Re: Sigrgardr 9B

> Þeir mættust nú Knútr ok Sigrgarðr.

> Knutr and Sigrgardr now met one another (in battle).

> Now they, Knut and Sigrgard met.

> They, Knútr and Sigrgarðr, now meet-one-another.

They now met each other, Knút and Sigrgarð.

> Knútr lagði til hans með kesjunni þeirri er ávallt varð
> manns bani.

> Knutr thrust at him with the halberd which always was a
> man's death.

> Knut thrust at him with the halberd which always became a
> man’s bane.

> Knútr thrust at him with the-halberd, that-one which
> always became a person´s (man’s) bane.

Knút thrust at him with the halberd that always was
[‘became’] a man’s death.

> Sigrgarðr stökk í loptit, en spjótit kom í lokugatit á
> vindásinum ok gat hann ei aptr kippt.

> Sigrgardr leapt in the air, and/but the spear landed on
> the latch-hole at the windlass and he wasn't able to
> snatch it back.

> Sigrgardr sprang aloft, and the spear came in the
> latch-hole of the windlass and he was not able to pull it
> back out.

> Sigrgarðr sprang into the-air, but (and) the-spear came
> into the-latch-hole on the-windlass and he was-not-able to
> pull (it, the spear) back.

Sigrgarð leaped into the air, and the spear came into the
latch-hole of the windlass, and he was not able to pull it
back.

> Sigrgarðr kom niðr á spjótskaptit ok braut í sundr fyrir
> framan hendr honum.

> Sigrgardr came down on the the shaft of the spear and
> broke it apart in front of his hands.

> Sigrgard came down on the spear shaft and broke asunder
> before the forepart of his hand? or the spear broke where
> you would hold it????

> Sigrgarðr came down on-to the-spear-shaft, and (he,
> Sigrgarðr, or it, this action) broke (it, the shaft)
> asunder in-front-of his (ie immediately point-side of)
> (Knútr´s) hands.

Sigrgarð came down on the spearshaft and broke [it] asunder
in front of his [K.’s] hands.

> Hjó hann þá til Knúts.

> He then struck at Knutr.

> He hewed then at Knut.

> He hewed then at Knútr

Then he [S.] hewed at Knút.

> Knútr sá ei færi sitt til úrræða, hljóp hann þá fyrir
> borð, sverðit kom á borðstokkinn, ok var undir járnboltr
> mikill.

> Knutr didn't see his opportunity for help, he then leapt
> overboard, his sword landed on the gunwale, and it/he was
> under a large iron(bolt?).

> Knut did not see his opportunity for help, he leaped then
> overboard, the sword (blow) came on the gunwale and was
> under a huge iron bolt.

> Knútr saw not his opportunity for help (an expedient way
> out), he leapt then over-board, the sword came on-to the
> bulwarks, and a large iron-bolt (nominative) was (ie lay)
> under-(neath).

Knút did not see any [‘his’] way to escape [‘to an escape
(from his difficulty)’]; he leaped overboard then, the sword
struck the gunwale, and a great iron bolt was under [it].

<Færi> is older <fœri>; <boltr> appears a number of times as
an Old Norwegian byname and apparently corresponds to
Swedish <bult>, OSw <bolt>, Eng. <bolt>, etc. The gloss in
square brackets for <órræði> is from Baetke.

> Kom sverðit í járnboltinn, ok stökk í sundr undir
> hjöltunum.

> The sword landed on the iron-bolt(?), and flew asunder
> under the knob at the end of the sword hilt.

> The sword came in the iron bolt and flew apart below the
> hilt.

> The sword came into (entered, penetrated) the-iron-bolt,
> and (it, the sword) flew asunder below the guard (of the
> sword) (pl of hjalt, CV).

The sword landed on the iron bolt and flew asunder below the
crossguard.

It’s clear from the geometry that it has to be the
crossguard rather than the pommel, and for the kind of sword
in question the guard is a crossguard.

> Sigrgarðr stökk fyrir borð eptir Knúti, ok fundust þeir á
> mararbotnum ok var þeira atgangr bæði harðr ok langr, ok
> ætlaði hvárr at festa annan á grunni.

> Sigrgardr leapt overboard after Knutr, and they met
> together at the bottom of the sea, and it was for them
> both hard and long fighting, and each tried to fasten the
> other to the bottom.

> Sigrgard leaped overboard after Knut and they met at the
> sea bottom and their attack (was) both hard and long and
> each intended to fasten the other in the shallows.

> Sigrgarðr sprang over-board after Knútr, and they
> met-one-another on the-sea-bottom, and their combat was
> both hard and long, and each intended to fasten (pin)
> (the) other to (the) shoal-ground.

Sigrgarð leaped overboard after Knút, and they met on the
sea floor, and their combat was both hard and long, and each
intended to fasten the other to the sea bottom.

> Sigrgarðr hafði tekit í posann þann sem kerling hafði
> fengit honum, ok brugðit yfir andlit sér, ok mátti hann þá
> vera í kafi svá lengi sem hann vildi.

> Sigrgardr had taken his (Z. í 11 applies here?) bag, the
> one the old woman had given him, and drew it over his
> head, and he could them be under water as long as he
> wanted to.

> Sigrgardr had taken that little bag which the old woman
> had given him and pulled it over his face and he was able
> then to be underwater as long as he wished.

> Sigrgarðr had taken into (the water, underwater, í kafi
> with kafi understood) the-little-bag, that which (the)
> old-woman had gotten for him, and quickly-moved (ie drew)
> (it) over his face, and he then was able to be under-water
> as long as he wanted.

Sigrgarð had taken the little bag that the old woman had
given him into [the water] and quickly pulled [it] over his
face, and he could then stay under water as long as he
wanted.

Like Alan, I take the first <í> to be short for something
meaning ‘into the water’.

> Hann var þá svá líkr Knúti inum knappa at yfirlitum at
> hvárigan mátti frá öðrum kenna, en síðan sprengði hann
> Knút köfum.

> He was so like Knutr the buttons (??) that the appearance
> that neither could be known from the other, and then he
> made burst Knutr's dive. (?)

> He was then so like Knut the knob in personal appearance?
> that each might be known (mistaken?) for the other and
> afterwards he burst Knut (lungs?) under water.

> He was then so like Knútr the brisk (or knob) in
> appearance that (one) was-able-to recognise neither (of
> the two) (accusative of hvárigr) from (the) other, but
> (and) after-that he caused Knútr to burst (he broke the
> wind of Knútr, cf sprengja hest) from gasping-for-breath
> (kaf, plural, CV) (ie it sounds like Sigrgarðr drowned
> Knútr by not allowing him to come up for air).

He was then so [much] like Knút inn knappi in looks that
neither could be told from the other [‘(one) could recognize
neither from (the) other’], and after that he drowned Knút.

Following Baetke, the last clause is literally more like
‘and after that he destroyed Knút through exhaustion by
submersions’. I’ll repeat my comments on the byname from a
couple of assignments back:

The byname is apparently the weakly inflected form of an
adjective <knappr>. (In Old Norse bynames with the
definite article, the next word is always an adjective.)
CV has this as ‘scanty’, which is one of the senses of
modern <knappur> (alongside the clearly related ‘terse,
concise’), but the entry in de Vries suggests that the
matter may not be quite so clear cut. The etymological
notes in the entry for <knapp> (adj.) ‘scanty; short;
bare; narrow; reduced, straitened; sparing, chary’ in
Svenska Akademiens Ordbok are interesting. They mention
Swedish dialect <knapp> ‘insufficient, inadequate; stingy;
rapid, quick’ and say that the word is from a Low German
<knap> ‘insufficient, inadequate; thrifty; brisk, quick,
speedy; able; vigorous’. Thus, Knút’s byname could
conceivably have meant any of ‘the scrawny’, ‘the thrifty
(or miserly)’, and ‘the quick’. Hall seems to have chosen
the last of these possibilities.

> Síðan fór hann í öll hans klæði.

> Then he put on all his clothes.

> Afterwards he put on all in his clothing

> After-that he (Sigrgarðr) went into all his (Knútr’s)
> clothing. (ie another impersonation trick looks like it´s
> about to happen)

After that he put on all of his [K.’s] clothes.

> En þeir Stígandi ok Hörðr höfðu rutt skipin á meðan, ok
> gekk þeim þat vel, en þegar þeir skutu eða hjuggu til
> Harðar þá brá hann við ýmist dausnum eða krippunni, ok
> brotnaði hvert vápn sem þar kom í.

> And/but Stigandi and Hordr had meanwhile cleared the
> ships, and it went well for them, but immediately they
> shot or struck at Hardar, then he warded off with now his
> rump now his hump, and broke whatever weapon that came at
> (him).

> And they, Stigandi and Hordr had cleared the ship in the
> meanwhile and it went well for them, and as soon as they
> shot or smote at Hordr, then he turned his rump or hump
> this way and that and broke each weapon that came in
> there.

> But (And) they, Stígandi and Hörðr, had cleared the-ship
> in-the-meantime, and that went well for them, but (and)
> as-soon-as they (ie Knútr‘s men) shot or hewed at Hörðr,
> then he warded (it) off sometimes with the-rump (ie his
> butt) or sometimes with the-hump (his bulge), and each
> weapon (nominative) which came there-in was broken.

And in the meantime Stígandi and Hörð had cleared the ships,
and that went well for them, and as soon as they [K.’s men]
shot or hewed at Hörð, he warded [it] off now with his arse,
now with his hump, and each weapon that struck there broke.

> Var þat allt jafndrjúgt at þeir höfðu rutt drekann, enda
> kom þá Knútr upp úr kafinu á þat skip sem næst var
> drekanum.

> It was so equally in great numbers that they had cleared
> the ship of war, and aslo Knutr then came up out of his
> dive to that ship which was next to the warship.

> It was all evenly great numbers that they had cleared off
> the dragon ship and then “Knutr” came up out of the sea
> bottom on that ship that was nearest the dragon.

> That was all so-ample (guessing: they had done all they
> could and reached the point? jafn + drjúgr) they had
> cleared the dragon (prowed warship), and-of-course Knútr
> (really Sigrgarðr in disguise) then came up out-of the
> water on to that ship which was next to the-dragon (prowed
> warship)

It was already in equally great numbers that they had
cleared the dragon-prowed warship, and of course then Knút
[i.e., S. in disguise] came up from under the water onto the
ship that was nearest the dragon-prowed warship.

<Drekann> must be a variant of modern <drekan>, acc. sing.
with def. art. of <dreki>, corresponding to standard ON
<drekana>. For ‘already’ see <allt> Z3. The choice of this
sense is guesswork, as is my choice of translations for
<jafndrjúgt>; I’m guessing that the sense is that Stígandi
and Hörð had been equally effective in their martial labors.

> Kallaði hann þá, ok bað menn ei berjast við höfuðlausa
> menn.

> He called them, and asked (the) men to not fight with
> leaderless men.

> He called then and bade men not to fight with headless
> (leaderless) men.

> He called then, and bade people (men) not to fight with
> leaderless (lit: headless) people (men).

He called out then and told men not to fight with leaderless
men.

> Kvað Sigrgarð vera dauðan á mararbotni.

> He said Sigrgardr was dead on the sea bottom.

> He declared Sigrgard to be dead on the sea bottom.

> (He) declared Sigrgarðr to be dead on (the) sea-bottom.

[He] declared Sigrgarð to be dead on the sea bottom.

> Brá mönnum mjök við þessa sögu.

> Many men started off with this report.

> Men were very anguished at this tale.

> This telling (ie story) startled people (men) much (e-m
> bregða við e-t, Z9).

This statement made a great impression on people.

I’m using a definition of <bregðr e-m við e-t> from Baetke.

> Gafst þá upp bardaginn.

> Then the battle was given up.

> They gave up the fight.

> The battle (nominative) then was-given up (ie conceded,
> surrendered).

The battle was then given up.

> Fátt var fallit af liði Sigrgarðs; en mestr hluti var
> fallinn af liði Knúts.

> Few were fit of Sigrgardr's army, but the most part of
> Knutr's army were fit.

> Few had fallen of Sigrgardr’s company, and the greatest
> part of Knut’s force had fallen.

> Few were (had) fallen (in battle) of Sigrgarðr’s troops,
> but (and) (the) greatest part of Knútr’s troops was (had)
> fallen (in battle)

Few of Sigrgarð’s company had fallen; but the greatest part
of Knút’s company had fallen.

> Bauð hann þá öllum mönnum grið sem með Sigrgarði höfðu
> verit.

> He then asked all men for a truce as it had been with
> Sigrgardr.

> He offered then all men truce who had been with Sigrgardr.

> He offered then a truce to all persons (men) who had been
> with Sigrgarðr.

He then offered offered a truce [or quarter] to all the men
who had been with Sigrgarð.

> Þeir Hörðr ok Stígandi gengu til handa, ok sóru honum
> trúnaðareiða.

> Hordr and Stigandi submitted, and swore an oath of
> allegiance to him. (Z. hönd 1: ganga til handa e-m = to
> put oneself in another’s hands, submit to him

> They Hordr and Stigandi went into his service and swore
> him a loyalty oath.

> They, Hörðr and Stígandi submitted, and swore to him an
> oath-of allegiance.

Hörð and Stígandi submitted to him [‘went into (his) hands’]
and swore an oath of allegiance to him.

> En eptir þat bað Knútr alla þá menn sem með Sigrgarði
> höfðu verit sigla heim aptr í Garðaríki eðr hvert sem þeir
> vildi, ok ei vildi hann af þeira herfangi hafa at væri
> eins skildings.

> And after that Knutr asked all the men who had been with
> Sigrgardr (to) sail back home to Gardariki or whereever as
> they wanted, and he didn't want to have from them booty
> that it would be one shilling.

> And after that Knut bade all those men who had been with
> Sigrgardr to sail home back to Gardariki or wherever they
> wished and he wished not have even one shilling of their
> booty.

> But (And) after that Knútr bade all those men who had been
> with Sigrgarðr to sail back home to Garðaríki (Kingdom of
> Russia), or where-ever they wanted, and he wanted not to
> have (take) booty from them that would-be (a booty) of one
> shilling (he did not want so much as a single shilling
> from them as a booty).

And after that Knút told all those men who had been with
Sigrgarð to sail back home to the Kievan Rus’ or wherever
they wished, and he did not want to have of their booty
[that] that would be one shilling’s [worth].

<Þeira> cannot be dative, so it cannot be the object of
<af>; it must instead be possessive, modifying <herfangi>,
the dative object of <af>.

Brian