Re: Haensna Thoris Saga 5 part 4 + 6 part 1 -- Rob's Translation

The third sentence from the end was a bit of a bear; it took
me a while to come up with a satisfactory translation and
explanation.

> Blund-Ketill svarar: "Eg skal fá til húðir og búa um svo
> að vel sé."

> Blund-Ketill answers: "I shall get hides (of cattle) and
> make my bed (?) so that it would be well."

> Blund (Dozy)-Ketill answers: „I shall lay-hold-of
> (cattle-)hides and arrange(it) so (see búa svá um, Z9)
> that (it) would-be well (fine).“

Blund-Ketil replies: ‘I shall procure cattle hides and
arrange so that it be well.’

> Þórir svarar: "Eigi vil eg spark annarra manna í húsum
> mínum."

> Thorir answers: "I don't want to kick another man in my
> house."

> Þórir answers: “I want not (the) trampling of another
> person (man) in my farm-buildings (note: plural)

Þóri replies: ‘I don’t want other folks’ trampling about in
my house.’

<Annarra manna> is plural.

> Blund-Ketill svarar: "Þá skal vera hjá oss í vetur og mun
> eg varðveita."

> Blund-Ketill answers: "Then (it) shall be next to us in
> winter and I will observe."

> Blund (Dozy)-Ketill answers: “Then (it) shall be (stay)
> with us this (coming) winter and I will keep (take care
> of) (it)

Blund-Ketil replies: ‘Then it will stay [‘be’] with us in
the winter, and I will take care of it.’

> "Veit eg gjálgrun þína," segir Þórir, "og vil eg engu
> kaupa við þig."

> "I know your idle-talk," Thorir says, "and I want to make
> no bargains with you."

> “I know your idle-talk (CV), says Þórir, “and I want to
> make-agreement to nothing with you.”

‘I know your bullshit,’ says Þóri, ‘and I will make no
bargain with you.’

The word <gjálgrun> is a problem. So far as I can discover,
this is the only instance of the word in the extant ON
corpus. An 1897 edition by Heusler normalizes the word as
<gjǫlgron>; he uses the older normalization, so that
corresponds to our <gjǫlgrun> and modernized <gjölgrun>.
Fritzner and de Vries give it as <gjalgran>, with a short
first vowel and <a> in the second syllable, and Baetke gives
it as <gjálgran>. Finally, the 1938 Íslenzk Fornrit edition
has <gjálgrun> with a footnote:

<gjálgrun>: orðagjálfur, vífilengjur (<undandráttsemi> B);
— <gjálgrun> er sama orð sem <gjálfrun>, sbr. no.
<gjelga>: blása; hjaltl. <gjolg, gjølg>: úfinn sjór.

The gloss can be translated 'hot air, claptrap, twaddle;
excuse, pretext; evasions'. The parenthesis indicates that
another ms. substitutes the word <undanráttsemi>, about
which I’ve discovered nothing else. The rest says that it’s
the same word as <gjálfrun> and compares Nynorsk <gjelga>
'to blow' and Shetland <gjolg, gjølg> 'rough sea'.
Presumably <gjálfrun> is related to ON <gjálfr> 'din of the
sea' and <gjálfra> 'to roar; of the sea, to chatter', and to
Icelandic <gjálfur> 'lapping (of waves)' and <gjálfra> 'to
lap (of waves).

Besides the CV gloss 'idle talk, prating', we have Baetke’s
'eitles, gleisnerisches Geschwätz, Schönreden' (vain,
conceited, hypocritical prattle, smooth talk, flattery) and
de Vries’s 'loses gerede, ausflüchte' (loose chatter,
excuses). (Fritzner also has a gloss, but it’s very much
the odd one out and appears to be a guess based entirely on
the context in which the word appears, so I’m ignoring it.)

Given the context and the range of suggested glosses,
something like ‘bullshit’ seems a good fit, covering both
‘nonsense’ and ‘smooth talk’.

> Blund-Ketill mælti: "Þá mun fara verr og munum vér allt að
> einu hafa heyið þó að þú bannir en leggja verð í staðinn
> og njóta þess að vér erum fleiri."

> Blund-Ketill said: "Then (it) will go worse, and we will
> all that alone have hay although you prohibit placing
> worth in place and have the use of that, that we are
> more."

> Blund (Dozy)-Ketill: „Then (it) will go worse and we will
> all-the-same (see allt að einu, under allt, Z6) have
> the-hay even though you prohibit (it) and (we will) fix
> (the) price instead (staðr, Z2) and (we will)
> have-the-benefit of that, that we are more.”

Blund-Ketil said: ‘Then matters will go worse, and we will
have the hay all the same, even though you forbid it, and
lay its price in its place and exploit the fact that there
are more of us.’

Here <í staðinn> is ‘in its place’, literally ‘in the
place’.

> Þá þagnar Þórir og gerir eigi gott í skapi.

> Then Thorir becomes silent and doesn't do well in temper.
> (??)

> Then Þórir  becomes-silent and acts (göra, Z6) not good in
> temper (shows his displeasure?).

Then Þóri falls silent and is not in a good mood.

Baetke s.v. <skap> has <ger þú sér gott í skapi> ‘cheer up’.

> Blund-Ketill lætur taka reip og binda heyið.

> Blund-Ketill has a rope taken and binds the hay.

Blund-Ketil has rope taken and the hay bound.

> Blund (Dozy)-Ketill causes to take ropes (probably plural)
> and to bind the-hay.

> Eftir það hefja þeir upp klyfjar og bera í brott heyið en
> ætla vel til alls fjár.

> After that, they lift up packs and carry away the hay, but
> well intend to all property. (??)

> After that they raise up (the) packs and carry the-hay
> away but (and) expect well for all stock.

After that they lift up the bundles and carry the hay away,
but reckon it amply for all the animals [i.e., leave plenty
for Þóri].

> Nú skal segja frá hvað Þórir hafðist að.

> Now it shall be told about what Thorir did. (Z. hafa 15)

> Now (one) shall say about what Þórir did (hafast at, Z15).

Now shall be told what Þóri did.

<Segja frá> is essentially a single verb, ‘tell, relate’,
followed by the thing told, in the dative if it’s a noun.

> Hann býr heiman ferð sína og Helgi fóstri hans með honum.

> He gets ready for his journey home and his foster-relative
> Helgi with him.

> He makes-ready for his journey from-home and Helgi his
> foster-child with him.

He makes ready for his journey from home, and Helgi, his
foster son, with him.

> Þeir ríða í Norðurtungu og var þar tekið við þeim afar
> vel.

> They ride to North-tongue and they were received very well
> there.

> They ride to Norðurtunga (North-Tongue) and (it) was
> exceedingly well-received for them (ie they were very well
> received).

They ride to Norðrtunga and were received there exceedingly
well.

> Spurði Arngrímur tíðinda.

> Arngrimr asked for the news.

> Arngrímr asks for tidings (news).

Arngrím asked for the news.

> Þórir svarar: "Ekki hefi eg nú nýlegra spurt en ránið."

> Thorir answers: "I have not now newly learned (anything)
> but (than?) the robbery."

> Þórir answers: “I have now recently heard nothing but
> (other-than) the-unlawful-seizure-of-property.”

Þóri replies: ‘I have now heard nothing newer than the
robbery.’

<Nýligra> is the comparative of the adj. <nýligr>, not the
adverb <nýliga>.

> "Hvað var ránið?" sagði Arngrímur.

> "What was the robbery?" said Arngrimr.

> “What was the-unlawful-seizure-of-property (what theft are
> you talking about)?” said Arngrímr.

‘What was the robbery?’ said Arngrím.

> Þórir svarar: "Blund-Ketill hefir rænt mig öllum heyjum
> svo að eigi ætla eg forkast eftir nautum í köldu veðri."

> Thorir answers: "Blund-Ketill has robbed me of all the
> (i.e., "my") so that I don't anticipate fodder for cattle
> in cold weather."

> Þórir answers: “Blund (Dozy)-Ketill has robbed me of
> all-stacks-of-hay so that I expect not (to have any)
> fodder for (my) cattle in cold-weather.“

Þóri replies: ‘Blund-Ketil has robbed me of all my hay, so
that I do not reckon on hay to throw before the cattle in
cold weather.’

> "Er svo Helgi?" segir Arngrímur.

> "Is (that) so, Helgi?" says Arngrimr.

> “Is (it) so Helgi?” says Arngrímr.

‘Is it so, Helgi?’ says Arngrím.

> "Engu gegnir það," segir Helgi, "fór Blund-Ketill vel með
> sínu máli."

> "It doesn't signify anythig," says Helgi, "Blund-Ketill
> went well with his case."

> “That amounts to nothing (That´s all hot air?) (gegna,
> Z4)”, says Helgi. “Blund (Dozy)-Ketill went well with his
> case (managed his case well, fara vel með málum sinum,
> under fara, Z18); also, perhaps,  managed to get his own
> way?, cf, mál, Z11).“

‘It accords with nothing,’ says Helgi, ‘Blund-Ketil managed
the [‘his’] affair well.’

Baetke has as his second gloss <zusammenfallen,
übereinstimmen mit, (einer Sache) entsprechen;
zusammenhängen mit, bedeuten>, which covers a range ‘to
coincide (with), to concur (with), to be consistent with, to
be associated with, to mean, to signify’. I chose something
in that range that gives the intended sense, but Baetke
actually has a gloss for this specific clause: <es ist
nichts daran, das stimmt nicht>, i.e., ‘there’s nothing in
it, it’s not true’.

> Sagði Helgi þá hversu farið hafði með þeim.

> Helgi then said how it had gone with them.

> Helgi then said how (it) had gone between them.

Then Helgi said how it had gone between them.

> Þá sagði Arngrímur: "Það var líkara.

> Then Arngrimr said: "That was more likely. (?)

> Then Arngrímr said: “That was more-likely (fitting?, líkr,
> Z3).

Then Arngrím said: ‘That was more likely [i.e., than Þóri’s
tale].

> Betur er það hey komið að hann hefir en hitt er fúnar
> fyrir þér."

> Better is that hay arrived that he has then that which
> rots for you."

> That hay is better that he has taken (koma, Z3) (not quite
> sure I have got the syntax right here) than that which
> rots for you.”

That hay is in better state when he has it than the other,
that it rots by you.’

Guðni Jónsson punctuates the ON as follows: Betr er þat hey
komit, at hann hefir, en hitt, er fúnar fyrir þér. This
makes it appear that <hitt> is the demonstrative pronoun,
not the definite article, and the spelling <hinn> in the
version that we’re using confirms this: if it were the
article, it would be <hið>. <At> can be 'when, if', and the
participial adjective appears to be as in <vel kominn> 'in
good estate' in Zoëga.

> Þórir svarar: "Illu heilli bauð eg þér barnfóstur.

> Thorir answers: "Bad luck (when) I asked to foster your
> child.

> Þórir answers: “In an evil hour (see heill, Z1) I offered
> child-fostering for you.

Þóri replies: ‘In an evil hour I offered you child
fostering.

> Skal oss aldrei það illbýli gert að oss sé hér tilgangur
> að heldur og að vor hlutur sé réttur og eru slíkt firn
> mikil."

> Shall we never made that wretched home that we be here
> circumstances that rather and that our lot be right and
> there are many such abominations.

> That wretched-home shall never for us (be) built that
> circumstances would-be for us here any the-more and that
> our lots would-be right (?) and such are great
> abominations .”

That harm to us shall never be finished, so that we all the
more have here access to assistance, and that our lot be
just, and such are great abominations.’

This one is hard, because there seems to be some
disagreement about the meaning of <illbýli>. CV has
'wretched home', while Fritzner has (in translation) 'bad
state of things, great harm in the home', and Baetke has (in
translation) 'impairment, harm, damage'. I’m taking <gera
e-m illbýli> to mean 'do someone harm (in his home)'. I can
make sense of this only if the past participle <gert> means
that the action is done, finished; the conjunction <at>
following <gert> must then mean 'so that'. The subjunctives
in the following clauses then make excellent sense.

> Arngrímur svarar: "Það var þegar ófyrirsynju því að eg
> ætla þar vondum manni að duga sem þú ert."

> Arngrimr answers: "That is at once without reason (?
> modern Icelandic) because I intend there a man's hay (?)
> suffice as you are."

> Arngrímr answers: “That was at-once a lack-of-foresight
> (úfyrirsynja) in that, that I would-intend there to aid a
> wretched (vándr) person (man) as you are.”

Arngrím replies: ‘That was at once [i.e., from the
beginning] imprudent, for I think to help a bad man there,
as you are.’

In other words, he thinks that in helping Þóri, he was
helping a bad man.

> Þórir svarar: "Eigi er eg orðsjúkur maður en illa uni eg
> að þú launar svo mína gerð eða það þó að menn ræni mig því
> að eigi er þetta síður frá þér tekið."

> Thorir answers: "I am not a touchy man but I am ill
> content that you reward so my deed or that although men
> should rob me because this side is taken away from you
> (?)."

> Þórir answers: “I am not a ‘word-sick’ (touchy) person
> (man) but I am ill-content that you thus reward my actions
> or that, even though persons (men) rob me of that, that
> this is not less (síðr) taken (stolen) from you.”

Þóri replies: ‘I am not a touchy man, but I am greatly
dissatisfied that you thus reward my deed or yet that men
rob me, for this is no less taken from you.’

Brian