This Week's Requests (04/10) (Patreon)

Ian McShane is a gentleman. He called me after we had been skyping one day last July just to say a polite thank you for my time, which, let me tell you, is rare from Hollywood people. I thought he did a great job with the Old Norse lines I taught him (Vǫluspá st. 2) in Sunday's episode of American Gods, "The Ways of the Dead."

This week in videos, I posted a discussion of the Muninn vs. Munin spelling question I get all the time, a look at the Old Norse stanza I taught Ian McShane, and a return to Old Norse lessons with a look at the basics of word order. 

Below are this week's translation requests, as provided to me by Stella. If you have a request, send it to Stella at admin@jacksonwcrawford.com  and I'll answer in a weekly digest post like this next Wednesday  (please get requests to Stella before 9:00 a.m. Tuesday Mountain Time).  

Please keep in mind, if you have a request that involves the word "you" (or "your") that it helps if you let me know if it's singular or plural (Are you talking to one person or more?). And if you're using adjectives it helps if you let me know if they're supposed to apply to men, women, or both, and whether they're singular or plural. For an example of why this matters, let me show you an example sentence:

"Don't get aggravated."

If you're talking to one man, that's vestu eigi reiðr (-tu from þú is "you" singular, reiðr is "mad/aggravated," masculine singular)
If you're talking to one woman, that's vestu eigi reið (reið is "mad/aggravated," feminine singular)
If you're talking to multiple men, that's vesiðér eigi reiðir (the verb is different because it's addressed to more than one, -ér from ér is "you" plural, reiðir is "mad/aggravated," masculine plural)
If you're talking to multiple women, that's vesiðér eigi reiðar (reiðar is "mad/aggravated," feminine plural)
If you're talking to a mix of men and women, that's vesiðér eigi reið (reið is "mad/aggravated," neuter plural, which Old Norse uses in addressing groups of mixed sex)

So any additional information you can give is appreciated. Otherwise I guess as best I can from context.

All the best for now, and thanks for your continued support.

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Nicholas Hoyle requests, "Let me tell you of the Battle of Eastern Bridge where the sons of Ivar stood." in Old Norse.

—> Látiðér mik segja yðr frá Orrustunni við Austrbrú þar er Ívarssynir stóðu.

(Here I’m assuming the “you” is an audience, so I translated it plural rather than singular.)

Daniel Sarata requests, “In the fields of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind” in Old Norse and Younger Futhark.

—> Í greinunum þar’s athugi kømr við, auðna helpr tilbúna huganum.

ᛁ  ᚴᚱᛅᛁᚾᚢᚾᚢᛘ  ᚦᛅᚱᛋ  ᛅᛏᚼᚢᚴᛁ  ᚴᚢᛘᛦ  ᚢᛁᚦ  ᛅᚢᚦᚾᛅ  ᚼᛁᛚᛒᛦ  ᛏᛁᛚᛒᚢᚾᛅ  ᚼᚢᚴᛅᚾᚢᛘ

(This was difficult. I looked up the original French of this Louis Pasteur quote and found that he did pretty literally say “fields”—“champs”—which has the same literal and metaphorical meanings in French and English, but not in Old Norse or Modern Icelandic. In Modern Icelandic, a “field” of study is a “branch” (grein) so I extended that back into Old Norse here. Old Norse is very reluctant to use genitives of abstract nouns, especially in relation to other abstract nouns, so I said “in the fields where observation comes to bear.” For “chance,” I used the impersonal “auðna” for “fate” rather than the personal “Urðr.”)

J.R. requests Meili, Hermodr, Vidar, Sigyn, Yngvi-Freyr, Gerdr, Skadi, Bragi, Idunn in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

—>Meili ᛘᛅᛁᛚᛁ

Hermóðr ᚼᛅᚱᛘᚢᚦᛦ

Víðarr ᚢᛁᚦᛅᛦ

Sigyn ᛋᛁᚴᚢᚾ

Yngvi-Freyr  ᚢᚴᚢᛁᚠᚱᛅᚢᛦ

Gerðr  ᚴᛅᚱᚦᛦ

Skaði  ᛋᚴᛅᚦᛁ

Bragi  ᛒᚱᛅᚴᛁ

Iðunn  ᛁᚦᚢᚾ

Frank C. requests "Tri nornar eg ber, at liv skal du spinne, Tri nornar eg ber, at liv skal du tvinne, Tri norner eg ber, at liv skal du binde, …binde til rota” in Old Norse and Younger Futhark.

—> Þrim nornum ek bið, þess at líf skalt þú spinna, þrim nornum ek bið, þess at líf skalt þú tvinna, þrim nornum ek bið, þess at líf skalt þú binda, binda við rótina.

ᚦᚱᛁᛘ  ᚾᚢᚱᚾᚢᛘ  ᛁᚴ  ᛒᛁᚦ  ᚦᛁᛋ  ᛅᛏ  ᛚᛁᚠ  ᛋᚴᛅᛚᛏ  ᚦᚢ  ᛋᛒᛁᚾᛅ  ᚦᚱᛁᛘ  ᚾᚢᚱᚾᚢᛘ  ᛁᚴ  ᛒᛁᚦ  ᚦᛁᛋ  ᛅᛏ  ᛚᛁᚠ  ᛋᚴᛅᛚᛏ  ᚦᚢ  ᛏᚢᛁᚾᛅ  ᚦᚱᛁᛘ  ᚾᚢᚱᚾᚢᛘ  ᛁᚴ  ᛒᛁᚦ  ᚦᛁᛋ  ᛅᛏ  ᛚᛁᚠ  ᛋᚴᛅᛚᛏ  ᚦᚢ  ᛒᛁᛏᛅ  ᛒᛁᛏᛅ  ᚢᛁᚦ  ᚱᚢᛏᛁᚾᛅ

J. D. Thompson requests "Advice for my son" and "advice for my child" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark.

—> “advice for my son” ráð fyr son minn  ᚱᛅᚦ  ᚠᚢᚱ  ᛋᚢᚾ  ᛘᛁᚾ

—> “advice for my child” ráð fyr barn mitt  ᚱᛅᚦ  ᚠᚢᚱ  ᛒᛅᚱᚾ  ᛘᛁᛏ

Ryan Wasser requests "Deeds not words" and "leave no doubt" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

—> “deeds not words”  dáðir eigi orð  ᛏᛅᚦᛁᛦ  ᛁᚴᛁ  ᚢᚱᚦ

—> “leave no doubt”  láttu eigi ifa  ᛚᛅᛏᚢ  ᛁᚴᛁ  ᛁᚠᛅ

(No exact translation of “leave no doubt” would sound natural in Old Norse; I went with “Do not let doubt”—and assumed that it was a singular person rather than plural that would receive this message.)

Cody Little requests "Búi gekk þá inn í hofið. Hann sá að Þorsteinn lá á grúfu fyrir Þór," from Kjalnesinga Saga, in English

—> Then Búi went into the temple. He saw that Thorstein lay crouched down in front of Thór.