poorly'. So
far as I know, this verb is not independently attested, but
the Altnordisches Glossar of Theodor Möbius lists it with
this sentence as citation, glossing the sentence ‘es wird
wohl falsch, verkehrt angegriffen worden sein’. Baetke
doesn’t conjecture the verb, but he does have <vantekit>
with this sentence as example, glossing it ‘es wird nicht
richtig angefasst worden sein’. These glosses correspond to
my translation, except that I’ve used the more colloquial
‘must’ instead of ‘will’.
> Eftir það spyrnti sá öðrum fæti í stokkinn og togaði af
> öllu afli og gekk eigi af brókin.
> After that (he) pressed the other foot to the wall of the
> log house and pulled with all (his) might, and the one leg
> of the trousers didn’t go off.
After that he pushed with [the] other foot against the board
along the front of the bed and pulled with all [his] might,
and the hose did not come off.
I took this to be <stokkr> Z4, but you might well be right;
at least one editor agrees with you.
> Þá gekk til Snorri goði og þreifaði um fótinn og fann að
> spjót stóð í gegnum fótinn milli hásinarinnar og
> fótleggsins og hafði níst allt samt, fótinn og brókina.
> Then it went to Chieftain Snorri and felt with his hand
> around the foot and found that a spear (must mean “a spear
> point”) remained in the foot between the Achilles tendon
> and the leg and had pinned all together, his foot and his
> leg of his trousers.
Then Snorri goði went over and felt along the leg and found
that a spear stuck through the leg between the Achilles
tendon and the leg and had pinned everything together, the
leg and the hose.
<Til> here just means that Snorri went ‘to’ Þórodd, the goal
being understood. I chose the more idiomatic ‘over’.
> Mælti Snorri þá að hann væri eigi meðalsnápur að hann
> hafði eigi hugsað slíkt.
> Snorri then said that he would be no common fool that he
> had not thought such.
Then Snorri said that he was no average fool [i.e., he was a
complete fool] not to have thought of such [‘that he had not
thought of such’].
> Snorri Þorbrandsson var hressastur þeirra bræðra og sat
> undir borði hjá nafna sínum um kveldið og höfðu þeir skyr
> og ost.
> Snorri Thorbrandson was the most well of the brothers also
> sat down at a table next to his namesake (i.e., the other
> Snorri) during the evening, and they had curdled milk and
> cheese.
Snorri Þorbrandsson was halest of the brothers and sat at
[the] table next to his namesake that evening, and they had
curds and cheese.
> Snorri goði fann að nafni hans bargst lítt við ostinn og
> spurði hví hann mataðist svo seint.
> Chieftain Snorri found that his namesake kept up the heart
> against hunger little with the cheese and asked why he ate
> so slowly.
Snorri goði noticed that his namesake got on slowly with
eating the cheese and asked why he ate so slowly.
This use of <bargst> is an example at <bjarga> Z2. Here I
think that <bjarkast> is actually reflexive and does not
have the special sense 'to keep up the heart': literally,
‘he helped himself little [against hunger] with the cheese’
or the like.
> Snorri Þorbrandsson svaraði og sagði að lömbunum væri
> tregast um átið fyrst er þau eru nýkefld.
> Snorri Thorbrandson answered and said that the lamb was
> the slowest concerning food first when they are newly
> gagged.
Snorri Þorbrandsson answered and said that eating was
hardest for lambs when they are first newly gagged.
One edition has a footnote here:
Lömb voru stundum kefld, þegar þau voru vanin undan ánum.
Keflið var mjó spýta, og rakst endi þess í ána, þegar
lembið reyndi að sjúga. Aftur gat það sæmilega vel bitið.
Lambs were sometimes gagged when they were weaned from the
ewes. The gag was a thin piece of wood, and the end of it
bumped into the ewe when the lamb tried to suck. It was
more or less well able to graze.
> Þá þreifaði Snorri goði um kverkurnar á honum og fann að
> ör stóð um þverar kverkurnar og í tunguræturnar.
> Then Chieftain Snorri felt with his hand around his throat
> and found that an arrow stuck around across his throat and
> in the root of his tongue.
Then Snorri goði felt along his throat and discovered that
an arrow stuck through the throat and into the roots of the
tongue.
<Um þverar> functions as a single entity, 'across, through'.
> Tók Snorri goði þá spennitöng og kippti brott örinni og
> eftir það mataðist hann.
> Chieftain Snorri then took pincers and quickly drew out
> the arrow, and after that he ate.
Snorri goði then took pincers and quickly pulled the arrow
away, and after that he ate.
> Snorri goði græddi þá alla, Þorbrandssonu.
> Chieftain Snorri then healed all the sons of Thorbrand.
Then Snorri goði healed all of Þorbrand’s sons.
> Og er hálsinn Þórodds tók að gróa stóð höfuðið gneipt af
> bolnum nokkuð svo.
> And when Thorodd’s neck began to heal, his head bent
> forward(?) somewhat so from the trunk of his body.
And when Þórodd’s neck began to heal, his head drooped
forward a bit from his body.
CV s.v. <nekkverr> (B.IV) has <nökkut svá> 'a bit,
somewhat'.
> Þá segir Þóroddur að Snorri vildi græða hann að
> örkumlamanni en Snorri goði kvaðst ætla að upp mundi hefja
> höfuðið þá er sinarnar hnýtti.
> Then Thoroddr says that Snorri would make a maimed invalid
> of him, but Chieftain Snorri said for himself (that he)
> intended (that) his head would rise when the sinews
> knitted. (CV örkuml)
Then Þórodd says that Snorri wanted to heal him into a
maimed man, but Snorri goði said that he expected that the
head would raise up when the sinews knitted.
> En Þóroddur vildi eigi annað en aftur væri rifið sárið og
> sett höfuðið réttara.
> But Thoroddr didn’t want again that the wound would be
> torn and his head set straighter.
But Þórodd wanted nothing else than [that] the wound be torn
back [open] and his head set straighter.
> En þetta fór sem Snorri gat að þá er sinarnar hnýtti hóf
> upp höfuðið og mátti hann lítt lúta jafnan síðan.
> And this went as Snorri was able that when the sinews
> knitted, raise up his head, and he could bow a little
> equally then.
But this went as Snorri guessed, that when the sinews were
knit, his head raised up, and ever afterwards he was little
able to bow [his head].
In other words, the sinews did shorten, pulling his head
back further than it should have been and making it
impossible for him to bend it very far forward.
> Þorleifur kimbi gekk alla stund síðan við tréfót.
> Thorleifr Kimb went all the time thereafter with a
> wooden-leg.
Afterwards Þorleif kimbi always walked with a wooden leg.
Brian