Sorry to be so slow; it’s been a hectic week, and some of
that vocabulary was more challenging than usual.
> Ok látum þá nú búast, en víkjum sögunni aftr til þeira
> kumpána, at þeir sigla, þangat til at vegir skiljast ok
> annarr lá til Bjarmalands.
> And then let us now prepare, and/but we turn back to the
> sago to the companions, that they sail, there to that ways
> were parted, and some lay at anchor at Bjarmaland.
> And let (us) now prepare ourselves then and (we) turn the
> saga back to those companions, that they sail thither
> until the ways part and one lay by Bjarmaland.
> And now they prepared to set out,
> And (we, let’s) leave them (þá, ie the King et al) now to
> ready-themselves, but (and) (we, let’s) move the-story
> back to those companions, (such) that they sail.
> till-that-point (in the space-time continuum) that (the)
> ways (sea routes) divide and one-of-the-two (ways) went
> (ie led, liggja, Z5) to Bjarmaland.
And [we] now let them get ready and turn the saga back to
the companions, [telling] that they are sailing thence to
where [the] ways divide and one lay towards Bjarmaland.
> Þá bað Bósi Herrauð sigla heim til Gautlands, en hann
> kvaðst eiga erendi til Bjarmalands.
> Then Bosi asked Herraudr to sail home to Gautland, and he
> said for himself to have an errand at Bjarmaland.
> Then Bosi bade Herraudr to sail home to Gautland and he
> said he had an errand in Bjarmaland.
> Bosi then bade Herald to sail home to gautlans and he
> would travel on alone to Bjarmland.
> Then Bósi asked Herrauðr to sail home to Gautland, but
> (and) he declared-of-himself to have business in
> Bjarmaland.
Then Bósi asked Herrauð to sail home to Götland, and he said
that he had an errand in Bjarmaland.
> Herrauðr segist eigi við hann skilja, - "eða hvat er í
> erendum þínum þangat?"
> Herraudr said for himself not to want to part with him, -
> "what is in your errands there?"
> Herraudr said of himself not to (want to) part with him “
> or what is your errand thither?”
> Hearad said he would not separate from him, "or what is
> your errand about there?"
> Herrauðr says-of-himself not to (ie that he would not)
> part with him, “so what is (it) in your business thither?”
Herrauð says that he will not [or does not want to] part
with him, – ‘so what is your business [literally ‘what is in
your business’] there?’
I see that Alan and I came up with the same solution to that
almost untranslatable introductory <eða>.
> Hann segir þat mundu síðar sýnast.
> He says that would appear later.
> He says it will be seen later.
> He said that would appear later.
> He says that would later show-itself (ie be revealed).
He said that that would appear later.
> Smiðr bauð at bíða þeira fimm nætr.
> Smidr asked them to stay five nights.
> Smidr offered to wait five nights for them.
> Smith offered to wait there five nights.
> Smiðr offered (bjóða) to wait for them for five nights.
Smið offered to wait five nights for them.
> Bósi sagði, at þeim mundi þat vel duga, ok fóru þeir nú á
> bátnum til lands tveir saman ok földu bátinn í leyni
> nokkuru, en þeir gengu til byggða, þar sem karl bjó ok
> kerling.
> Bosi said, that it woould do them well, and they now went
> to the boat to land, the two together, and withdrew the
> boat to some hiding place, and they went to a habitation,
> there where an old man lived and an old woman (also).
> Bosi said that would suit them well and they went now on
> the boat to land, two together and concealed the boat in
> some hiding place and they went to where an old man and
> old woman lived.
> Bosi said that they would do that well, and they now went
> by boat to land togther and hid the boat in some hiding
> place and they went to a farm where there lived a farmer
> and his wife.
> Bósi said, that that would well suffice them, and they
> journeyed now in the-boat to land, two together, and
> hooded (ie covered, concealed, falda) the-boat in a
> certain hiding-place, but (and) they went (on foot) to
> (the) abode, there where (an/the) old-man lived and
> (an/the) old-woman.
Bósi said that that would serve them well, and they now
travelled on the boat to land, two together, and hid the
boat in a certain hiding place, and they walked to a
dwelling, where an old man and woman lived.
<Földu> is from <fela> ‘to hide, conceal’, whose modern
weak conjugation, used here, has principle parts <fela>,
<fel>, <faldi>, <falinn>.
> Þau áttu dóttur væna.
> They had a beautiful daughter.
> They had a pretty daughter.
> They had a fine daughter.
> They had a beautiful daughter.
They had a beautiful daughter.
> Þar var vel við þeim tekit ok gefit gott vín at drekka um
> kveldit.
> They were well received and given good wine to drink
> during the evening.
> They received a good welcome there and (were) given good
> wine to drink during the evening.
> They were well received by them and given good wine to
> drink in the evening.
> There (it) was taken well with them (ie they were received
> well there) and good wine (was) given to drink during
> the-evening.
They were received well there and given good wine to drink
in the evening.
> Bögu-Bósi leit hýrliga til bóndadóttur, en hún var mjök
> tileygð til hans á móti.
> Bogu-Bosi looked cheerily at the farmer's daughter, and
> she was very "eyes" to him in return (i.e., she made eyes
> at him in return).
> Bogu Bosi acts cheerily towards the farmer’s daughter, but
> she was very squinty-eyed towards him.
> Boagu-Bosi looked friendly like to the farmer's daughter
> and she was all eyes for him in return.
> Bögu-Bósi looked cheerily at the-farmer’s-daughter, but
> (and) she was very squint-eyed (CV) towards him in return.
Bögu-Bósi looked smilingly at [the] farmer’s daughter, but
she was very squint-eyed towards him in return.
Here I think that <en> really is adversative, ‘but’.
> Litlu síðar fóru menn til svefns.
> A little later (the) men went to sleep.
> A little later people went to sleep.
> A little after men went to sleep.
> A little later folk went to sleep.
A little later folks went to sleep.
> Bósi kom til sængr bóndadóttur.
> Bosi came to (the) bed of the farmer's daughter.
> Bosi came to the farmer’s daughter’s bed.
> Bosi came to the farmer's daughter's bed.
> Bósi came to (the) bed of (the) farmer’s-daughter.
Bósi came [the] bed of the farmer’s daughter.
> Hún spyrr, hvat hann vill.
> She asks what he wants.
> She asks what he wants.
> She asked what he wanted.
> She asks, what he wants.
She asks what he wants.
> Hann bað hana hólka stúfa sinn.
> He asked her (?) his metal ring.
> He bad her ring his stump.
> He bad her ring his stump.
> He asked her to “entube” (wrap her tube around)(presumably
> verb from same root as hólkr, noun) his stump (stub, short
> shaft, stúfi, wk masc equivalent of stúfr, stúfa?).
He asked her to envelop [or encircle] his stub.
Though it appears in none of the references that I’ve
checked, I take <hólka> to be a verb kin to (and probably
derived from) <hólkr> ‘a ring or tube of metal’. <Stúfa> is
the gen./acc. plur. of <stúfr>, neither of which makes sense
here, so it appears to be the acc. sing. of an n-stem (weak)
masc. <stúfi> synonymous with <stúfr>. This is confirmed a
few sentences later by the nom. <stúfinn> with article: in
the nom. this can only be from <stúfi>. (From <stúfr> it
would be the acc. sing.)
> Hún spyrr, hvar hólkrinn væri.
> She asks where the metal ring would be.
> She asks where the stump might be.
> Ssked whre was the stump.
> She asks, where the tube (ring, hólkr) was.
She asks where the tube is.
> Hann spurði, hvárt hún hefði engan.
> He asked whether she had none.
> He asked whether she had anything,
> He asked whether she had any (ring).
> He asked, whether she had none.
He asked whether she had none.
> Hún sagðist engan hafa, þann sem honum væri hæfiligr.
> She said for herself to have none, that which to him would
> be fit.
> She said she had nothing that to him would be useless.
> She said she had none, that seemed to be his fit.
> She said-of-herself to have none, that which would-be
> suitable (ie would fit) for it (ie his stump, masc).
She said that she had none that would be suitable for him.
<Honum> is ambiguous: it could refer to Bósi, as I read it,
or to his ‘stub’, as Alan read it. Fortunately, the overall
sense is the same either way.
> "Ek get rýmt hann, þó at þröngr sé," sagði hann.
> "I have him amply, though it be narrow," he said.
> “I can make it roomier, even though it be tight,” said he.
> "I will get it room, though it looks narrow," he said.
> “I am-able to (geta + pp) widen it (ie the tube) (make it
> more roomy), even though it should-be narrow (tight),”
> said he.
‘I can loosen it even though it be tight,’ he said.
> "Hvar er stúfinn þinn?" sagði hún.
> "Where is your metal tube?" she said.
> “Where is your stump?” said she.
> "Where is your stump?" she said.
> “Where is your stump (stúfi)?” said she.
‘Where is your stub?’ she said.
> "Ek get nærri, hvat ek má ætla hólkborunni minni."
> "I get nearer, what I can intend my (hólkborunni ?).:
> “I get closer, what I may intend with my tree stump?.”
> "I get near, what I expect to wear out my ringbore."
> “I get (learn, geta, Z4) nearer (the truth, nærri-nær,
> Z5), what I may expect for the-tube-hole of mine.” (I am
> starting to twig as to what is in store for my tube-hole)
‘I can guess what I can expect of my borehole.
Modern Icelandic has <ég get þess nærri hvað þeir hafa verið
að gera> ‘I can guess what they have been doing’, almost as
if it were <ég get nærri getið> ‘I can guess nearer’.
Literally what we actually have is ‘I guess nearer’, but I
think that the idiomatic meaning makes more sense here.
<Hólkborunni> appears to be the dative with article of a
compound <hólkbora> of <hólkr> ‘a ring or sleeve of metal’
and <bora> ‘a borehole’.
> Hann bað hana taka á millum fóta sér.
> He asked her to touch between his legs.
> He bad her take (it) between her legs.
> He bade her take it bewtween her legs.
> He bade her to touch (taka, Z3) between his legs.
He asked her to touch between his legs.
> Hún kippti at sér hendinni ok bað ófagnað eiga stúfa hans.
> She drew her hands quickly and asked unjoyfully (?) to
> have his stump.
> She quickly drew her hand back? and declared his stump
> (not) to be entitled to a welcome.”??
> She snatched it in her hands and begged it unwelcome to
> have his stump.
> She quickly-drew- (back) her hand towards herself, and
> asked (him) to keep his unwelcome (“unwelcomed, the
> negative counterpart to the participle <fagnaðr> used
> adjectivally” – to quote Brian ) stump.
She snatched her hand back and asked [him] to keep his
unwelcome stub [to himself].
However, in modern Icelandic <kippa að sér hendinni> is
‘back out of doing something’, so the actual sense may be
closer to ‘She refused and ...’.
> "Hverju þykkir þér þetta líkt?" sagði hann.
> "What do you think this (is) like?" he said.
> "What do you think this is like?" he said.
> “Like what seems this to you?” he said.
‘What does this seem like to you?’ he said.
> "Pundaraskafti föður míns ok sé brotin aftan af því
> kringlan."
> "(Pundaraskafti?) my father and it would be broken behind
> because of that circle."
> “Pundaraskafti,(Proper name or thunderous disposition??)
> my father, and from behind the circle be broken from
> it.”??
> "My father's steel shaft and the disc broken off of it."
> “(Like) a shaft-from-my father’s steelyard (pundari+skapt,
> dative) and the-ring would-be broken from behind from
> that.
‘The shaft of my father’s steelyard if the ring be broken
off from behind.
A steelyard is a balance scale with unequal arms. Here <ok>
is ‘if’; this is Baetke’s defn. 8, for those who can use
Baetke. That this is the intended sense is suggested by the
subjunctive <sé>.
> "Tilfyndin ertu, " sagði Bögu-Bósi; hann dró gull af hendi
> sér ok gaf henni.
> "You are (Tilfyndin?)," said Bosi; he drew a gold ring off
> his hand and give it to her.
> “You are fault-finding,” said Bogu Bosi; he drew a gold
> ring from his hand and gave it to her.
> "You are fault finding," said Bosi: he drew a gold ring
> off himself and gave it to her.
> “You-are fault-finding,” said Bögu-Bósi; he drew a gold
> (ring) from his arm and gave (it) her.
‘You are censorious,’ said Bógu-Bósi; he drew a gold ring
from his hand and gave [it] to her.
> Hún spyrr, hvat hann vill á móti hafa.
> She asks what he wants to have in return.
> She asks what he wants to have in return.
> She asked what he would have in return.
> She asks, what he wants to have in return.
She asks what he wants to have in return.
> "Ek vil sponsa traus þína," sagði hann.
> "I want to (sponsa?) your trust, he said.
> “I will ???????? your.” said he
> "I will ? your help," he said.
> “I want to bung (plug, presumably verb from the same root
> as sponz, noun CV = bung) your hole (I could not find
> traus anywhere but context suggests it means some kind of
> hole),” said he.
‘I want to plug your spout,’ he said.
De Vries confirms that the verb <sponsa> ‘to bung up, to
plug up’ is formed from <sponz> ~ <spons> ‘a bung’, which he
says is borrowed from Middle Low German <spund>. He also
has <traus>, which he says is a bowl with a drain or spout;
it has a Nynorsk reflex <trøys> ‘bowl with handle and
spout’. I decided that the important part in this context
was the spout.
> "Ekki veit ek, hvernig þat er," segir hún.
> "I don't know what that is," she says.
> “I don’t know what that is (and neither do I),” says she.
> "Nothing I give, how that is to you," she said.
> “I know not, how (what way) that is,” says she.
‘I don’t know how that is,’ she says.
> "Ligg þú sem breiðast," kvað han.
> "Lie as spread out," he said.
> “You lie as wide as possible,” said he.
> "Lay you as spread open as possible, he answered.
> “Lie-you (with legs spread) as-wide-as-possible,” declared
> he.
‘Lie with your legs spread as wide as possible,’ he said.
> Hún gerði sem hann bað.
> She did as he asked.
> She did as he asked.
> She did as he asked.
> She did as he asked.
She did as he asked.
> Hann ferr nú á millum fótanna á henni ok leggr síðan neðan
> í kviðinn á henni, svá at allt gekk upp undir bring-
> spölu.
> He now went between her legs and then lays down in anxious
> (?) by her, so that all went up under the lower part of
> the chest.
> He goes now between her legs and lies afterwards below in
> her womb so that all went up under the chest.??
> He went now between her legs and lay afterwards from below
> her belly so that it all went up under her ribs.
> He ventures between the-legs of her and after-that places
> (the stump) from below into the-womb of her, so that (it)
> completely went up under the-‘breast-rails’ (lower part of
> the chest).
He now goes between her legs and then thrusts from below
into her womb/belly, so that it went all the way up under
[her] false ribs.
I take <leggr> to be <leggja> Z12.
Brian