> Þá sér hann hvar Stígandi hleypr.
> He then sees where Stigandi leaps.
> Then he sees where Stigandi leaps.
> Then he sees where Stígandi runs.
Then he sees where Stígand is running.
> Hann krækir þegar króksvíðunni í kampinn á Skeggja ok
> dregr hann at sér.
> He at once hooks the bill in Skeggja's moustache and drags
> him to himself.
> He immediately hooks the crooked weapon into Skeggji’s
> beard and draws him to himself.
> He hooks at once with the-bill-hook into (the) moustache
> on Skeggi and draws him (Skeggi) to himself.
He [= Stígand] immediately hooks with his bill into Skeggi’s
moustache and drags him towards himself.
> Vatn eitt var nærri þeim.
> A lake was near them.
> A certain lake was near them.
> A lake only (a mere mere) was near them.
A single lake was near them.
Baetke offers ‘a single’ as one possibility for postposed
<einn> (indeed, his first), and it seems to fit reasonably
well.
> Hann dregr Skeggja út í vatnit.
> He drags Skeggja out in the lake.
> He drags Skeggi out in the water.
> He draws Skeggi out into the-lake (water).
He drags Skeggi out into the water.
> Fór þá svá sem vant var, at Stíganda tók eigi djúpara
> vatnit enn jafnsitt skóm.
> Then it so went as was difficult, that Stigandi didn't
> take the water deaper than equally-(to)-his shoes.
> It went as customarily, that Stigangdi didn’t get deeper
> in the water than the edge of his shoes.
> Then (it) went just as was usual (vanr), that the lake
> (water, nominative) reached (taka, Z3) not deeper than
> (enn = en) as-long-as (jafn-síðr, CV) to (the) shoes of
> Stígandi. (ie the water only came up as far as his shoes)
It went then as usual, that the water took Stígand no deeper
than as far as his shoes.
I expect that the penultimate word ought to be <jafnsítt>,
with a long second vowel, neuter of <jafnsíðr> ‘as long’
(CV).
> Skeggja var óhægt at koma sundlátum við þvíat krókrinn var
> fastr í kjaptinum, en þó kafaði hann svá næri fæti hans at
> hann beit af honum tána ina stærstu.
> Skeggja was uneasy to come with swimming movements because
> the bill was fast in his jaw, but yet he swam under water
> so near his feet (?), that he used a weapon of him the
> largest toes. (???)
> Skeggi was uncomfortable to come with swimming movements
> because the crook was stuck in his jaw, but still he dove
> so near his feet that he bit off his big toe.
> For Skeggi (it) was difficult to employ (lit: come with,
> koma e-u við, Z4) swimming-movements (sund-læti) because
> the-hook was fast in the (his)-jaw, but nevertheless he
> dived-under-water near his (Stígandi’s) foot so that he
> bit (bíta) the biggest toe off him (ie bit off his big
> toe)
It was hard for Skeggi to employ swimming movements, because
the hook was stuck in his jaw, but nevertheless he swam so
near his [= Stígand’s] foot, that he bit off his big toe
[‘bit from him the largest toe’].
<Sundlátum> is the dative plural of <sundlæti>; see <læti>.
> Stígandi stakk ór honum bæði augun.
> Stigandi put out both his eyes.
> Stigandi stuck out both his eyes.
> Stígandi put out (stinga) from him both the- eyes (ie both
> Skeggís eyes)
Stígand put out both of his eyes.
> Ok sleppti hann honum síðan ok fáð hann þá eigi í burt af
> vatninu.
> And he then let him slip and he then didn't paint (can't
> be right, but that's the only thing I was able to find)
> him out of the lake. (???)
> And slipped him afterwards and he didn’t get? then away
> from the water.
> And he let-him slip after-that and he got (weak form of
> past tense of fá, fekk? Can´t think what else it could be)
> then not away from the-water (lake).
And after that he let him slip out of his hands, and he
could not get away from the lake.
<Fáð> is a real puzzle. Like Alan, I want to connect it
with the strong verb <fá>, but I can’t see any convincing
way to do so. The regular past <fekk> occurs multiple times
in the saga, so it seems unlikely that the scribe would on
this one occasion have substituted a weak past. Moreover,
the third person singular weak past would be <fáði> (as in
fact it is for the weak verb <fá> ‘to draw, paint’), not
<fáð>. That said, for want of any better idea I’m
interpreting it as <fekk> with an understood <kominn> (<fá>
with past participle).
> Ok drukknaði hann þar.
> And he drowned there.
> And he drowned there.
> And he was-drowned (drukna) there.
And he drowned there.
> Þeir Toppr ok Kampi sóttu báðir at Knúti.
> Toppr and Kampie both attacked Knuttr.
> Toppr and Kampi both attacked Knutr.
> They, Toppr and Kampi both attacked Knútr.
Topp and Kampi both attacked Knút.
> Þá kom Hörðr fram ór skóginum.
> Then Hordr arrived out of the woods.
> Then Hordr came forward out of the forest.
> Then Hörðr came forward out-of the-forest.
Then Hörð came forth from the wood.
> Toppr sneri þegar í móti Herði ok hjó til hans öxi, en
> hann brá við stjölnum ok stökk úr munnin úr öxinni.
> Toppr turned at once against Herdr and struck at his axe
> (or "struck at him (with his) axe"?), but he quickly moved
> his rump and sprung from his mouth from the axe. (???)
> Toppr turns at once against Hordr and struck at his
> shoulders, but he turned with his rump and stuck out of
> the mouth out of the shoulders?
> Toppi turned at-once towards Hörðr and hewed at him with
> an axe (instrumental dative of öx), but (and) he (ie
> Hörðr) suddenly-moved-the (his) butt and (it, ie this
> action) drove-away (stökkva, Z.ii) the-steel-edge (munnr,
> Z2) out-of-the-axe (ie separated the axe-head from the
> axe-shaft)
Topp immediately turned towards Hörð and struck at him with
his axe, but he [= H.] quickly moved his rump and the blade
sprang from the axe.
<Stökk> is the past tense of the intransitive strong verb
‘to leap, to spring’, not the transitive weak verb ‘to cause
to spring, to drive away’. It took me a while to figure out
what’s going on here, but I finally realized that <munnin>,
which in the context of an axe is simply ‘the blade’, is the
subject of the compound verb <stökk úr> ‘sprang out’; the
prepositional phrase <úr øxinni> then identifies from what
it sprang out.
> Hörðr hljóp þá at honum ok rak hann niðr fall mikit.
> Hordr then leapt at him and drove him down a great fall.
> Hordr ran at him then and drove him down in a great fall.
> Hörðr then leapt at him and he pushed him down violently
> (lit: a great fall, see reka, Z4).
Hörð then attacked him and threw him down [in a] great fall
[i.e., violently].
> Settist síðan á hann ofan svá fast at brotnaði í honum
> hvert bein.
> He was set down so hard that it broke every bone in him.
> Then he sat down on him so hard that both his legs were
> broken.
> After-that he (Hörðr) set-himself down on him (Toppr) so
> hard that every bone (nominative) in him (Toppr)
> was-broken.
After that he [= H.] sat down on him [= T.] so hard that
each bone in him [= T.] was broken.
> Eigi bitu vápn á Kampa.
> Weapons did not affect (literally, "bite") Kampa.
> Weapons didn’t cut Kampi.
> Weapons did not bite (cut) on Kampi.
Weapons did not bite on Kampi [i.e., they had no effect
(save perhaps as bludgeons!)].
> Knútr greip í kampa honum ok snaraði hann úr hálsliðinum.
> Knutr seized him in fighting and twisted him out of his
> neck joint.
> Knutr seized his beard and turned his (neck) out of the
> neck joint.
> Knútr grabbed him by the-moustache and turned him out-of
> the-neck-joint (ie wrung his neck)
Knút got a grip in his moustache and wrung him from his neck
joint.
> Sökktu þeir þeim niðr í vatnit.
> They sank them down in the lake.
> They sank down in the lake.
> They made-them-sink down into the-lake (water).
They [= Knút & Hörð] sank them [= Skeggi & Topp] down into
the lake.
> Síðan fóru þeir heim í sæluhúsit ok bjuggust um.
> Then they went home to the hospice and encamped.
> Afterwards they went to the hospice and settled in.
> After-that they journeyed home to the hospice (travelodge)
> and encamped (made themselves comfortable).
After that they went back [‘home’] to the hospice and made
themselves comfortable.
> Hörðr lá við þilit öðru megin en Knútr öðru megin.
> Hordr lay by one side of the wainscot and Knutr the other
> side.
> Hordr lay along the paneling on one side and Knutr on the
> other.
> Hörðr lay against the-wall-panel on one side (of the room)
> but (and) Knútr on the-other side.
Hörð lay against the wall panel on one side and Knút on the
other side.
> Stígandi lá í miðit.
> Stigandi lay in the middle.
> Stigandi lay in the middle.
> Stígandi lay in the-middle.
Stígand lay in the middle.
> En þegar er þeir váru nýsofnaðir þá lét Knútr illa í
> svefni; færði hann fætrna við þilinu.
> But at once when they were just asleep, then Knutr had a
> bad dream; he brought his feet against the wainscot.
> And as soon as they were newly asleep, then Knutr became
> restless in his sleep, he brought his feet along the
> paneling.
> But (And) as-soon-as they were just-fallen-asleep, then
> Knútr was restless (lit: behaved badly, láta, Z7) in (his)
> sleep; he moved the (his)-feet (or legs) against
> the-wall-panel.
And as soon as they were newly asleep, Knút grew restless in
his sleep; he brought his legs against the wall panel.
> Var þá ylgr komin í fang honum ok vildi bíta hann.
> Then a she-wolf had him in its and wanted to bite him.
> Then a she-wolf had come into grappling with him and
> wanted to bite him.
> A she-wolf was then come into (entered) his embrace
> (forced herself into his personal space such that he was
> forced to grapple with her, cf kom spjótið í fang honum,
> CV.iii) and wanted to bite him.
A she-wolf had then grappled with him and wanted to bite
him.
Zoëga s.v. <fang> has <ganga í fang e-m> ‘to grapple with
one’, and it seems to me that <koma í fang e-m> should be
pretty nearly synonymous.
> En hann tók sterkliga í mót; hon færði kryppuna við þilinu
> en setti klærnar í bringu honum.
> But he offered great resistance; he brought his humps
> against the wainscot, but it set its claws in his chest.
> He resisted strongly, she brought the hump along the
> paneling and set her claws in his chest.
> But he offered-resistance (cf taka í móti,Z12) strongly;
> she moved the (her) hunch(ed back) against the-wall-panel
> and set the (her)-claws into his chest.
But he resisted strongly; she braced her withers against the
wall and set her claws into his chest.
If Knút’s feet are against the wall, and she has her claws
in his chest, her back must be towards the wall, so
<kryppuna> ‘the hump’ presumably refers to some part of her
back, most likely the withers.
> Hörðr hrökk undan sviptingum þeira.
> Hordr drew back their tussle.
> Hordr lashed from under their wrestling.
> Hörðr drew back (escaped) from their struggle.
Hörð drew back from their wrestling.
> Setti hann kryppuna við timbrveggnum svá at hann brotnaði,
> ok komust þeir þar út.
> He set his humps against the wooden-wall so that he broke
> (it), and they arrived out there.
> He set the hump against the wooden wall so that it broke
> and they got out there.
> He set the-(his) hump against the-timber-wall so that (it,
> the wall) was-broken, and they made-their-way there-out
> (escaped by that means).
He set his hump against the wooden wall so that it
[presumably the wall, not the hump!] broke, and they got out
there.
> Stígandi krækti í huppinn á ylginni ok reif út ór henni
> garnirnar, en Hörðr hljóp á bak henni ok brotnaði þá í
> henni hryggrinn.
> Stigandi hooked into the she-wolf's hip
> Stigandi hooked the wolf’s ?? and tore it out, out of her
> yarns??, and Hordr jumped on her back and then broke her
> backbone.
> Stígandi hooked into the-loin on the-she-wolf and tore out
> of her the-guts (intestines, lit: yarns), but (and) Hörðr
> leapt on her back, and the-spine in her was-broken.
Stígand hooked into the she-wolf’s hip and tore the guts out
of her, and Hörð leaped on her back, her spine broke then.
> En svá hafði hon sett klærnar í bringu Knúti at berir
> skinu við bringuteinarnir.
> But she had so set her claws in Knutr's chest to bare his
> skin to the chest rails.
> But since she had set (her) claws in Knutr’s chest, that
> it brings the shine of his ribcage.
> But so (in such a way) had she set the-claws (kló) into
> (the) chest of Knútr that the-breast-rails (lower ribs,
> masc nominative plural) shone(3rd pers pl past tense of
> skína) naked (exposed) (nom pl. of berr) with (it) (ie as
> a result).
But she had so set her claws into Knút’s chest that his
lower ribs gleamed naked.
Baetke has <skína við> as a compound verb ‘to gleam’.
> Þá var Hlégerðr þar komin.
> Then Hlegerdr had come there.
> Then Hlegerdr had come.
> Then Hlégerðr was come there.
Then Hlégerð had arrived there.
> Knútr hjó til hennar, en hon varð at kráku ok fló upp.
> Knutr hacked at her, but she became a crow and flew away.
> (actually, all I could find was "flayed up," but that
> doesn't make sense).
> Knutr hewed at her, but she became a crow and flew up.
> Knutr hewed towards her, but she became (turned into) a
> crow and flew (fljúga, see CV ‘another old pret. fló…now
> quite obsolete’) up.
Knút struck at her, but she turned into a crow and flew up.
> Höggit kom á vænginn ok tók af henni vænginn.
> The blow landed on her wing and took off her wing.
> The blow came on the cheek and took off her cheek.
> The-blow came on to the-wing and took the-wing off her.
The blow struck her wing and took the wing off her.
> Fló hon þá til norðrættar ok hvarf þeim skjótt.
> She then flew to the north and was suddenly lost from
> sight to them.
> She flew then to north?? and quickly vanished.
> She flew then to (the) north-quarter and vanished from
> them (hverfa, Z2) speedily.
Then she flew to the north and was quickly lost to their
sight.
Brian