This Week's Requests (06/05) (Patreon)

I'm an organized person, but in the 100+ hours I labored on The Wanderer's Hávamál leading up to Monday's deadline (and that's hours on top of everything else, not in substitution for it), I worked myself sick and just ended up stacking books next to my desk after I dug through them. Here's just one stack that'll give you some sense of how much got packed into what I hope is the ultimate book of and about Hávamál.

This week on the Youtube channel, I shared two original short translations: one, from Landnámabók, presents the opening of Iceland's 'old heathen laws.' The other, from Gautreks saga, ties into an alternative theory of what the word Valhǫll (Valhalla) might have originally meant.

I regret dropping the ball on the word of the day for a couple days there; I more or less forgot everything else while and after working on the Hávamál manuscript so intensely. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I’ll mention again: there isn’t a way to schedule the Lens features in advance, so on days when I don’t have internet access I can’t post a Word of the Day. I’m going to be in the middle of nowhere for the next couple of days so I wouldn’t expect one on Thursday or Friday (and maybe the rest of the weekend; it depends).

I may try out some week-long themes on the Word of the Day feature. "Colors" was one that came to mind; maybe "numbers." Let me know if there's a general vocabulary theme you'd like to see covered.

As always, folks, thanks for your support and all the best,

Jackson Crawford

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Below are this week's translation requests. Key things to keep in mind about translation requests:

1. Send them to Stella at admin@jacksonwcrawford.com (remember the "w").
2. I'll respond to them in a weekly post on Wednesdays.
3. Limit one request per month. Limit 18 words at $10 tier; 9 words at lower tiers.
4. Please don't ask Stella to "hold" part of a translation for later; just submit it piece by piece.
5. Old Norse is a gendered language. Please specify male, female, or both for any adjectives.
6. Old Norse can't be written in Elder Futhark. Nor can modern names be written in any Futhark.
7. Old Norse is a very concrete language. There may be no translation for a given abstraction.
8. I reserve the right to refuse requests if I find the content embarrassing or objectionable.
9. I take no responsibility whatsoever for anything you or anyone else gets tattooed.

—> Andrea Cerase requests "I am yours and you are mine" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

This depends on the sex of both individuals.

Yours (if the person saying “I am yours” is male): þinn
Yours (if the person saying “I am yours” is female): þín

Mine (if the person who is “mine” is male): minn
Mine (if the person saying “mine” is female): mín

However, Younger Futhark doesn’t write the same rune twice in a row, so þinn/þín are both ᚦᛁᚾ and minn/mín are both ᛘᛁᚾ.

So for example, a man would say to a woman:

ᛁᚴ  ᛁᛘ  ᚦᛁᚾ  ᛅᚢᚴ  ᚦᚢ  ᛁᚱᛏ  ᛘᛁᚾ
Ek em þinn ok þú ert mín.
I am yours and you are mine.

While a woman would say to a man:

ᛁᚴ  ᛁᛘ  ᚦᛁᚾ  ᛅᚢᚴ  ᚦᚢ  ᛁᚱᛏ  ᛘᛁᚾ
Ek em þín ok þú ert minn.
I am yours and you are mine.

—> Shane Linge requests "Ancient Viking game" (as in: group of neutral gender to play), "We Challenge You" (as in: a challenge to battle or competition), and "Be Brave and Be Strong" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚠᚢᚱᚾ  ᚢᛁᚴᛁᚴᛚᛅᛁᚴᛦ
forn víkingleikr
ancient viking game

ᚢᛁᛦ  ᛋᚴᚢᚱᚢᛘ  ᚬ  ᚦᛁᚴ
vér skorum á þik
we challenge you

ᚢᛁᛋ  ᛏᛁᛅᚱᚠᛦ  ᛅᚢᚴ  ᚢᛁᛋ  ᛋᛏᛅᚱᚴᛦ
ves djarfr ok ves sterkr
be brave and be strong (note: this is written as if addressed to one man)

—> Daniel Tyson requests "We are waiting here, my trusted axe and me. Just come to me, I will not flee." in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚢᛁᛏ  ᛒᛁᚦᚢᛘ  ᚼᛁᚱ  ᛘᛁᚾ  ᛏᚱᛅᚢᛋᛏᛅ  ᚢᚴᛋ  ᛅᚢᚴ  ᛁᚴ  ᚦᚢ  ᚴᚢᛘᛏᚢ  ᛏᛁᛚ  ᛘᛁᚾ  ᛁᚴ  ᚢᛁᛚ  ᛁᚴᛁ  ᚠᛚᚢᛁᛅ
Vit bíðum hér, mín trausta øx ok ek. Þú, komdu til mín, ek vil eigi flýja.
We (two) wait here, my trusted ax and I. You, come to me, I will not flee.

—> Jay Soesbee requests “blessed are the hands that prepare me for war” in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᛋᛅᛚᛅᛦ  ᛁᛦᚢ  ᚦᛅᛦ  ᚼᛅᛏᛦ  ᛁᛋ  ᚴᚱᛅᛁᚦᛅ  ᛘᛁᚴ  ᛏᛁᛚ  ᚢᛁᚴᛋ
sælar eru þær hendr es greiða mik til vígs
blessed are the hands that prepare me for war

—> Davie Hagar requests "Blunt thy swords nor spears shall pierce underneath our shields we sing safely into the strife and safely out of the strife." in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

This seems more or less to be an odd mash-up of Hávamál 156 and 148 in faux-old-timey English. I’ll take the relevant parts from those Hávamál stanzas to make:

ᛒᛁᛏᛅᛏ  ᚢᛅᛒᚾ  ᚾᛁ  ᚢᛅᛚᛁᛦ  /  ᚢᚾᛏᛁᛦ  ᚱᛅᛏᛁᛦ  ᚢᛁᛦ  ᚴᛅᛚᚢᛘ  /  ᚼᛅᛁᛚᛁᛦ  ᚼᛁᛚᛏᛅᛦ  ᛏᛁᛚ  /  ᚼᛅᛁᛚᛁᛦ  ᚼᛁᛚᛏᛁ  ᚠᚱᚬ
Bíta-t vápn né velir / undir randir vér gǫlum / heilir hildar til / heilir hildi frá.
Neither (edged) weapons nor shafted weapons bite / We sing under shields / Safely to battle / Safely out of battle.

For the Old Norse text of the original Hávamál stanzas, see here.

—> JD Thompson requests "The Darkest Hour" and "It is later than you think" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᛁᚾ  ᛘᚢᚱᚴᚢᛅᛋᛏᛁ  ᛏᛁᛘᛁ
inn myrkvasti tími
the darkest hour

ᚦᛅᛏ  ᛁᛋ  ᛋᛅᛁᚾᛅ  ᛅᚾ  ᚦᚢ  ᛏᚱᚢᛁᛦ
þat es seinna en þú trúir
it is later than you think

—> Alex Fallen requests "stare at the edge of the world, and cross into the frosted gates where the old gods died" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark (for context, the first part was "Four blood brothers lead by the wolf”)

ᛋᛏᛁᚱᛅ  ᚬ  ᚼᛅᛁᛘᛋᛁᚾᛋ  ᛁᛅᚦᛅᚱ  ᛅᚢᚴ  ᚴᛅᚴᛅ  ᛁ  ᚼᚱᛁᛘᚴᚱᛁᛏᛦᚾᛅᛦ  ᚦᛅᚱᛋ  ᛁᚾ  ᚠᚢᚱᚾᚢ  ᚴᚢᚦ  ᛏᚢ
stíra á heimsins jaðar, ok ganga í hrímgrindrnar þar’s in fornu goð dó
stare at the edge of the world, and cross into the frost-gates where the old gods died

("Frost-gates" as a compound seemed more natural to me than "frosted/frosty gates" here.)

—> Erick Tövar requests "aptrganga", "bridges" (plural), and "death-eater" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark (for context, the last request would be like "come muertos" in Spanish, or "necrophagist" in Greek)

ᛅᛒᛏᚱᚴᛅᚴᛅ
aptrganga

ᛒᚱᚢᛅᛦ
brúar
bridges

ᛏᛅᚢᚦᛅᛏᛅ
dauðæta
death-eater