Re: [norse_course] Nitida 1A Some time ago my local group started Tristrams saga ok Ísöndar, a 13th century abridged translation of Thomas of Britain’s mostly lost Old French poem Tristan.  Both the vocabulary and the syntax were very different from those to which we were accustomed.  I think that the difference in vocabulary had mostly to do with the subject matter, but the syntax pretty clearly showed the influence of the Old French original.  In particular, it was (by the standards to which we were accustomed) absolutely loaded with present participles.  Apparently this influence carried over into native works in the genre, because I’m seeing a lot of the same sort of thing here.

(I’m sorry to say that we abandoned the saga well before the end, just about the time that I was starting to get used to it: most of the group was finding it pretty heavy going.)

> Heyrt ungir menn eitt ævintýr og fagra frásaga frá hinum frægasta meykóngi er verið hefur í norður hálfu veraldarinnar er hét Nítíða hin fræga er stýrði sínu ríki með heiður og sóma eftir sinn föður Ríkon keisara andaðan.

> Young men (have) heard a tale and fine account concerning the most famous reigning queen who had lived in the north part of the world who has named Nitida the famous who
> governed her kingdom with honor and esteem after her father emperor Rikon died.

> Young persons [have] heard a certain adventure and account about the most-famous maiden-king who has been in [the] north half of the-world who was-called Nítiða the Famous
> who ruled her kingdom with worth (ie worthily) and honour after her deceased (acc pp) father Kaiser (Emperer, Tsar) Ríkon

Young people [have] heard an adventure and enchanting tale of the most famous maiden-king who has existed in [the] northern region of the world, who was called Nítíða the Famous, [and] who ruled her realm with glory and honor after her deceased father Emperor Ríkon.

Heyrt is the past participle, so there is an implicit auxiliary hafa in the first clause.  The translation ‘glory’ is from the yellow glossary.

> Þessi meykóngur sat í öndvegi heimsins í Frakklandi hinu góða og hélt Paríssborg.

> This reigning queen sat in the home's high-seat in Frank-land the good and held in possession Paris.

> This maiden-king sat in [the] high-seat of the-region (or world) in France the good and held [the] city-of-Paris.

This maiden-king sat in the world’s high-seat in France the Good and held Paris.

Öndvegi ‘high seat’ appears to be effectively ‘throne’ in this context.

> Hún var bæði vitur og væn, ljós og rjóð í andliti þvílíkast sem hin rauða rósa væri samtemprað við snjóhvíta lileam, augun svo skær sem karbunkulus, hörundið svo hvítt sem fíls bein, hár þvílíkt sem gull, og féll niður á jörð um hana.

> She was both wise and beautiful, fair and red in her face the most such as the red rose would be moderated with a snow-white lilly, eyes so bright as carbuncle, her skin so white as an elephant's bone (tusk?), hair such as gold, and it fell down to the ground around her.

> She was both wise and beautiful, fair and rosy in countenance as like-as-possible (<sem> with superl) [as if] the red rose was blended-together with a snow-white lily, eyes as bright as carbuncles, skin as white as elephant’s bone (ivory), hair such as gold, and [it] fell down to [the] ground about her.

She was both wise and beautiful, fair and rosy-cheeked of face, just as if the red color of roses were blended together with a snow-white lily, her eyes as bright as a carbuncle, her skin as white as ivory [‘elephant’s bone’], [her] hair like gold, and [it] fell to [the] ground around her.

Karbunkulus is singular.

The biggest problem here is lileam.  Examples of samtempra are very thin on the ground, but CV s.v. tempra has temprað við hunang; við takes dat. or acc., and the dat. of hunang is hunangi, so I’m willing to assume that lileam here is acc.  Wilhelm Heizmann, Wörterbuch der Pflanzennamen im Altwestnordischen, indicates that in addition to lilja ‘lily’, ON had lilia, which he says is attested in the following quotations (among others), the last of which is in fact from one ms. of Nítíða saga:

Anlit hans var, sem lagðr værri litr ennar rꜹðv rose isniohvita liliam

hit snióhvíta gras liliam

vid sniohuita lileam

https://books.google.com/books?id=7eMgAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq="lileam"+"lilja"&source=bl&ots=0eHfaP4yBs&sig=ACfU3U3liUa1RpY-CyWXUX6w3XUeEwf_1w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwir1Mfh-4HlAhVDM6wKHWwIBJMQ6AEwAHoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q="lileam"

The other two are also consistent with liliam ~ lileam as acc.

* After change of the subjunctive to the indicative and deletion of modifiers, the relevant part of the first sentence is litr var lagðr í liliam; while í can take either dat. or acc., in leggja í I expect the acc.

* hit snióhvita gras is nom. or acc., on account of hit, so if lileam is in apposition to gras, it must be nom. or acc.

An acc. liliam ~ lileam doesn’t fit ON inflectional patterns.  The Latin source is a neuter, lilium, with nom. plur. lilia.  My best guess is that lilia has been borrowed as a nom. sing. and then declined as if it were a Latin first declension feminine noun, which would indeed make liliam the acc. sing.

> Hún átti eitt höfuðgull með fjórum stöplum, en upp af stöplunum var einn ari markaður, en upp af aranum stóð einn haukur ger af rauða gulli, breiðandi sína vængi fram yfir hennar skæra ásjónu jungfrúinnar að ei brenndi hana sól.

> She owned a head-jewels (CV, but must mean something like a tiara) with 4 pins (?), and up on the pins was an eagle drawn, and up on the eagle stood a hawk made of red gold, spreading its wings over her horse shape of the young lady that did not burn her sun. (??)

> She had a certain ‘head-jewel’ (CV) (‘gold ring worn around the head?’) with four steeples (ie uprights), but drawn (‘marked’) up from the-steeples was an eagle, but (and) up from [the] eagle stood a hawk made of red gold, spreading its wings forward over [the] clear (<skærr> countenance of her, the princess [so] that [the] sun (nominative) burned her not.

She owned a circlet of gold with four pillars, and atop the pillars an eagle was affixed, and atop the eagle stood a hawk made of red gold, spreading its wings forth over the [‘her’] pure countenance of the young lady that [the] sun might not burn her.

By analogy with fingrgull ‘a finger ring of gold’ I choose to interpret höfuðgull as a gold circlet, in this case the base of a rather elaborate headdress or crown.  Marka cannot be ‘to draw’ here: the geometry as described doesn’t allow it, and that sense doesn’t go well with upp af ‘up from, atop’, either.  It must rather be something like ‘mark by affixing an emblem’.

We’re well accustomed to seeing the postposed definite article used in a way best translated with a possessive pronoun (e.g., augun ‘her eyes’ in the previous sentence).  Here, though, we have the opposite: hennar skæra ásjónu ‘her pure countenance’ would be fine, as would skæra ásjónu jungfrúinnar ‘the young lady’s pure countenance’, but in English the two simply don’t mix.

> Hún var svo búin að viti sem hinn fróðasti klerkur, og hinn sterkasta borgarvegg mátti hún gera með sínu viti yfir annara manna vit og byrgja svo úti annara ráð, og þar kunni hún tíu ráð er aðrir kunnu eitt.

> She was so endowed with wisdom as the most learned scholar, and the strongest wall of a fort she could make with her wisdom over another man's wisdon and close so over another plan, and there she knew 10 plans when others knew one.

> She was as endowed with intelligence as the most-learned scholar (cleric), and she could build the strongest fort-wall (wondering if this is literal or metaphorical) with her intelligence, beyond [the] intelligence of other persons (men) and thus prevent [the] plans of others, and there she identified ten ways-and-means when others identified one.

She was as [well-]endowed with knowledge as the most learned scholar, and with her wit, beyond the wit of others, she could build the strongest castle wall and so thwart others’
plans, and she knew there ten expedients where others knew one.

> Hún hafði svo fagra raust að hún svæfði fugla og fiska, dýr og öll jarðlig kvikindi, svo að unað þótti á að heyra.

> She had so beautiful a voice that she lulled to sleep birds and fish, deer and all earthly living (things), so that it seemed happiness was heard.

> She had so fine a voice that she lulled-to-sleep birds and fish, animals and all earthly living-things, so that [it] seemed a delight (<unað>, noun) to listen to.

She had so beautiful a voice that she lulled to sleep birds and fish, wild beasts and all earthly creatures, so that it seemed a delight to listen to [her].

> Hennar ríki stóð með friði og farsæld.

> Her kingdom lasted with peace and happiness.

> Her kingdom remained with peace and prosperity.

Her realm endured with peace and prosperity [or happiness].

> Ypolitus hét einn smiður í Frakklandi með meykónginum.

> Ypolitus was the name of a smith in the land of the Franks with the the reigning queen.

> A certain smith was called Ypolitus, in France with the maiden-king.

A certain smith in France with the maiden-king was called Ypolitus.

> Hann kunni allt að smíða af gulli og silfri, gleri og gimsteinum, það sem gerast mátti af manna höndum.

> He knew all about working in gold and sliver, glass and gemstones, that which could be made from man's hands.

> He knew-how to fashion from gold or silver, glass or gemstones all that which could be-made by [the] hands of persons (men).

He knew how to make of gold and silver, glass and gemstones, everything that could be made by the hands of men.

> Nú er að segja af meykónginum, hún býr nú ferð sína heiman út á Pul.

> Now it is (time) to tell about the reigning queen: she prepares now for her journey home out to Pul.

> Now [one] is to say of the-maiden-king, she prepares now her journey from home out to Pul (Apulia, in southern Italy).

Now it is to be said of the maiden-king [that] she makes ready now for a journey from home out to Apulia.

Pul appears to be for Púl, acc. of Púll ‘Apulia’ CV.

> Þar stýrði ríki sú drottning er Egidía hét; hún hafði fóstrað meykóng í barn-æsku.

> There the queen who was named Egidia ruled (the) kingdom; she had fostered the reigning queen in childhood.

> That queen who was-called Egidía ruled [the] kingdom there; she had fostered [the] maiden-king in childhood.

There the queen who was called Egidía ruled [the] realm; she had fostered [the] maiden-king in childhood.

> Hún átti son er Hléskjöldur hét.

> She had a son who was named Hleskjodur.

> She [ie Egidía] had a son who was-called Hléskjöldur.

She had a son who was called Hléskjöld.

The name appears to be ‘shelter-shield’.  All of the attested names with this prototheme appear to be mythological or fictional.

> Siglir drottning nú með sínu dýru fólki fagurt byrleiði, þar til er hún kemur út á Pul.

> The queen now sails with her noble people led by a fair wind, until she arrives out at Pul.

> [The] queen (ie Nítíða)  sails now with worthy folk of her [kingdom] with fair favourable-winds, until she comes out to Pul (Apulia).

[The} queen now sails with her worthy people [nobles?] with a fine fair wind [sigla Z1, penultimate example] until she arrives out at Apulia.

> Gengur frú Egidía móti meykóng, og hennar son, og öll þeirra slekt og veraldar mekt og heiður, gerandi fagra veislu í sinni höll, um allan næstan hálfan mánuð.

> Lady Egidia goes to meet the reigning queen and her son, and all their kind and world's might and honor, making beautiful banquets in her hall, around nearly half a month.

> Lady Egidía went (on foot) towards [the] maiden-king, and (with her) her son, and all (male and female) their [knightly] ranks and [the] might of [the] world and [the] honour (all those having rank, worldly might and honour?), making a fine banquet (acc fem sg) in her hall, during all [the] next half month.

Lady Egidía goes to meet [the] maiden-king, along with [‘and’] her son and all their kin and [with] worldly pomp and honor, making a fine feast in her hall for all of the next fortnight.

De Vries gives slekt a German gloss that amounts to ‘family, lineage; kind; way of life’; it’s a borrowing of Middle Low German slecht ‘family, lineage’.  It gave rise to Faroese slekt ‘family, lineage, gender, people’ and Norwegian (both varieties) slekt ‘race, family, lineage’.  (In both it is also ‘genus’ in biology.)  In view of the modern reflexes I’ve chosen to translate it as ‘kin’.

Brian