> “Margt hefðir þú þat mátt vinna at mér hefði betr líkat,
> en várkynni ek þat hverjum manni þó hann veri líf sitt, ok
> með því at þú hefir gengit á mitt vald, þá mun ek þess ei
> svá greypiliga hefna sem vert er; en hefir þú ei spurt
> hversu þeim hefr af ferðar orðit sem hér hafa vetrvist
> tekit hjá oss?”
> "Much you would have that power to kill me if I would have
> better pleased, and/but I would pity that each man
> although he would be his life, and with that that you have
> encroached upon my power, then I will not have that so
> fierceley as it would be; and/but he have not asked how
> they have traveled as here have taken winter quarters next
> to us?"
> “You have many that you might (have) overcome that would
> have pleased me better, but I excuse it of every man
> though he were ? his life, and considering that you have
> gone under my power, then I will not avenge this as
> fiercely as it is worth, but have you not learned what has
> become of them of journeys who have taken winter quarters
> here near us?
> „Many-a-thing (lit many a that, margt þat) would-you have
> been able (mátt pp of mega) to do (vinna, Z1), that
> would-have pleased me better, but I would-excuse every
> person (man) that considering that (Þó, Z2, dropping the
> article ‚er‘, cf Z3) he would-be-defending (verja) his
> life, and with that that (ie because) you have gone into
> my power (ie have submitted to me), then I will not avenge
> (hefna) that (ie Sigrgarðr´s slaying) as fiercely as is
> deserving; but have you not heard (spyrja, Z4) how (it)
> has come to pass (ie turned out) for those who have taken
> winter-abode here with us from (their) journeys?
You would have been able to do many things that would have
pleased me more, but that I would excuse any man, that he
defend his life, and because you have given yourself into my
power, I will not avege that so fiercely as is deserved; but
have you not heard what [‘how’] has befallen on account of
[their] journeys those who have taken winter quarters here
with us?
On the face of it <ferðar> is the gen. sing. or nom./acc.
plur. of <ferð> ‘journey’, and as such it can’t be the
object of <af>, which takes the dative. However, I can’t
see any other function for it in this sentence, and I did
find a very few modern examples of <ferðar> as the object of
<af>, so I’m guessing that <af ferðar> here is equivalent to
the <af ferð> or <af ferðum> that I’d expect.
Baetke notes that <þó> after a negative can be ‘if; that’,
and I think that it’s being used similarly here after
<várkunni ek þat hverjum manni>, simply as ‘that’. That
would hardly be the first non-standard usage that we’ve seen
in this saga.
> “Ekki kvíði ek ókomnum degi,” segir hann.
> "I would not say a day not-arrived," he says.
> “I don’t feel apprehensive of future days,” says he..
> “I do not feel-apprehension for a future (ie lit un-come)
> day (singular),” say he. (I´m not worried about what
> tomorrow may bring)
‘I’m not worried about a future day,’ he says.
> “Þat þikjumst ek þér” segir hon, “ok á krippubaknum þeim
> sem hjá þér stendr at þit þikist eiga nökkut undir ykkr.
> "It would seem to me you" she says, "also at
> (krippubaknum?) them as stand next to you that it should
> not seem under you.
> “I think that of you,” says she, “and to that humpback who
> stands near you, that you think to have something
> depending? on you..
> “I think-to-myself that with you” she says, “and in regard
> to the-hump-backed (one), that-one who stands alongside
> you, that you-two bethink-yourselves to have anything in
> your power (lit: under yourselves, cf eiga mikit undir
> sér, eiga Z9) (ie that you are capable of anything, have
> supreme confidence in your own abilities).
‘I think that of you,’ she says, ‘and of that humpback who
stands next to you, that you two think yourselves to have
something in your power.
I don’t think that I’ve seen another example of <þykkjask>
with both an accusative (þat) and a dative (þér) object, so
this is a bit of a guess. I’m also guessing that the simple
dative <þér> and the (dative) prepositional phrase <á
krippubaknum þeim> have parallel rôles in the construction.
> Hugsið svá yðvart mál at þér séuð mér ei synsamir ef ek
> vil senda yðr nökkut.
> You think so your case that you would not be to me in an
> unobliging mood if I want to send you something.
> You intend your speech that you be to me not disobliging
> if you will send you something.
> Think (you)-upon (imperative) your agreement (mál, Z10, or
> speech, Z1) such that you would-be to me not unobliging if
> I want to send you something (ie as in a command or
> request).
Consider your agreement so that you be not unobliging to
me if I want to send you something [to do].
This is <mál> Z10; <synsamr> is in CV; and <svá> goes with
<at> in a discontinuous <svá at>.
> Máttu ok til þess ætla,” segir hon, “at ek mun ætla þér
> þegjandi þörfina fyrir þat er þú hefir drepit Sigrgarð þó
> at vit bærum ei alla gæfu saman.”
> You can also intend that," she says, "that I will intend
> you (to be) keeping silent for the need when you have
> killed Sigrgardr although we do not all have the same
> luck." (Z. gæfa: bera gæfu til e-s, to have luck in a
> thing)
> You may also expect this,” says she, “that I intend for
> you silent need for it since you have slain Sigrgardr,
> even though we do not all have the same luck.”
> You-can also expect that,” says she, “that I will intend
> the being (remaining)-silent necessity with you (the
> requirement that we don´t speak to each other? that you
> don´t speak to me? that I don´t speak to you? depending on
> role of ‘þegjandi’ in sentence) for that that (ie because)
> you have killed Sigrgarðr even though we-two (ie Sigrgarðr
> and I) would-not-have-carried all good-luck (wouldn´t have
> had total good fortune) together.”
You can also expect,’ she says, ‘that I will intend to get
even with you because you have killed Sigrgarð, even if we
did not have all luck together.’
The Icelandic Online Dictionary has <hugsa e-m þegjandi
þörfina> ‘plan to get even with somebody’; presumably we
have here an early example of this idiom. I think that
<bærum> is subjunctive only because it’s the main verb of a
<þó at> clause.
> “Ei má sá böl bera” segir hann, “sem ei þorir at bíða, ok
> munu vér þat áhætta.”
> "(I) cannot bear the danger" he says, "when you do not
> dare to suffer, and we will (dare) a risk."
> “That may not have that misfortune,” says he, “as not to
> dare to wait, as we will risk it.”
> “That-one (ie that person, he, sá) may not bear
> misfortune” says he, “who dares not to wait, and we will
> risk (hætta á) that.”
‘He cannot bear misfortune,’ he says, ‘who does not dare to
wait, and we will risk that.’
<Áhætta> appears to be a verb here, equivalent to <hætta á>,
though I’ve not seen it in any of the usual sources.
> Sendi hann þá eptir varningi sínum ok lét heimbera, ok var
> þeim skiput ein steinhöll.
> He then sends for his cargo and had them taken home (I
> assume this is "heim bera"), and they were assigned to a
> stone hall.
> He sent then back for his cargo and had it brought home
> and a stone hall was arranged for them.
> He then sent after (ie for) his goods and caused to
> carry-(them-) home (ie to where he now was) and a certain
> stone-hall was arranged for that (ie for his goods).
He then sent for his cargo and had [it] brought ‘home’
[i.e., to him], and a certain stone hall was assigned to
them.
> En er þeir komu þangat þá var þar myrkt, ok illa þefat.
> But when they arrived there, then it was dark and foul
> smelling.
> But when they came thither then it was dark and smelled
> bad.
> But (And) when they came thither, then (it) was dark there
> and foul-smelling.
But when they arrived there [it] was dark there, and
ill-smelling.
> Stígandi segist fyrst vilja innganga.
> Stigandi says for himself to first want to go inside.
> Stigandi said he wanted to go in first.
> Stígandi says-of-himself to want to go-inside first.
Stígand says that he wants to enter first.
> Stakk hann niðr króksviðunni, ok fann at holt var undir ok
> var þar tálgröf gjör í gólfit, ok skotit yfir þunnum
> skíðum ok breiddr á kögurr.
> He thrust his barbed-mast down, and fount that wood was
> under there was a pitfall made in the floor, and a thin
> billet of wood quickly shoved over and a broad quilt (?).
> He stabbed down with a billhook and found that wood was
> beneath and there a pit fall was made in the floor and
> shot over with thin wood and spread with a quilt.
> He thrust (stinga) down the-bill-hook, and found that (it)
> was hollow (neut of holr, adj) under-(neath), and there
> was a pit-fall made in the-floor, and (it was) shot
> (covered?, skjóta) over with thin long-billets-of-wood and
> a fringed quilt (nominative) spread on (it)
He thrust down with his bill and found that [it] was hollow
beneath [the floor], and a pitfall had been made [‘was
made’] there in the floor, and covered over with thin
billets of wood, and a quilt spread over [them].
<Króksviðunni> could be either a dative object of <stakk> or
an instrumental dative; I chose the latter. (It makes no
real difference to the meaning.) <Holt> could be either the
noun ‘wood’ or the neut. nom. sing. of the adjective <holr>
‘hollow’; the rest of the sentence makes clear that it must
be the latter.
> Síðan rann hann yfir gröfina, ok segir þeim at ófært var.
> Then he ran over the pit and tells them that it was
> impassable.
> Afterwards he ran over the pitfall and tells them that it
> is impassable.
> After-that he ran over the pit, and says to them that (it)
> was impassable (úfoerr)
After that he ran over the pit but tells them [i.e., his
companions] that [it] was impassable.
> Knútr ok Hörðr stukku yfir tálgröfina, ok var þat vel tólf
> álnar.
> Knutr and Hordr ran over the pitfall, it it was a good 12
> ells.
> Knutr and Hordr leaped over the pitfall and it was well
> twelve ells.
> Knútr and Hörðr leapt over the pit-fall, and that was a
> good twelve ells.
Knút and Hörð leaped over the pitfall, and that was a good
twelve ells.
> Stígandi krækti með krókssviðunni, ok kippti hinum yfir
> gröfina.
> Stigandi hooked with his barbed-mast, and pulled himself
> over the pit.
> Stigandi hooked with the billhook and pulled the others
> over the pit.
> Stígandi hooked with the-bill-hook, and pulled the-others
> over the-pit.
Stígand hooked with his bill and snatched the others over
the pit.
> Hörðr vildi fyrst niðr setjast.
> Hordr wanted first to set himself down.
> Hordr wanted to sit down first.
> Hörðr wanted to set-himself down first.
Hörð wanted to sit down first.
> Settist hann niðr við dyrr utar ok brakaði mjök við.
> He sat down by the outer door and it creaked much against.
> He sat down nearer the door and it creaked much at that.
> He sets-himself down against the outer (útar) doorway and
> (it) creaked much with (it) (ie as a result)
He sits down by the outer doorway, and [it] creaked much
therewith [i.e., as a result].
> Framþrútin váru tjöldin.
> The tapestries were swelled forward.
> ??? were hangings.
> The-hangings (tapestries) were swollen-forth (ie bulging
> out, þrútinn + fram).
The wall hangings were bulging out [‘swollen forth’].
> Hann setti krippuna upp við þilit ok váru þar menn undir
> með vápnum, ok kreisti hann líf frá þeim.
> He set his (krippuna) up by the wainscott, and men with
> weapons were under there, and he squeezed the life from
> them.
> He set the hump up along the wood and there were armed men
> beneath and he squeezed the life from them.
> He (ie Hörðr) placed the (ie his) bulge up against
> the-panel and folk (men) were there-under (ie under the
> panel) with weapons, and he squeezed life from them (ie
> crushed them to death).
He set his hump up against the panel, and there were men
under there with weapons, and he squeezed the life from
them.
> Svá ók hann sér innar eptir höllinni, ok svá kringum hana,
> ok brakaði einart við, svá at undrum þótti gegna, en
> stundum skeldi hann herðunum upp á þilit.
> So also he himself performs along the hall, and so we
> surround him, and creaked incessantly against, so that it
> was thought to go against (undrum?), but sometimes he
> (skeldi?) his shoulders up to the wainscot.
> Thus also he sees inside along the hall and also around it
> and it creaked incessantly at that so that it seemed to go
> against wonder and he stood ?? the shoulders up to the
> wood.
> Thus he conveyed (past tense of áka, ók not ok) himself
> further-in along the hall, and also around it (the hall,
> fem), and (it) creaked incessantly with (it) (ie as a
> result), so that (it) seemed to signify wonders (ie to be
> of great wonder), but (and) now-and-then (stundum) he
> slammed (skella) the (ie his) shoulders up onto the-panel.
In this manner [‘Thus’] he drove himself further in along
the hall, and so around it, and [it] cracked continuously
therewith, so that [it] amounted to a wonder, and now and
then he slammed his shoulders up against the panel.
Baetke actually has <gegnir undrum> ‘amounted to a wonder,
was a wonder’.
> Var þá tekit af glugginum.
> It was then taken from the windows.
> Then the windows were taken off.
> (It) was then taken them from the-wall-opening (dative
> singular). (ie the wall-opening was stripped of its
> covering)
[The hangings] were [‘was’] then taken off the window.
Brian