Re: Bosa Saga 2 A

> 2. Ætt Bósa ok uppfóstr.

> Bosi's ancestory and rearing.

> Bosi’s pedigree and upbringing.

> 2. Pedigree of Bósi and upbringing (fostering)

Bósi’s lineage and fostering.

> Maðr er nefndr Þvari ok var kallaðr Bryn-Þvari.

> A man is named Thvari, and he was called Bryn-Thvari
> (War-Thvari).

> A man was named Thvari and was called Bryn-Thvari.

> (There) is a person (man) named Þvari and was called
> Bryn-Þvari

A man is named Þvari and was called Bryn-Þvari.

A <brynþvari> is a kind of halberd, from <brynja> 'a coat of
mail' and <þvari> 'a bolt, a spear'; de Vries says that it’s
a spear with a four-edged head. Given the names that we’ve
already seen, I doubt that it’s accidental that byname plus
name form a meaningful unit, though I imagine that if this
were a real name, the byname would mean that Þvari had a
notable coat of mail, frequently wore one, or the like. So
far as I can discover quickly, this is the only attestation
of a personal name Þvari, though the noun <þvari> does
appear as a byname of real people.

> Hann bjó skammt frá konungs atsetum.

> He lived a short distance from the king's residences.

> He lived a short distance from the king’s residence.

> He dwelt a short distance from (the) king’s residence(s).

He dwelt a short way from [the] king’s residences.

I like <atseta>: one’s ‘at-sitting’!

> Hann hafði verit víkingr mikill inn fyrri hlut ævi sinnar,
> ok þá er hann var í víkingu, mætti hann skjaldmey einni,
> er Brynhildr hét.

> He had been a great viking further before position his
> lifetime, and when he was engaged in viking-activities, he
> met an amazon, who was named Btrynhildr.

> He had been the great Viking in the early part of his
> time, and then when he was a-viking, he met a certain
> amazon who was named Brynhildr.

> He had been a great viking (sea-rover) in the (hinn) early
> part of his life, and then he was a-sea-roving, he met a
> certain amazon (lit: shield-maiden), who was-called
> Brynhildr.

He had been a great freebooter [during] the early part of
his lifetime, and when he was on a freebooting expedition,
he met a certain shieldmaiden who was called Brynhild.

> Hún var dóttir Agnars konungs ór Nóatúnum.

> She was a daughter of King Agnar, from Noatunum.

> She was a daughter of King Agnar of Noatun.

> She was (the) daughter of King Agnarr out-of Nóatún
> (Ship-Enclosures, noí + tún).

She was [the] daughter of king Agnar from Nóatún.

Nóatún (apparently ‘ship enclosure’, from <nói> 'a small
vessel') is the mythical home of the Van Njörð.

> Þau börðust, ok bárust sár á Brynhildi, þangat til at hún
> var óvíg.

> They fought, and it yielded a wound to Brynhildi, to that
> time that she was unable to fight.

> They fought and a wound happened to Brynhildr, til that
> time she was unable to fight.

> They fought-each-other, and wounds happened to Brynhildr
> (ie she received wounds), until (that time that) she was
> unable-to-fight (úvígr).

They fought, and Brynhild was wounded [‘wounds were borne
onto B.’] until she was unable to fight.

> Tók Þvari hana þá til sín ok mikinn fjárhlut með henni.

> Thvari then took her to himself and many valuables with
> her.

> Thvari took her to himself and much valuables with her.

> Þvari then took her to himself  and a great share-of money
> (singular) (CV) with her.

Then Þvari took her for himself and great wealth with her.

> Hann lét græða hana at heilu, ok var hún síðan hnýtt ok
> bömluð, ok var hún því kölluð Brynhildr baga.

> He caused her to be fully healed, and she was after that
> lame and (bömluð?), and thus she was called Brynhildr the
> awkward.

> He had her healed to health, and she was afterward ?? and
> ??. and she was for it called Brynhildr
> hard-to-get-along-with.

> He caused to heal her to health (ie fully), and she was
> after-that crippled (knýttr) and bömluð (deformed?), and
> she was therefore called Brynhyldr baga (clumsy, awkward).

He had her healed fully, and she was afterwards knotted and
crippled, and on this account she was called Brynhild baga
[‘clumsy’]

<Hnýtt> = <knýtt>, and CV s.v. <knýtt> even has <knýtt ok
bömluð> in the section for <knýttr> 'knotted, crippled'.
<Bömluð> must be a fem. nom. sing. adjective, which means
that it should be from the past participle of a weak verb.
The corresponding masc. nom. sing. should be <bamlaðr>,
modern <bamlaður>; searching on the former led me to
<http://skaldic.abdn.ac.uk/m.php?p=onwword&i=7231>, which
refers to Bósa saga and glosses <bömluð> 'bent, crooked,
deformed'. (It also says that ‘the lexical concordance has
not been reviewed and should not be referenced’.) Searching
on the latter led me to
<http://vigniro.blog.is/blog/vigniro/entry/313406/>, where a
blogger writes:

Vegna þess að það er sunnudagur og ég hef nákvæmlega
ekkert að gera ákvað ég að kíkja í íslensku orðabókina.
Sorglegt, ég veit. Veit ekki hvort þið vissuð það suma
skýr[i]ngar eru mjög fyndnar.

Because it is Sunday, and I have exactly nothing to do, I
decided to take a look in the Icelandic dictionary. Sad,
I know. Don’t know whether you knew that some
definitions are very funny.

And then he gives some examples, including <bamlaður>
‘kýttur af sjúkdómi eða elli’, which I’m pretty sure is a
typo for ‘knýttur af sjúkdómi eða elli’ (knotted from
sickness or old age).

<Bagr> 'awkward, clumsy, clownish> is in CV.

> Þvari gerði brúðlaup til hennar, ok sat hún á brúðbekk með
> hjálm ok brynju, en þó váru ástir þeira góðar.

> Thvari wed her, and she sat at the bride's bench with her
> helmet and coat of mail (on), and yet their love between
> husband and wife was good.

> Thvari made a wedding feast for her and she sat on the
> bride’s bench with helmet and mail, but still their
> affections were good.

> Þvari wed (lit:made a wedding feast for) her, and she sat
> on (the) bride’s-bench with helmet and coat-of-mail, but
> (and) nevertheless their mutual-love (plural) was good.

Þvari married her, and she sat on [the] bride’s bench with
helm and mail coat, and yet the love between them was good.

> Lagði Þvari þá af hernað ok settist í bú, ok áttu tvá
> sonu, ok hét Smiðr inn eldri; hann var eigi mikill maðr
> vexti, manna fríðastr sýnum ok slyngr við allar íþróttir
> ok svá hagr, at hann lagði á allt gerva hönd.

> Thvari then gave up raiding and settled on a farm, and
> they had two sons, and the older was called Smidr; he was
> not a large man in stature, most fair of face of men and
> dextrous at all sports and so skillful, that he was adept
> at all. (Z. görr 1: leggja görva hönd á e-t = to to be an
> adept, a master in a thing)

> Þvari laid off (ie gave up) harrying and settled-himself
> on a farm, and (they) had two sons, and the elder
> was-called Smiðr; he was not a large person in stature,
> most-handsome of persons (men) in appearance (lit: to
> sight) and clever with all accomplishments and so skilful
> that he laid on everything an accomplished hand (ie he was
> an adept at all things).

Þvari then gave up plundering and settled on a farm, and
[they] had two sons, and the elder was called Smið; he was
not a large person in size, the handsomest of men in
appearance and clever at all accomplishments and so skilful
that he was adept at everything [‘laid a skilled hand on
everything’].

<Smiðr> is of course yet another meaningful name, ‘smith’.

> Bósi hét annarr sonr þeira.

> Their other son was named Bosi.

> Their second son was-called Bósi.

Their other son was called Bósi.

> Hann var mikill vexti ok sterkr at afli, dökklitaðr ok
> ekki mjök fríðr ok líkr móður sinni at skaplyndi ok
> sköpun, kátr var hann ok keskimáll ok þráfylginn því, sem
> hann tók upp, ok eigi mjök fyrirleitinn við hvern sem hann
> átti.

> He was large in stature and physically strong,
> dark-colored and not very handsome, and like his mother in
> temper and fate, he was cheerfule and facetious and
> persistant therefore, as he rose (i.e., "grew up), and not
> much circumspect with whom he married.

> He was large in stature and strong of physical-strength,
> dark-coloured (complexioned) and not much (very) handsome
> and like his mother in disposition and making (shaping,
> his make-up?), he was cheerful and witty-spoken
> (facetious, kerski-máll, CV) and persevering in that,
> which he took up (chose, tried his hand at?), and not much
> (very) circumspect with whomsoever he had to deal (do,
> fight, have intercourse (not sexual!) (eiga við e-n, Z10).

He was large in stature and physically strong, dark-colored
and not very handsome and like his mother in disposition and
form; he was cheerful and facetious and persistent at that
which he began, and not very circumspect with any with whom
he dealt.

<Sköpun> = <skapan>; see CV s.v. <skapan>.

> Móðir hans unni honum mikit, ok var hann kenndr við hana
> ok kallaðr Bögu-Bósi.

> His mother loved him much, and he was named after her and
> called Bogu-Bosi.

> His mother loved him greatly, and he was associated
> (linked in people´s minds) with her and called Bögu
> (clumsy, awkward?)-Bósi.

His mother loved him greatly, and he was named after her and
called Bögu-Bósi.

<Bögu> appears to be the genitive of his mother’s byname
<Baga->, so that he is ‘Baga’s Bósi’.

> Hafði hann ok margar tiltekjur til þess bæði í orðum ok
> verkum, at honum var þetta sannnefni.

> He also had many doings to that both in words and and
> deeds, that name was appropriate to him.

> He had also many things-that-he-took-up both in words and
> deeds to that (end), that this was appropriately-named for
> him (ie he lived up to his nick-name)

He also had many doings, both in words and [in] deeds, such
that this was an appropriate name for him.

> Busla hét kerling.

> A woman was named Busla.

> (There) was an old-woman called Busla.

An old woman was called Busla.

De Vries says that in the modern language there is a noun
<busla> 'slut'; I shouldn’t be greatly surprised if that
were the implication here, given the next sentence.

> Hún hafði verit frilla Þvara karls.

> She had been a mistress of Thvari's, a commoner.

> She had been (the) mistress of (the) old-man Þvari.

She had been [the] commoner Þvari’s mistress.

> Hún fóstraði sonu hans.

> She fostered his son.

> She fostered (reared) his sons (plural).

She fostered his sons.

> Hún kunni margt í töfrum.

> She knew much in (terms of) enchantments.

> She knew much in sorcery (= taufr)

She knew many things in sorcery.

<Töfr> = <taufr>; see CV.

> Smiðr var henni miklu eftirlátari, ok nam hann margt at
> henni.

> Smidr was very indulgent to her, and he learned much from
> her. (Z. nema (v) 7: n. e-t at (or af) e-m = to learn, get
> information, about a thing from one)

> Smiðr was much more indulgent (comparative) towards her,
> and he learnt (nema, Z7) much from her.

Smið was much more indulgent towards her, and he learned
many things from her.

> Hún bauð Bósa at kenna honum galdra, en Bósi sagðist eigi
> vilja, at þat væri skrifat í sögu hans, at hann ynni
> nokkurn hlut með sleitum, þann sem honum skyldi með
> karlmennsku telja.

> She offered to teach Bosi witchcraft, but Bosi said for
> himself to not want to, that it would be written in his
> saga, that he didn't allow any matters (having to do) with
> subterfuge, that as to him it should count by manhood.

> She offered to Bósi to teach him sorcery, but Bósi
> said-of-himself not to want that that should-be written in
> his history (ie that he should be known for that), that he
> should-gain any-thing by subterfuge, that which should
> count for manhood (valour) for him

She offered Bósi to teach him witchcraft, but Bósi said that
he did not want it to be written [‘that it would be
written’] in his saga that he won with subterfuges any
thing that should be reckoned to his manhood [‘to him
with manhood’].

> Mjök var nær um aldr þeira Herrauðar konungssonar ok
> karlssona, ok var vingott með þeim, ok var Bósi jafnan í
> konungsgarði, ok lögðu þeir Herrauðr lag sitt saman.

> Prince Herraudar and the commoner's son were very near in
> age, and (there) was friendliness between them, and Bosi
> was always in the king's palace, and Harraudr (and Bosi)
> entered into fellowship. (Z. lag 3: leggja (binda) saman
> l. sitt = to enter into fellowship)

> Much was near concerning the age of them (ie they were of
> very similar ages), Herrauðr (the) king´s-son and (the)
> old-man´s-son, and (there) was friendliness between them,
> and Bósi was always in (the) king’s-stronghold, and they,
> Herrauðr (and Bósi) entered into fellowship (lit: placed
> their companionship together).

Herrauð king’s son and the commoner’s sons were very close
in age [‘Concerning [the] age of Herrauð king’s son and the
commoner’s sons [it] was very close’], and [there] was
friendliness amongst them, and Bósi was constantly in [the]
king’s palace, and they and Herrauð banded together.

Brian