Re: Hrana Saga Hrings 6b -- Rob's Translation

I get a little nervous when I see all those question marks!
And with good reason this time; this may be the hardest bit
yet.

> Eitt kvöld rekr hann fé langt fram á dalinn ok sezt niðr
> þar, sem hættir rekstrinum.

> One evening he is driving sheep far forward (?) in the
> valley and was sat down there, who ventured an annoyance.
> (makes no sense)

> One evening he drives (the) sheep a long-distance forward
> into the-dale and sits-himself down there, where (he)
> leaves-off (hætta, same use of verb as given earlier ie
> ‘hætt þessari leit’) the-driving (of the sheep) (rekstr,
> Z1).

One evening he drives the sheep far down along the valley
and sits down there where [he] leaves the driving [of the
sheep].

> Sækir hann svefn mjök.

> A deep sleep overcomes him.

> Sleep(iness) overcomes (soekja, Z6) him greatly (but he
> doesn´t actually fall asleep).

Sleep strongly assails him.

<Sœkja> Z4 in a figurative sense, I think.

> Kemr honum í hug, at þetta mun trauðliga sjálfrátt, stendr
> upp aftr ok hristir þetta af sér.

> He remembers, that this will scarcely (be) his own fault,
> stands back up and shakes this off him.

> It comes to him in mind (ie it occurs to him), that this
> will (ie must) (be) hardly his-own-doing, (he) stands back
> up and shakes this (ie the sleepiness) off himself.

It occurs to him that this will hardly be of his own doing;
he stands back up and shakes it [i.e., the sleepiness] off.

> En sem hann litast um, sér hann, hvar fét kemr aftr
> hlaupandi með ysi ok þysi miklum.

> But as he looks about, he sees where the sheep come back
> jumping with much noise and uproar.

> But (And) as he looks about himself, he sees, where
> the-sheep come back running with noise and great uproar.

And as he looks about, he sees where the sheep are coming
running back with much noise and uproar.

I’m inclined to read <miklum> as intended to apply to both
nouns, though I could certainly be wrong about that.

> Rennr nú nokkut af Hrana ómegin, ok nú getr hann at líta,
> hvar einhver óvættr hleypr eftir fénu.

> Now the swoon passes away from Hrani, and he now gets to
> see where some evil spirit is chasing the sheep.

> A swoon (úmegin) now runs somewhat from Hrani, and now
> gets to see, where some evil spirit (or monster) runs
> after the-sheep.

Lethargy now leaves Hrani somewhat, and he now comes to see
where some evil being [‘un-wight’] is running after the
sheep.

> Nálgast nú þetta skjótt.

> This now rapidly approached.

> (She, ie the evil spirit) now approaches these (sheep,
> note grammatically sg) quickly.

It now approaches quickly.

Like Rob, I take <þessa> to be the subject.

> Er þat at sjá tröllskessa ferlig.

> A monstrous troll-witch was to be seen. (Z. vera 6: þar
> var at sjá, there was to be seen)

> That is to see (ie there was to be seen) a hideous
> troll-giantess.

It is seen to be a monstrous troll-witch.

This isn’t literal, but it seems to me what is probably
the idea.

> Stígr hún á í fyrir, en þjóhnappar berir.

> She steps forward (?), and/but naked buttocks.

> She steps on in front ( I can´t make sense of this, does
> she step in front of the sheep, or is it a description of
> the appearance of her front half?), but (her) buttocks
> (are) bare (naked).

I confess to being rather puzzled by the first part. I did
find a version, printed in Tímarit in 1964, that lacks the
<á>, but that could be simply a typo and in any case doesn’t
seem to help much. Perhaps the idea is that she’s
beast-like enough not to clothe her buttocks but still
‘rises up in front’ to stand on her hind limbs? That’s my
best guess so far; the only other meaning that would seem to
make sense in context is that she’s clothed in front but not
behind, but I can’t get that out of <stígr (á)>.

> Ok er hún kemr þar, sem Hrani var, staldrar hún við ok
> mælti: "Heill þú, Hrani hringr, ok muntu bíða mín."

> And when she comes there, where Hrani was, she stops by
> (him) and said: "Greetings, Hrani "Ring," and you will
> wait for me (or "suffer me")

> And when she comes there, where Hrani was, she stalled
> (there-)with and spoke: “You (be) hale (ie Greetings!),
> Hrani ‘Ring’, and you-will wait for me.”

And when she comes there where Hrani was, she halted and
said: ‘Greetings, Hrani hringr, and you must be waiting for
me.’

> Hringr mælti: "Svo er víst, eða hvat heitir þú, eða hvar
> eru hýbýli þín?"

> "Ring" said: "So it is wise/known, what is your name,
> where is your home?"

> ‘Ring’ spoke: “Such is certain (ie that´s true), but what
> are you called, and where is your home (note:
> grammatically plural)?”

Hring said: ‘[It] is certainly so; and what are you called,
and where is your home?’

> Hún segir: "At litlu kemr þér þat at vita.

> She says: "In a little while, you will come to know that.
> (Text has present tense, but future seemed to work better
> in English.)

> She says: “After a little (time) (it) comes to you
> (dative) to know that. (ie you will find out soon enough).

She says: ‘In a little you’ll come to know that.

> Ek heiti Nípa, ok erum vit systr þrjár ok vinnum fyrir
> föður okkar í kör.

> My name is Nipa, and we are three sisters and we work for
> our bedridden father.

> I am-called Nípa, and we are three sisters and do-work for
> our father in bed.

I am called Nípa, and we are three sisters and work in place
of our father, [who is] on his sickbed.

> Er ek þeirra elzt, en móðir okkar er dauð.

> I am the oldest of the (sisters), and our mother is dead.

> I am the eldest of them, but our mother is dead.

I am the eldest of them, and our mother is dead.

> Atsetr eigum vit í Fljótsdal hér fram.

> We have a residence in Lake-valley forward (of) here (??).

> We have residence in Fljótsdale (River/Lake-Dale)
> here-forward.

We reside in Fljótsdal further on from here.

> Höfum vit verit þar tólf ár, ok mun mönnum víða nálægt
> hafa þótt sik vanta á haustum fé ok hross.

> We have lived there 12 years, and men will in many places
> close by have seemed to oneself to lack harvest sheep and
> horses.

> We have been there twelve years, and (it) will have (been)
> near-lying (obvious, evident? nálægr) to folks
> far-and-wide even-though for them (it) was-lacking (ie the
> were losing) sheep and horses in autumn.

We have been there twelve years, and it must have been
obvious to folks far and wide when they are lacking in sheep
and horses in autumn.

Baetke says that <nálægt> can be used like the analogous
German <naheliegend>, which among other things means
'obvious, strongly suggesting itself'. Both Baetke and CV
have some examples in which <þótt> can be translated 'when',
and it makes sense here.

> Hefi ek nú sótt tvo smalamenn Helga króks, ok nú ætla ek
> at bæta þér við ok hafa til snæðu á morgun.

> I have now overcome two of Helgi "Hook's" sheperds, and I
> now intend to compensate you and have (snæðu = eat?) in
> the morning.

> I have now taken two shepherds of Helgi ‘hook’, and I now
> intend to reward (ironic?) you there-with and to have
> (you) for a meal tomorrow.

I have now overcome two of Helgi krókr’s shepherds, and I
now intend to add you and to have [you] for a meal tomorrow.

<Snæðu> is strange: it can only be the genitive singular of
a weak noun <snæða>, which I’ve not found anywhere else.
Apparently it’s another variant of masculine <snæðingr> and
neuter <snæði> 'a meal'. <Bœta þér við> drove me nuts until
I thought to check the modern Icelandic Online Dictionary,
which has <bœta (e-u) við> 'add (sth)'.

> Hefir þó föður minn illa dreymt til þín, ok held ek öfugt
> orðit fyrir honum um drauma, þar hann á nú fáar vikur
> eftir ólifat."

> However, my father has dreamed poorly ("had a bad dream"?)
> about you, and I kept my harsh (?) word for him concerning
> the dream, there he now had few weeks (??) after death."

> My father has still dreamt badly (ie had nightmares) about
> you, and I keep the-harsh-speech before him (?) concerning
> (the) dreams, there (where) he has now few weeks left
> alive (úlifat).”

Yet my father has dreamt ill of you, and I withhold from him
an unkind word concerning the dreams, since he has now few
weeks alive remaining.

> At því mæltu ræðr hún á Hrana, en hann nær hryggspennu
> yfir um hana undir höndum.

> At that she said she advises Hrani, and/but he nearly
> clasped his arms around her back over around (?) her under
> hands (??).

> With that spoken (?) she speaks to Hrani, but he obtains a
> back-hold over around her under (the) arms.

With that said she attacks Hrani, but he gets a grip around
her back under her arms.

<Því mæltu> is dative neuter of the pronoun and the
participial adjective. <Ráða á e-n> 'to attack one' is at
<ráða> Z16.

Rob: <nær> is the modern third person singular present
indicative of <ná>, replacing <nái>; this is mentioned in
CV.

> Þrýsti hún þá svo fast at handleggjum hans ok búk öllum,
> ok varð hann nær aflvana fyrir henni.

> She presses so fast at his arms and all his body, and he
> became nearly overpowered by her. (Z. aflavani - verða
> aflvani = to succumb, be over-powered)

> She thrusts then so hard at his arms and all (his) torso,
> and he became (ie was) nearly overpowered (lit:
> wanting-strength) because of her.

Then she thrusts so hard at his arms and whole torso that
[‘and’] he was nearly overpowered by her.

> Verst hann fyrir henni um hríð, en hún sækir at koma honum
> undir sik, ok nú hrekjast þau um bala nokkurn ok færast at
> steini einum, er þar stóð.

> He led (?) her for a while but she sought to overcome him,
> and now they were driven away (?) around a grassy bank
> somewhat and they were brought to a stone that stood
> there.

> He defends himself against her for a while, but she sought
> to bring him under herself, and now they drive-one-another
> across a certain grassy-bank and bring-each-other to a
> lone stone (boulder), which stood there.

He defends himself against her for a while, but she seeks
[present tense] to overcome him, and now they drive each
other over a certain grassy bank and move themselves to a
lone boulder that stood there.

I’ve not yet found another example of <sœkja + inf.>.

> Þat finnr hann, at hún vill koma honum á steininn.

> He finds that, that she wants to make him come ("force
> him") to the stone.

> He finds (ie discovers) that, that she wants to bring him
> (koma + dative) to the boulder.

He perceives that she wants to bring him to the boulder.

Brian