> Brestr þá upp þilit at baki þeim.
> A crack was boarded up behind them.
> The paneling behind them rises up then.
> The-board-partition (panelling) then breaks up at their
> back (ie behind them)
Then the panel behind them suddenly bursts open.
<Lúka upp> is ‘to open’, and I’m guessing that ‘open’ is a
reasonable translation of <upp> here as well.
> Koma þar fram tólf þrælar.
> From there came 12 thralls.
> Therefrom came twelve thralls.
> Twelve thralls come forth there.
Twelve thralls come forth there.
> Þeir höfðu sviga í höndum ok járnsvipur.
> They had switches and iron lashes in their hands.
> They had switches in hand and iron whips.
> They had switches in (their) hands and iron-whips.
They had switches in their hands and iron whips.
> Létu síðan ganga á honum, en hann var í línklæðum einum,
> ok markaði því skjótt fyrir hverju höggi, en hann hafði
> ekki at verjast með nema knefana.
> They then caused to go at him, and he was in a linen
> raiment, and drew that quickly over each head, and/but he
> didn't have to defend himself with except his knees.
> Afterwards they let go at him and he was in only linen
> clothing and quickly it marked (him) with each blow, and
> he had nothing to defend (himself) with except for his
> fists. (What is the nominative? Can’t find it)
It’s <hnefi>; one occasionally sees this interchange of <hn>
and <kn>. For instance, modern <hnappur> ‘button’
corresponds to Zoëga’s <knappr>; CV has both <knappr> and
<hnappr> and says that the former is older.
> (They) caused then to go at (ie attack) him, but he was in
> linen-raiment (night-dress) only, and (it) marked
> therefore speedily for (ie as a result of) each blow (ie
> each blow quickly left a mark on him), but (and) he had
> nothing to defend-himself with besides the-(his) fists
> (hnefi).
Then they attacked him [‘had him attacked’], and he was
wearing [‘in’] only (linen) underclothes and therefore
quickly marked by every blow, and he had nothing with which
to defend himself except his fists.
I’m by no means certain, but I think that <markaði> here is
a weakly inflected past participle used adjectiveally:
<hann var ... markaði>.
> Náði hann þá einum at fótunum, ok þar með drap hann þrjá,
> en sá þóttist þó illa leikinn sem hann helt á.
> He then reached one at the feet, and thus he killed three,
> and so nevertheless thought (that) poorly played as he
> held in his hand.
> He reached then only? at feet then and therewith he slew
> three, and that one which he held onto thought it yet a
> poor game
> He then got-hold-of one (ná + dative) (of the thralls)
> around (at, Z.i.6) the-feet, and there-with (ie in this
> way) he killed three, but (and) that-one (ie the thrall)
> whom he (ie Sigrgarðr) held on to (ie by the feet)
> bethought-himself ill-treated (leika, Z5) nevertheless (ie
> it wasn´t much fun for him either).
Then he got hold of one by the feet, and using him as a
weapon [‘therewith’] he killed three, and that one whom he
wielded as well thought himself badly treated.
I take <en ... þó> here to be equivalent to <ok þó>.
> En því næst kváðu við lúðrar, ok var þá upp slegin hurðin.
> And/but the next sounded a trumpet, and was then killed
> upp at the door.
> And thereafter (they) summoned with trumpets and then the
> door was struck up.
> But (And) in that next (instant) trumpets (nominative
> plural) sounded (kveða við, Z3), and the door was then
> struck up (slá upp = bresta upp? hammered down, broken up?
And thereupon trumpets sounded, and the door was then
slammed open.
> Váru þar þá komnir menn drottningar með alvæpni, ok sóttu
> þegar at honum.
> Then the queens men had come there fully armed, and
> attacked him at once.
> Then the queen’s men arrived with weapons and attacked him
> at once.
> (The) persons (men) of the-queen were (had) then come
> there with all-weaponry (ie fully-armed), and at-once
> sought him out (ie attacked him)
The queen’s men had then arrived there fully armed and at
once attacked him.
> Hann greip til þess sem fyrstr gekk ok náði í hjálminn ok
> snaraði þann úr hálsliðunum.
> He seized the one who went first and got hold inside his
> helmet and twisted that from his neck.
> He grabbed at that (the one) who went first and reached
> the helmet and turned then out the neck joint.
> He seized that-one (ie him) who went first and reached
> into the-helmet and twisted that (þann, masc, ie the
> helmet, presumably inclusive of head) out-of (the)
> neck-joint.
He seized the one who went first and got hold of his helm
and wrung it from his neck joint.
Note modern <ná í e-n> ‘to get hold of someone’.
> Hann sló annan með hjálminum til bana.
> He struck to death another with the helmet.
> He struck another his death blow with the helmet.
> He struck the next-one (ie thrall) with the-helmet
> (presumably still with head inside) until death.
He struck another with the helm, killing him [‘to death’].
‘Struck him to death’ sounds wrong in English; ‘beat him to
death’ is idiomatic, but it suggests repeated blows, as I
think <slá> does not.
> Fekk hann þá sverð hans.
> He then got his sword.
> He got his sword then.
> He then got his (ie the thrall whom he had just killed)
> sword
He [= Sigrgarð] then got his [= the thrall’s] sword.
> Síðan ruddi hann sér götu til dyranna.
> Then he cleared for himself a path to the doors.
> Afterwards he cleared himself a path to the door.
> After-that he cleared himself a path to the-doorway.
After that he cleared himself a path to the doorway.
> Hafði hann þá drepit þrítugra manna.
> He had then killed 30 men.
> He had then killed thirty men.
> He had then (ie by that time) killed thirty persons (men).
He had [by] then killed thirty men.
> Var hann þá ákafliga móðr.
> He was then exceedingly exhausted.
> He was then very tired.
> He was then (ie by that time) exceedingly weary.
He was then exceedingly tired.
> Fengit hafði hann þá fimmtán sár.
> He had then received 15 wounds.
> Then he had received fifteen wounds.
> He had then obtained (received) fifteen wounds.
He had then received fifteen wounds.
> Váru þar þá komnir menn hans ok urðu fegnir er þeir fundu
> hann með lífi.
> THen his men came there and they became glad when they
> found him with life.
> Then his men had arrived and became joyful when they found
> him alive.
> His (own) people (men) were (had) then (ie by that time)
> come there and became (ie were) glad when they found him
> with life (ie alive)
His men had then arrived there and were glad when they found
him alive.
> Var þá sótt at þeim öllu megin, en þeir létu hefjast
> undan, ok er komust svá til skipa sinna.
> He was then sick in all strength, and/but they caused to
> draw back, and it is they so arrived to their ship.
> Then they were attacked on all sides, and they drew back
> and thus arrived at their ship.
> (It) was then sought at them (ie they were attacked) from
> all sides, but (and) they caused to draw-themselves back,
> and (er, what´s it doing here?) made-their-way thus to
> their ships.
They were then attacked from all sides, but they retreated
and so made it to their ships.
Alan: It appears to me that <er> is the verb, so that the
last bit is more literally ‘and [it] is reached thus to
their ships’.
> Sigrgarðr var þá óvígr en meykonungrinn hafði dregið saman
> svá mikinn her, at þeir náðu hvergi landgöngu.
> Sigrgardr was then unable to fight, and/but the maid-king
> had gathered so great an army , they they overtook each
> disembarking.
> Sigrgardr was then unconscious and the maiden king had
> gathered such a great army that they reached every
> landing.
> Sigrgarðr was then unable-to-fight but (and)
> the-maiden-king had drawn together such a great army, that
> they (ie Sigrgarðr and co) obtained nowhere (hvergi) a
> disembarking (ie could find no place to land).
Sigrgarð was then unable to fight, and the maiden king had
drawn together so great a host that nowhere could they [= S.
& Co.] effect a landing [‘they obtained nowhere a landing’].
> Sigldi Sigrgarðr þá heim til Garðaríkis, ok segir sínar ei
> sléttar.
> Sigardr then sailed home to Gardariki, and repots a
> failure. (Z. sléttr: segja sínar farar eigi sléttar = to
> tell of one’s journey not having been smooth, to report a
> failure)
> Sigrgardr sailed him then to Russia and says he did not
> have a smooth journey.
> Sigrgarðr sailed then home to Garðaríki, and says his
> (journey, farar understood or scribal omission?) not
> smooth (ie didn´t go totally according to plan,
> understatement for abject failure)
Sigrgarð then sailed home to Garðaríki and says that his
[affairs? are] not smooth.
<Sínar> is fem. nom./acc. plur., which would suit an implied
plur. noun <sakir> ‘affairs’.
> Faðir hans segir honum slíks þaðan ván.
> His father tells him such thence (was) an expectation.
> His father tells him such to be expected from there.
> His father says to him (the, ie his own) expectation of
> such (genitive) (an outcome) from-that.
His father tells him that such [was to be] expected from
there.
> Nú bað Sigrgarðr föður sinn at fá sér lið at hefna sinnar
> svívirðingar, en konungr segir at honum væri ei sínir menn
> svá falir at hann vildi vága þeim undir tröllskap hennar.
> Sigrgardr now asked his father to get him an army to
> avenge his dishonor, but the kings says to him it would
> not be his men so fail(ing) that he wanted to venture then
> under her witchcraft.
> Now Sigrgardr asked his father to give him a force to
> avenge his dishonors, but the king says that to him his
> men were not so constituted that he wanted to risk them
> under her witchcraft.
> Now Sigrgarð asked his father to obtain for himself a
> force to avenge his dishonour, but (the) king says that
> his (ie the king’s) men were not so ‘for-sale’ (ie
> expendible, falr) to him that he wanted to risk them
> against her witchcraft (‘trollery’)
Now Sigrgarð asked his father to give him troops to avenge
his dishonor, but the king says that he is not so willing to
part with his men that he wants to risk them against her
witchcraft.
> Kvað hitt ráðligra at vinna með djúpsettum ráðum, “þvíat
> hon er ósigrandi, ok ætla margir at henni muni ei
> sjálfrátt um.”
> He said it (was) advisable to work with deap advice,
> "Because she is invincible, and intends much to her
> doesn't make a difference concerning independent
> judgment."
> Said it more advisable to win with deeplaid plans,
> “because she is unconquerable, and many expect that to her
> will always be self-rule.”
> (The king) declared the-other (ie the alternative)
> more-clever (comparative), to act with deep-laid plans,
> “because she is invincible, and many think that (it) will
> not be self-determined (sjálfráðr, Z3) for her concerning
> (it) (ie it is not within her power, not her fault , ie
> she is being controlled by external/supernatural forces)
[He] declared it more sensible to work against [her] with
deep-laid plans, ‘because she is invincible, and many think
that this may not be up to her.’
> Sigrgarðr hugsar nú sitt ráð.
> Sigrgardr now thinks upon his advice.
> Sigargardr thinks now (about) his plan.
> Sigrgarðr now thinks-upon his plan (course-of-action)
Sigrgarð now thinks about his plan.
> Jónas hét maðr.
> A man was named Jonas.
> A man was named Jonas.
> (There) was a man called Jónas.
There was a man called Jónas.
> Hann var ríkastr maðr í öllum austrveg.
> He was the richest man in all the east.
> He was the most powerful man in all of Russia.
> He was the most-powerful man in all (the) East-Way.
He was the richest man in all the Austrveg [eastern Baltic
and Russia].
In principle <ríkastr> he could be ‘most powerful’, but the
next sentence suggests that ‘richest’ is probably intended.
> Hann átti dýrri gripi enn aðrir menn, ok var hann af því
> víðfrægr um allan austrveg.
> He had more expensive valuable treasures (than) yet other
> men, and from that he was famous all around the east.
> He had more expensive treasures than other men and he was
> famous for it in all of Russia.
> He had more expensive treasures than other men and he was
> famous for it in all of Russia.
> He had more-expensive treasure than (enn = en, Z3, as
> Brian indicated previously) other people (men), and he was
> from this (ie as a result) famous across all (the)
> East-Way
He owned more valuable treasures than other folks, and he
was on that account famous throughout the Austrveg.
Note that it’s ‘(more valuable) treasures’, not ‘more
(valuable treasures)’.
> Hann átti klæði þat at leið í lopti, af náttúrusteinum
> þeim sem þar váru í fólgnir, ok rúnastöfum þeim sem þar
> váru í saumaðir, ef þeir væri réttiliga lesnir.
> He owned the clothes that passed by in the air (huh?), of
> the stones possessing special virtues as there were hidden
> in, and the runic characters which were there sewm om. of
> they were duly read. ("fólgnir" was a tough word to find.
> An online search yielded a reference to Obadiah 1:6, En
> hversu vandlega hefir verið leitað hjá Esaú og leitaðir
> uppi fólgnir dýrgripir hans. One English translation has
> this as: But how Esau will be ransacked, his hidden
> treasures pillaged! So I went with "hidden." Not sure if
> this is the same word, but CV has "FÓLI," meaning stolen
> goods or hidden theft.)
<Fólgnir> is the masc. nom. plur. of the past part.
<fólginn> of <fela> ‘to hide’, so it is indeed ‘hidden’.
> He had clothing that in this wise in the loft, of stones
> possessing special virtues those which were hidden? in
> there, and those runesticks where were there in sewn?? if
> they were read correctly.
> He had that garment that glided (líða, past tense) in air
> (ie floated, flew), from (ie because of) those
> stones-possessing special (magical) virtues which were
> hidden (pp of fela, fólginn, fólgnir, 3 pers pl form)
> there in, and those runic-characters which were sewn (3
> pers pl form of pp) there-in, if they were read (lesa, Z4)
> correctly.
He owned a [‘that’] cloth that glided in the air by virtue
of magic stones that were hidden therein and the runes that
were sewn therein, if they were read correctly.
Brian