Re: Sigrgardr 8B

I meant to mention last week and forgot: two weeks ago I was
given clearance to walk normally and in fact to do pretty
much anything that isn’t high impact (no running or jumping,
for instance). My left foot and ankle are complaining a
little at having to do some work again, and my left
gastrocnemius and hamstring are incredibly tight, but life
is pretty nearly back to normal.

> Því næst bað Sigrgarðr þau vel lifa.

> Thereafter Sigrgardr asked them to live well.

> Next Sigrgardr bade them live well (and prosper).

> In the-next (moment) (ie thereupon), Sigrgarðr bade them
> (ie Gustólfr and Gerðr) to live well.

Thereupon Sigrgarð bade them live well.

> Kerling fekk honum einn posa; sagði honum hversu hann
> skyldi með fara þat sem í var ef til þyrfti at taka.

> The old woman got him a bag; she told him how he should go
> with it when in (var?) if needed to take.

> The old woman gave him a small bag, told him how he should
> use that which was inside if (he) needed to take (it).

> (The) old-woman gave him a certain little-bag; (she) said
> to him how he should go (proceed) with that which was in
> it (ie make use of its contents) if (he) needed to
> have-recourse to (it) (taka til e-s, Z12)

The old woman game him a certain little bag; [she] told him
how he should handle that which was inside if it were
necessary to do [so].

I chose to take <þyrfti> as impersonal; this affects the
precise sense of <taka til>.

> Hon bað hann veita tveimr mönnum fari í skipi sínu þó at
> ei væri merkiligir ok hafa ráð þeira um þá hluti sem honum
> þætti miklu máli varða.

> She asked him to assist two men (to) go on his ship
> although they wouldn't be noteworthy and take their advice
> concerning the matters which he thought would be great
> matters.

> She bade him grant two men passage in his ship even though
> (they) were not remarkable and take their advice regarding
> those situations which to him seemed cases to matter much.

> She bade him to grant two persons (men) passage in his
> ship even-though (they) would-be not remarkable and to
> have (ie accept) their advice about those things which
> seemed to him to warrant a great matter (ie which were of
> great importance, mál, Z11).

She told him to give two people passage in his ship even if
[they] were not noteworthy and to follow their advice about
those things that seemed to him to be of great importance.

> Fór Sigrgarðr í burtu.

> Sigrgardr went away.

> Sigrgardr sailed away.

> Sigrgarðr journeyed away.

Sigrgarð travelled away.

> Báðu þau vel fyrir honum.

> They asked to pray well for him.

> They prayed (or wished) well for him.

> They prayed well for him (ie for his well-being) (biðja
> fyrir e-m, Z1).

They wished him well.

Baetke: <hverr biðr vel fyrir ǫðrum> ‘each wishes the other
well (at parting), they bid each other farewell’.

> Sigldu þeir nú austr fyrir Tartararíki.

> They now sailed east off Tartariki.

> They now sailed east for Tartarariki.

> They sailed now east for (the) kingdom of the Tartars (ie
> Tartaría)

They now sailed east for the kingdom of the Tartars.

This was apparently specifically the realm of the Golden
Horde.

> Einn dag sigldu þeir mikit veðr ok urðu nærri björgum
> nökkurum.

> One day they sailed (with?) much wind and they were nearer
> some fortified cities.

> One day they sailed under bad weather and came near some
> cliffs.

> One day they sailed in a great wind (or heavy weather) and
> became near (nærri = nær) some cliffs (bjarg)

One day they sailed through strong wind and were driven
[‘became’] near some rocky cliffs.

I decided to combine the two senses of <bjarg> in Z.

> Maðr kom fram á bjargit.

> A man emerged in need.

> A man came forward on the cliff.

> A person (man) came forth onto the cliff.

A man appeared [‘came forth’] on the cliff.

> Hann var mikill vexti ok undarliga skaptr.

> He was large of stature and extraordinarily minded (CV).

> He was very large and remarkably built.

> He was large in stature and extraordinarily strong /
> minded / shaped (skarptr? Or ‘minded’, skaptr, CV? Or
> ‘shaped’ contraction of skapaðr, pp of skapa or strong
> form of pp of skapa? Looks like Hall has ‘shaped’ -based
> on what follows this seems the most likely meaning)

He was large in stature and oddly shaped.

My translation of <undarliga> is based on Baetke and the
next two sentences; <skaptr> is the past participle of
<skepja> ‘to shape, form, fashion, create’.

> Hann hafði kring mikinn ok var í gráum veipustakki.

> He had a large (kring?) and was in gray (veipu?)-skin.

> He had a great round(ness)?? and was in grey hooded cape.

> He had a great ‘roundness’ (bulge? cf kring, CV?) and was
> in grey cape (short cloak)-with-wimple (veipa).

He had a large hump(?) and was wearing [‘in’] a grey cloak
with a woman’s hood.

I really don’t know quite what to do with <kring> (acc. of
<kringr>). It’s ‘ring, circle’ (Baetke, de Vries), but the
related <kringla> can also be ‘orb’, so perhaps it could, at
least for some speakers, also refer to a three-dimensional
roundness; that and the general context would justify Hall’s
translation as ‘hump’.

> Þat bar þó meir við hversu þjóabrattr er hann var, því var
> líkast sem klæðsekkr væri laginn um þverar lendar honum ok
> tók ofan í knésbót.

> It carries yet with how (þjóabrattr?) than he was, it was
> likely as a clothes-bag would be placed across (lendar?)
> him and came down to the hollow of the knee.

> It seemed yet more with how a ??????????? which he was, it
> was most similar as if a clothes bag were laid about
> across his loins and went down to the knee-hollows.

> That passed still further beyond (bera við, Z.ii.2?)
> howsoever (hversu…er?) butt-steep (þjó, brattr, adj) he
> (the man) was (ie I think this is saying the cloak
> extended below his butt, despite his butt projecting out
> so far), because (it) was most-like as (if) a clothes-bag
> was (ie had been) laid across his rump (lend) and (one)
> pulled (it) down (taka ofan, Z12) into (the)
> hollow-of-the-knee.

The reason for that, however, was more how butt-steep he
was, for [it] was most as if a clothes bag were laid across
his loins and hung down to the hollow of his knee(s).

Baetke s.v. <bera> has <hvat berr nú þess við> ‘what is the
reason for that’. I’m guessing that <þjóabrattr> here means
that his butt is practically flat, so that the cloak falls
straight past it.

> Hann beiddist fars.

> He asked for passage.

> He asked for passage.

> He (ie the man with the big butt) requested-for-himself
> passage.

He requested passage for himself.

> Sigrgarðr spurði hvat honum væri til lista gefit en hann
> kveðst vel aka segli.

> Sigrgardr asked what skill would be given in exchange, and
> he said for himself to trim sails well. (similar to Z.
> gefa 7: g. e-m til e-s = to give in return for a thing)

> Sigrgardr asked what skills were given to him and he said
> he (was) good at trimming the sail.

> Sigrgarð asked what was given to him for skills (ie what
> skills had he been endowed with) but (and) he
> declared-of-himself to trim a sail well.

Sigrgarð asked what skills he had been given and he said
that he [could] trim sail well.

> Hann bað hann hafa skip ef hann næði.

> He asked him to use (the) ship if he could reach (it).

> He bade him have passage if he could reach (the ship).

> He (Sigrgarðr) bade him to have (ie join) the ship if he
> could-reach (it).

He [Sigrgarð] asked him to come aboard [‘have ship’] if he
could reach [the ship].

> Hinn stökk af berginu ok út á skipit, ok gekk skipit niðr
> um nagla.

> That one leapt from the mountain and out to the ship, and
> the ship went down around the nails.

> That one sprang from the cliff and out onto the ship and
> the ship went down about the nails.

> That-other-one (‘big butt’) leapt from the-cliff and out
> on to the-ship, and the-ship went down beyond (um, Z.i.4)
> (the) nails (spikes, nagli).

The other one leaped from the cliff and out onto the ship,
and the ship went down to the nails.

The nails must be the rivets holding the clinkers
(lapstrakes) together, and I’m going to guess that this
refers to the topmost set, so that only the topmost clinker
was above water.

> Þetta hlaup var þréttán álna af landi.

> This leap was 13 ells from land.

> This leap was thirteen ells from land.

> This leap was thirteen ells from land.

This leap was thirteen ells from land.

> Hann greip í aktauma ok dreif þegar skipit frá landi.

> He seized the sail straps and drove the ship (away) from
> land.

> He seized into the braces and drove the ship from land at
> once.

> He caught-hold-of the sail-braces and drove at-once
> the-ship from (the) land

He seized the sail braces and immediately drove the ship
from land.

> Þeir spurðu hann at nafni.

> They asked him (his) name.

> They asked him his name.

> They asked him as regards (his) name.

They asked asked him his name.

> Hann kveðst Hörðr heita ok vera kallaðr harðstjölr.

> He said for himself (that he) is named Horder and is
> called hard-rump.

> He said he was named Hordr and to be called Hard-arse.

> He declared-of-himself to-be-called Hörðr and to be called
> ‘hard-butt’

He said that he was named Hörð and was called hard-arse.

> Þeir hlógu at honum.

> They laughed at him.

> They laughed at him.

> They laughed at him.

They laughed at him.

> Annan níunda dag eptir sigldu þeir enn með landi fram.

> Another nine days later they sailed yet with land in
> front.

> The next nine days after, they sailed still forward along
> the land.

> On (the) ninth day following (annan, Z3) they still sailed
> forth (fram) along (the) land

Another nine days later they were still sailing out along
the land.

> Þar var útgrynni mikit.

> There was a large shallowness stretching out from the
> shore.

> There was a great shoal.

> There was a great
> shallowness-stretching-out-from-the-shore (shoal).

The shallows reached far out there [‘A large shallow
stretched from shore there’].

> Þar stóð maðr á landi.

> A man stood there on land.

> A man stood there on land.

> There stood a person (man) on land

A man stood there on land.

> Sá beiddi fars, hann var hár vexti ok í vargskinns stakki.

> That one asked for passage, he was tall of stature and in
> a wolfskin cape.

> That one asked for passage, he was grown tall and in wolf
> skin cape.

> That-one (He) bade passage, he was tall in stature and in
> a cloak of wolf-skin.

He asked for passage; he was tall of stature and wore [‘in’]
a wolfskin cape.

> Sigrgarðr spurði þann at nafni.

> Sigrgardr asked that one for his name.

> Sigrgardr asked then as to his name.

> Sigrgarðr asked that-one (ie him) as regards (his) name.

Sigrgarð asked him his name.

> Hann sagðist heita Velstígandi.

> He said for himself his name is Velstigandi.

> He said he was called Velstigandi.(Treadwell)

> He said-of-himself to be-called Velstígandi
> (Stepping-well)

He said that he was called Velstígandi [‘Well-strider’ or
‘Well-striding’].

> Sigrgarðr spurði hvað honum væri til lista gefit, en hann
> kveðst troða vel marvað.

> Sigrgardr asked what would be given him in exchange, and
> he said for himself to tread water well.

> Sigrgardr asked what skills were given to him, and he said
> of himself to tread water well.

> Sigrgarð asked what was given to him for skills (ie what
> skills had he been endowed with), but (and) he
> declared-of-himself to tread sea-wading-places (sea
> shoals, mar + vað, cf marvaði, CV) well

Sigrgarð asked what skills he had been given, and he said
that he trod water well.

CV s.v. <marvaði>.

> Hann kvað þat góða íþrótt, ok bað hann troða til skips ef
> hann villdi farit fá.

> He said that (was) a good skill, and asked him to tread
> (water) to the ship if he wanted to get passage.

> He declared it a good skill and bade him tread to the ship
> if he wanted to get passage.

> He declared that a good skill and bade him to tread to
> (the) ship) if he wanted to get the-passage.

He [Sigrgarð] said that that [was] a good skill and asked
him to tread [water] to the ship if he wanted to get the
passage.

> Hann sté út á sæinn; alda var mikil en þó rann hann til
> skipsins ok tók honum aldrei upp yfir skó, ok mundi þat
> vera sex tigu faðma frá landi.

> He stepped out on the sea; a wave was large, and yet he
> ran to the ship and it never reached him up over (his)
> shoes, and that would be 60 fathoms from land.

> He stood up on the sea, waves were great, but still he ran
> to the ship and (water) never (got) up over his shoes, and
> it would be sixty fathoms? from land.

> He stepped out on to the-sea; (the) swelling-wave was
> large but (and) still he ran toward the-ship and (it, the
> water) never took (ie reached) up over his shoe, and that
> would be sixty fathoms from land.

He stepped out onto the sea; the swell was great, but
nevertheless he ran to the ship and [the water] never
extended upover [his] shoe, and that would be sixty fathoms
from land.

> Þessi maðr hafði króksviðu i hendi.

> This man had a hatchet with a hook in (his) hand. (CV:
> króksviða = a kind of hatchet with a hook)

> This man had a crooked piece of wood in hand.

> This person (man) had curved-cutlass (krókr + sviða,
> ‘hatchet with a hook’, CV) in hand.

This man had a bill in [his] hand.

CV says that a <sviða> is a halberd, and Baetke says that
it’s a kind of spear, so if it’s hooked (<króks->), it’s
probably a bill (the polearm, not the agricultural tool),
not a hooked cutlass, as Zoëga’s gloss for <sviða> might
suggest, and even CV’s hooked hatchet seems a bit odd. We
may get a better idea if we see how he uses it.

Brian