> Ok skyldi ek þess grimmliga hefna ef ek gæta náð honum.”
> And I should take a fearful revenge for that if I take
> care of peace to him." (??)
> And I should avenge this fiercely if I am able to reach
> him.”
> And I should avenge that fiercely (‘take a fearful revenge
> for that’, Z) if I were-able (geta + pp, subjunctive) to
> get-hold-of (pp of ná) him.“
And I should avenge that fearfully if I could get hold of
him.’
> Verðr nökkvinn nú landfastr.
> The boat now reaches land.
> The stone boat reaches land now.
> Now the-boat reaches land (lit: becomes ‘land-fast’).
The boat now reaches land.
> Hljóp jötunninn nú fyrir borð.
> The giant now leaps overboard.
> The giant leaps overboard now.
> The-giant leapt now over-board.
The giant now leaped overboard.
> Knútr kom þar fram á bakkann.
> Knutr arrived there forward at the riverbank.
> Knutr comes forward there to the bank.
> Knútr comes there forward on to the-bank (of the vatn,
> lake).
Knút came up to the edge of the lake there.
> Jötunninn var óða málugr.
> The giant was furious(ly) talkative.
> The giant was vehemently loquacious.
> The-giant was speaking violently (presumably óða málugr =
> óð-málugr, Z).
The giant was speaking violently.
> Knútr tók upp stein ok snaraði til hans, ok kom við eyra
> honum.
> Knutr picked up a stone and threw it at him, and it landed
> by his eyes.
> Knutr picked up a stone and threw it at him and it hit his
> ear.
> Knútr took up a stone and throws (snara, Z4) (it) towards
> him, and (it, the stone) came against his ear (gave him a
> whack on the ear).
Knút took up a stone and flung it at him, and it hit his
ear.
> Hann hristi við höfuðit ok mælti “hvasst er nú á hömrunum
> svá feykir vindrinn fjöðrunum.”
> He shook his head and said "fresh is now at the skin so
> the wind tosses feathers." (???)
> He shook his head and spoke, “sharp is now to ?? so rushes
> the wind over feathers ( or spear blade, huh?).”
> He (ie the giant) shook with the-(his) head and spoke
> “(It) is fresh (breezy) now on the crags such (that)
> the-wind blows with feathers (ie the breeze is now
> sufficiently fresh to whip up loose feathers, one of which
> just brushed against my ear)”
He shook his head and said ‘so breezy is it now on the
headland that the wind is blowing feathers.’
> Tók hann þá gaddakylfu, járnvafða, ok hljóp neðan
> einstigit.
> He then took a spiked-club, wound round with iron, and ran
> below the narrow path.
> He took then a club with spikes, wound with iron and ran
> below the narrow path.
> He took then a club-with-spikes, iron-wound (woven), and
> ran from-below (ie up) the-narrow-(ascending)-path (cf
> stigi = ladder rather than stigr = path).
Then he took his spiked club, wound around with iron, and
ran up the narrow path.
> Hálfþrítugr var hamarrinn.
> The hammer was aged 25.
> The ?? was 25.
> Twenty-five (fathoms high) (lit: Half-thirty, see hamarr,
> Z3) was the crag.
The headland was 25 [fathoms, or possibly ells, high].
> En þá er hann var kominn í it efsta stigit, renndi Knútr
> at honum ok rak spjótit fyrir brjóst honum.
> And when he had come in the last path, Knutr ran at him
> and drove his spear against his breast.
> And then when he had come to the highest (part of) the
> ladder, Knut ran at him and drove the spear before his
> breast.
> But (And) when he was (had) come into the uppermost step,
> (stig) Knútr ran at him, and drove the-spear through (lit:
> before) his breast.
And when he had come to the uppermost step, Knút ran at him
and drove his spear into his chest.
> Spjótit gekk á kaf, en jötunninn datt ofan fyrir hamarinn
> ok brotnaði í honum hvert bein.
> The spear went to a plunge, and the giant dropped down
> against the hammer and every bone in him broke.
> The spear went in the water, and the giant dropped down
> before the ?? and broke every one of his bones.
> The-spear went into (the) water, but (and) the-giant fell
> down over the-crag and every bone (nominative) was-broken
> in him.
The spear went into the water, and the giant fell down in
front of the headland, and each of his bones was broken.
> En Knútr tók kylfuna til sín en síðan sté hann á nökkvann
> ok reri til eyjarinnar, gekk á land ok litaðist um.
> And Knutr took the club for himself and then he stepped on
> the boat and rowed to the island, got to land and looked
> around.
> But Knutr took the club and afterwards he trod on the
> stone boat and rowed to the islands, goes ashore and
> looked around.
> But (And) Knútr took the-club for himself but (and)
> after-that he stepped onto the-boat and rowed toward
> the-island (fem gen sg), went on-to land (ie ashore) and
> looked-about.
And Knút took the club for himself, and then he stepped into
the boat and rowed to the island, went ashore, and looked
around.
> Hann sá hól einn háfan með fögrum grösum.
> He saw a hill (háfan?) with beautiful grass.
> He saw a hill one half with fair grass?
> He saw a single knoll high (háfan = masc acc sg of hár)
> with fair grasses (herbage, plural).
He saw a high hillock with beautiful herbs.
> Þangat gengr hann.
> He goes there.
> He goes thither.
> He goes (on foot) thither.
He goes thither.
> Hann finnr þar á glugg; hann setr gler fyrir augu sér.
> He finds there an opening; he sets a looking glass in
> front of his eyes.
> He finds there an opening. He sets a glass before his
> eyes.
> He finds there a window (opening); he sets (the) glass (of
> the window) before his eye (ie he brings his eye up to the
> glass of the window).
He finds a window there; he puts the glass in front of his
eye.
We know that it’s a window rather than a generic opening,
because it has glass in it. (Presumably he actually puts
his eye in front of the glass!)
> Hann sér hvar krákan lá á mikilli dyngju.
> He sees where the crow lay in a great lady's bower.
> He sees where the crow lay in a great bower.
> He sees where the-crow lay on a great lady’s-bower.
He sees where the crow was lying on a big heap.
For <dyngja> as ‘heap’ see CV and modern Icelandic.
> Hann sá af henni var vængrinn.
> He saw that it was without its wing.
> He saw that her wing was missing.
> He saw the wing was off (from) her (ie missing, sans wing)
He saw that her wing was off of her [i.e., she was missing a
wing].
> Hann tók þá í posa kerlingar ok sáði inn í glugginn því
> sem þar var í.
> He then took in the old woman's little bag and scattered
> inside the opening that was was in there.
> He took then the sorceress’s bag and scattered into the
> opening that which was in it.
> He reached (taka, Z3) then into (the) little-bag of (the)
> old-woman and scattered inside in the-window that which
> was in (it, the bag) (presumably having opened the window
> first)
He then reached into the old woman’s small bag and scattered
in through the window that which was therein.
> Fell þá svefn á krákuna.
> The crow then fell asleep (more literally, sleep fell upon
> the crow).
> The crow fell asleep then.
> Then a sleep fell on (descended upon) the-crow.
Sleep then fell upon the crow.
> En síðan fór hann inn í hólinn.
> And then he went inside the hill. (Sounds like a dungeon
> crawl is in store!)
> And afterwards he went in to the hill.
> But (And) after-that he ventured inside into the-knoll.
And after than he went inside into the hillock.
> Hann tók um háls krákunni ok snaraði hana úr hálsliðnum í
> millum handa sér en í hennar fjörbrotum varð svá mikill
> landsskjálfti at undrum gegndi.
> He took hold of the crow's neck and twisted it out of the
> neck joint between his hands, and/but in its death
> struggle (there) was an earthquake so large that it
> amounted to wonders.
> He took the crow by the neck and turned her neck out of
> the joint between his hands and in her death struggle
> happened so great an earthquake amounted to a wonder.
> He took-hold of the-neck of the-crow and twisted her (ie
> kráka, Hlégerðr: as this is fem it can’t refer to háls
> which is masc) out-of the-neck-joint between his hands but
> (and) (the) land-shivering (earth-trembling, earthquake)
> became so great in her death-struggle that (it) amounted
> to wonders (plural) (ie was truly amazing, beyond earth
> shattering).
He took hold of the crow’s neck and wrung her from her neck
joint between his hands, and in her death struggles so great
an earthquake occurred that it amounted to a wonder [‘to
wonders’].
> Knútr tekr sér nú eld ok gekk til dyngju krákunar ok
> rubbar henni upp allri.
> Knutr now takes fire for himself and went to the crow's
> lady's bower and huddled it all up. (??)
> Knutr takes now fire and goes to the crow’s bower and
> trashes it all up?
> Knútr strikes (see taka eld under eldr, Z) for himself now
> a fire (I´m guessing as a torch) and went (on foot) to
> (the) lady’s-bower of the-crow and huddles (rubba, CV) it
> (the bower) all up (presumably turns the place upside down
> in his search).
Knút now lights himself a fire and went to the crow’s heap
and paws through everything.
Modern Icelandic has <rubba e-u af> ‘do something hastily’.
It also has <rubba e-u upp>, but not in the online
dictionary, and I’ve not been able to infer from the various
instances exactly what it means. In at least some instances
it could be something like ‘throw together’ in a figurative
sense, e.g., of a book. Swedish has <rubba> ‘dislodge,
move; disturb, upset; alter’. I’m taking a guess at the
sense based on these and the context, and I see that Hall
seems to have roughly the same idea in mind.
> Finnur hann eggit ok lætr þat koma í posa kerlingar.
> He finds the egg and has it taken in the old woman's
> little bag.
> He finds the egg and puts it in the sorceress’ bag.
> He finds the-egg and causes that to come into (the)
> small-bag of (the) old-woman.
He finds the egg and puts it into the old woman’s small bag.
> Niðri undir dyngjunni fann hann jarðhús.
> Down under the lady's bower, he found an underground room
> or passage.
> Down under the bower, he found an earthen room.
> Further-down under the-lady’s-bower he finds an
> underground-room.
Down under the heap he found an underground room.
> Þar lá fyrir ormr einn.
> In front of there lay a dragon.
> There lay before it a snake.
> There a single serpent lay in-front-of (it).
A serpent lay in wait there.
<Liggja fyrir e-u> ‘to lie in wait for someone’.
> Hann bles þegar eitri ok sakaði Knút ekki fyrir taufrum
> kerlingar.
> It at once blew poison and didn't harm Knutr because of
> the old woman's sorcery.
> It blew poison at once and didn’t harm Knutr for (the
> sake of) the old woman’s sorcery.
> He (it, the serpent) blew at-once venom and harmed Knútr
> not, because of (the) charms (of the sorcery type, not the
> saucy) of (the) old-woman.
It immediately blew poison but [‘and’] did not harm Knút on
account of the old woman’s sorcery.
> Ormrinn fló út um glugginn.
> The dragon flrew out threw the opening.
> The worm flew out of the opening.
> The-serpent flew out through the-window (luckily Knútr had
> left it open, otherwise glass would have gone everywhere).
The serpent flew out through the window.
> Gull mikit ok gersimar var þar.
> Much gold and treasures were there.
> A lot of gold and treasures were there.
> Much gold and treasures were there.
Much gold and treasure was there.
> Hann fylldi upp uxahornit.
> He filled up the ox horn.
> He filled up the ox’s horn.
> He filled up the-ox-horn (you never know when an ox-horn
> will come in handy – Knútr obviously knew that)
He filled up the ox horn.
> Tók hann þat af gullinu sem honum likaði.
> He took (all) that of gold as appealed to him.
> He took it from the gold as (much) as he pleased.
> He took that (selection) of the-gold which pleased him.
He took from the gold that which pleased him.
> Vendi hann síðan í burtu.
> He then turned away.
> He turned away after that.
> He turned away after-that.
After that he turned away.
> Kemr hann nú til nökkvans ok rær síðan at landi.
> He comes now to the stone boat and then rows to land.
> He comes now to the stone boat and rows to land
> afterwards.
> He comes now to the-boat and rows after-that to land (ie
> the shore of mainland)
He comes now to the boat and then rows to land.
> En er kemr á vatnit þá kemr ormrinn upp úr vatninu með
> gapanda munni ok leggst at nökkvanum ok lagði bægslit upp
> á barðit.
> But when he comes to the water, then the dragon comes up
> out of the water with a gaping mouth and lay himself at
> the stone boat and lay his shoulder up on the ship's prow.
> (One note in
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Language/2007_July_19,
> scroll down to the section on Icelandic, says that
> bægslit=BÆXL+it)
> And when he comes to the water, then the snake comes up
> out of the water with gaping mouth and attacked the stone
> boat and put the ??? up on the prow.
> But (And) (apparently almost before he’d got started) when
> he comes on to the-lake the-serpent comes up out-of
> the-water (lake) with gaping mouth and lays-himself
> (itself) against the-boat and placed the-(his, its)
> shoulder (boexl, Z, bægsli, MnI Dictionary = flipper) up
> on to the-prow.
But when he comes onto the water, the serpent comes up from
the water with gaping mouth and attacks the boat and laid
[past tense] its shoulder up onto the prow.
The <-it> of <bægslit> is clearly the neuter definite
article, so the noun is either a neuter <bægsli> (the type
that Zoëga calls 2nd declension) or a neuter <bægsl> (where
in each case <æ> may be for earlier <œ>). As Alan also
discovered, there is a modern <bægsli> ‘flipper’ that’s a
strong neuter rather than a weak masculine. CV has <bæxl>,
modern <bæxli> ‘shoulder of a dragon, whale, shark, etc.’,
which is clearly the same word, and s.v. <bógr> CV
identifies <bæxli> and <bœgsli>. Finally, Z has <bœxl>
‘shoulder of a dragon, flipper of a whale’. These are
evidently all the same word, apparently a suffixed
derivative of <bógr> ‘shoulder of an animal’. If it goes
all the way back to Proto-Germanic, it’s from *bóg-isla-,
<bógr> being from *bōguz.
Brian