And it’s still only Tuesday (in the U.S.)!
> Melsnati hét þræll.
> A thrall was named Melsnati.
> A thrall was named Melsnati.
> A slave was-called Melsnati
A thrall was called Melsnati.
The name is an Old Norse representation of the Old Irish
name <Máel Snechtai>, which is literally ‘servant of snow’.
> Hann var mikill ok sterkr svá at hann hafði tólf karla afl
> til hvers sem hann gekk.
> He was large and strong so that he had the stength of 12
> men to any (?) as he went.
> He was big and strong so that he had the strength of
> twelve men wherever he went.
> He was big and strong such that he had (the)
> physical-strength of twelve men whatever he did (or
> whoever he confronted) (lit: whatever/whoever he went
> towards, ganga til e-s) (?).
He was so big and strong that he had twelve men’s strength
no matter what he tried [‘approached’].
> Úlfr beiddi at Melsnati skyldi drepa annanhvárn þeira
> bræðra karlssona.
> Ulfr asked that Melsnati should kill one of the two
> Karlson brothers.
> Ulfr asked that Melsnati should kill each of those two
> brothers, kerl’s sons.
> Úlfr requested that Melsnati should kill one-or-the-other
> of those brothers, (the)-old-man’s (commoner’s)-sons.
Úlf asked that Melsnati should kill one or the other of the
brothers [who were] the old man’s sons.
> Var nú leikit af kappi um daginn.
> It was now played with zeal during the day.
> It was played now obstinately during the day.
> (It, ie the sport) was now played with ardour during
> the-day.
[The sport] was played with zeal during the day.
> Sló Melsnati knöttinn yfir höfuð Högna.
> Melsnati struck the ball over Hogna's head.
> Melsnati struck Hogni over the head with the ball.
> Melsnati struck (ie propelled) the-ball over the-head of
> Högni.
Melsnati struck the ball over Högni’s head.
> Varð hann langt at elta hann.
> He was long at chasing him/it.
> He was a long time at pursuing him.
> He (ie Högni) needed to pursue (verða at + inf) it (the
> ball, masc) a long-distance.
He had to chase it a long way.
This is <verða> Z7.
> Högni sótti knöttinn ok bar ólatliga, en Úlfr henti
> knöttinn, ok snaraði til Sigmundar.
> Hogni pursued the ball and carried quickly, but Ulfr
> caught the ball, and quickly threw it at Sigmundr.
> Hogni sought the ball and carried it quickly, but Ulfr
> caught the ball with his hand and turned (the ball)
> towards Sigmundr.
> Högni fetched the ball and carried (it) quickly, but Úlfr
> caught-in-hand the-ball, and threw (it) towards (flung it
> at, snara, Z4) Sigmundr.
Högni overtook the ball and bore it quickly, but Úlf seized
the ball and threw it to Sigmund.
This is <sœkja> Z5. Apparently the second verb is <henda>,
here with the modern past tense.
> Kom á kinnbeinit ok sprakk fyrir, ok varð þat mikit sár.
> It landed on his upper jawbone and it was broken, and it
> was a large wound.
> (The ball) came at the chin bone and the skin was broken
> and it became a great wound.
> (It) came on to the cheek-bone and (it, ie the cheek-bone)
> was broken (see springa fyrir), and that became (ie was) a
> great wound.
It hit his cheek bone, and it [i.e., the cheek bone] broke,
and that was a great wound.
The example in Zoëga suggests that it could be the skin that
broke, but that doesn’t seem bad enough to qualify as a
great wound. In any case <sprakk fyrir> is simply ‘[it]
broke before [the ball]’, effectively ‘[the ball] broke
[it]’, where ‘it’ could in principle be anything in the path
of the ball.
> Sigmundr snaraði knettinum at Melsnata, en Úlfr hljóp
> fyrir ok náði knettinum ok snaraði at Högna.
> Sigmundr threw the ball at Melsnata, and/but Ulfr jumped
> above (it) and caught it and quickly threw it at Hogna.
> Sigmundr turned the ball towards Melsnati, but Ulfr ran in
> front and got hold of the ball and turned it towards
> Hogni.
> Sigmundr threw (flung) the-ball at Melsnati, but Úlfr
> jumped in-front (ie intervened) and got-hold-of the-ball
> and threw (flung) (it) at Högni.
Sigmund threw the ball at Melsnati, but Úlf ran in front and
got hold of the ball and threw [it] at Högni.
> Högni henti knöttinn.
> Hogni caught the ball.
> Hogni caught the ball.
> Högni caught-in-hand the-ball.
Högni caught the ball.
> Melsnati hljóp þá at Sigmundi, ok rak báða knefana fyrir
> brjóst honum svá hann hopaði um tvö fet aptr.
> Melsnati then leapt at Sigmundr, and drew both his knees
> over the chest of him so that he hopped on two feet after.
> Melsnati leaped then to Sigmundr and drove both knees
> before his breast so that hopped about on two feet
> afterwards???
> Melsnati ran then at Sigmundr and drove both fists (hnefi)
> into the front of his chest so (that) he retreated (hopa,
> Z2) back (aptr) about two paces (fet).
Melsnati then ran at Sigmund and drove both of his fists at
his breast so that he skipped two steps back.
Read <knefana> as older <hnefana>, from <hnefi>. I think
that the sense of <um> here is ‘by the amount’ rather than
‘approximately’.
> Úlfr sló til Sigmundar með knattdrepunni, en hann brá
> fyrir manni.
> Ulfr struck at Signmundr with a blow with the ball,
> and/but he moved over the man.
> Ulfr struck at Sigmundr with the bat, and it broke over
> the man.
> Úlfr aimed-a-blow at (slá til e-s) Sigmundr with
> the-ball-striker (bat, racquet, knattdrepa, CV), but (and)
> he (ie Sigmundr) moved-suddenly in-front-of (the) person
> (man, ie Úlfr) (?).
Úlf struck at Sigmund with the bat, but he [= Sigmund] moved
sharply to face [the] man [= Úlf].
I take this to be more or less a combination of <fyrir> Z4
and Z12.
> Brotnaði hausinn í þeim.
> His skull broke in them.
> The skull was broken ??
> The-skull (presumably MnI spelling of nom rather than
> acc?) was-broken in that-one (him, Úlfr or Sigmundr? Not
> clear: Úlfr’s skull is broken in the next action so
> perhaps Sigmundr is meant here).
His [= Úlf’s] skull broke [‘The skull broke in him’].
There are enough modern spellings that I’ve no trouble
taking <hausinn> as another. The adversative <en> in the
previous sentence and the feeling, possibly quite
unjustified, that <þeim> ought to refer to person most
recently mentioned suggest that it’s Úlf’s skull that broke.
I note that Hall seems to have understood it this way. It
does seem odd to have the skull break twice, but there’s no
indication in the events that follow that Sigmund’s skull
was broken. Perhaps the idea is that the first break made
the skull fragile enough that the subsequent impact against
the stone was fatal.
> Högni greip í hönd honum ok sleit af honum í axlarliðnum,
> ok sló á nasir Úlfi svá hann fell ok kom höfuðit á stein.
> Hogni gras0ed his hand and broke off of him in the
> shoulder-joint, and hit Ulfr's nose so he fell and his
> head landed on a stone.
> Hogni seized him in hand and ripped off his arm and struck
> at Ulfr’s nose so he fell and his head hit a stone.
> Högni grabbed him (ie Úlfr) by (the) arm, and snapped (it)
> off him at the-shoulder-joint, and struck on (the)
> nostrils of Úlfr so (that) he fell and the (his)-head came
> on to a stone (rock).
Högni seized his arm and tore [it] from him at the shoulder
joint and struck at Úlf’s nostrils so that he fell, and his
head hit a stone.
> Brotnaði hausinn ok varð þat hans bani.
> His skull broke and that was his death.
> The skull was broken and it became his death.
> The-skull was-broken and that became (ie was) his death.
His skull broke, and that was his death.
> Nú hlupu menn til vopna.
> No men leapt to their weapons.
> Now men ran to weapons.
> Now folk (ie the king´s men) ran to (their) weapons.
Now [the king’s] men ran to [their] weapons.
> Þá kom Sigrgarðr konungsson ok stóð fyrir þeim bræðrum.
> Then Prince Sigrgardr arrive and stood before the
> brothers.
> Then Sigrgardr, the king’s son came, and stood before
> those brothers.
> Then Sigrgarðr (th) king’s-son came and stood before (ie
> protected, intervened for) those brothers.
Then Sigrgarð, [the] king’s son, came and protected [‘stood
before’] the brothers.
> Var þá sagt til konungi.
> Then it was told to the King.
> It was then told to the king.
> (It) was then said to (the) king.
The king was then told [‘[It} was then told to [the] king’].
> Sigrgarðr kom hesti undir þá karlssonu, ok komust þeir i
> skóginn í því konungr kom, ok var þá inn reiðasti, ok lét
> leita þeira.
> Sigrgardr arrived on a horse under (?) the man's sons, and
> the arrived in the forest (and) at that moment the king
> arrived, and he was then the most angry, and caused to
> search for them.
> Sigrgardr came by horse? among them, kerl’s sons, and they
> arrived in the forest in which the king came and was then
> the most angry and had them search for them.
> Sigrgarðr brought (koma – dative) a horse under those
> old-man’s (commoner’s)-sons (ie had them loaded on a
> horse), and they made-their-way into the-forest. (New
> sentence, reads better, I think) In that (instant) (the)
> king came, and (he) was then the most-angry, and caused to
> search for them.
Sigrgarð then brought a horse under the old man’s sons
[i.e., got them mounted on a horse], and they made it into
the wood just as [the] king arrived, and [he] was then most
angry and had them sought.
> Fundust þeir ei.
> They were not found.
> They were not found.
> They were-not found.
They were not found.
> Lét konungr gjöra þá útlæga, dræpa ok tiltæka, hvar sem
> þeir yrði fundnir.
> The king causes them to be outlawed, killed, and
> procedures, whenever they were found.
> The king had them declared outlawed, killed and seized
> wherever they might be found.
> (The) king caused to make them outlawed,
> killable-with-impunity and liable-to-be-seized, wherever
> they became (ie were) found.
[The] king had them made outlawed, to be killed with
impunity and liable to be seized wherever they might be
found.
The adjectives are <dræpr> and <tiltœkr>.
> Fréttist nú ei til þeira lengi.
> Now nothing was reported about them (any) longer.
> There was no news of them now for a long time.
> (It) was not heard of them (ie Sigmundr and Högni) for a
> long time.
Nothing is now heard of them [‘of them is not now heard’]
for a long time.
> Sigrgarðr bað föður sinn fá sér lén nökkut þat er hann
> mætti halda sik ok sína menn.
> Sigrrardr asking his father to get him some royal grant,
> that which he could maintain himself and his men.
> Sigrgardr asked his father to give him some grant that he
> might keep himself and his men (in comfortable style).
> Sigrgarðr asked his father to get for himself some
> royal-grant, that which he might maintain himself and his
> folk (men)
Sigrgarð asked his father to give him some fief with which
he might support himself and his men.
> Konungr fekk honum einn kastala ríkan ok þrjú skip ef
> honum þætti skemmtan at fara af landi burt.
> The King got him a royal castle and three ships if he
> thought (it) an amusement to travel away from land.
> The king gave him a rich castle and three ships if it
> seemed to him entertaining to go away from the country.
> (The) king got for him a certain rich castle and three
> ships if (it) should-seem (a) pleasure to him to journey
> away from land.
[The] king gave him a strong castle and three ships if
[i.e., in case] he should think it entertainment to travel
away from [the] country.
> Sigrgarðr valdi sér unga menn ok fríða ok frækna, ok mjök
> eptir skaplindi sínu.
> Sigrgardr himself ruled over young men, also fine and
> valiant, and very much after his (skaplindi?).
> Sigrgardr chose himself young men and handsome and valiant
> and many because of their dispositions.
> Sigrgarðr chose (velja) for himself young folk (men) and
> handsome and brave, and greatly after his-own temperament
> (skaplyndi) (ie and who would best get on well with him).
Sigrgarð chose for himself young men, handsome and valiant
and much in accordance with his own temperament.
> En hann var svá fríðr maðr sýnum at engi kona geymdi sín
> fyrir honum.
> But he was such a handsome man in sight that no woman took
> care of herself before him.
> And he was such a handsome man that no women paid him any
> heed????
> But he was a person (man) so handsome in appearance (fair
> of face) that no woman took-care-of-herself (ie was able
> to control herself) before him.
But he was a man so fair of face that no woman guarded
herself against him.
Brian