This Week's Requests (06/19) (Patreon)

The inaugural test of Crowdcast went pretty well, with some technical hiccups on my side at the beginning. But it was a fun way to chat in live-action with about 30 of you, and I enjoyed it. I'll look forward to trying it again (each time I'm intending to include a "reading" segment at the beginning, where I can read from or maybe briefly "lecture" on some particular text--I'll announce what these "readings" are for future Crowdcasts). I think you can watch a video of the Crowdcast session at https://www.crowdcast.io/e/live-2 (though for all I know that might not actually work, or might only work if you were registered for it; I have no idea as this platform is still very new to me).

This week's videos included something that people ask me about all the time, whether Tyr was really the chief god of the Norse rather than Odin: https://youtu.be/387cIw-Hf6k (for some reason Patreon isn't letting me link videos in text today). I also talked about the sections or smaller poems that Hávamál can be divided into: https://youtu.be/fpwIrPasLEo

As always, folks, thank you very much for your generous and kind support.

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.

—> Scott Sorrells requests "wolf princess" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

Old Norse doesn’t have a separate word for a “princess”, but calls her literally a “king’s daughter” (konungsdóttir). That being the case, you could make her a “wolf-king’s daughter” (and that’s how I’d probably split up the compound; compounding three words is pretty unusual in Old Norse):

ᚢᛚᚠᚴᚢᚾᚢᚴᛋ  ᛏᚢᛏᛁᚱ
úlfkonungs dóttir
wolf-king’s daughter

—> Johan Simu requests "borta bra men hemma bäst" (Swedish) in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚬ  ᛒᚱᚢᛏ  ᚴᚢᛏ  ᛁᚾ  ᚼᛅᛁᛘᛅ  ᛒᛅᛏᛋᛏ
á brott gott en heima bezt
away good but at-home best

—> Nick P. requests “peace was never an option” in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚠᚱᛁᚦᛦ  ᚢᛅᛋ  ᛅᛚᛏᚱᛁᚴᛁ  ᚴᚢᛋᛏᛦ
friðr vas aldrigi kostr
peace was never an option

—> Gerulf Slott Melgaard requests "I carry my pride without contempt" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

“Pride” is slightly difficult to translate, as most words for it have a somewhat negative sense (they trend toward “arrogance”). Metnaðr is probably the closest to a neutral term (though not always in Old Norse, and not in Modern Icelandic). One does not “carry” pride in Old Norse, but one can “have” it.

ᛁᚴ  ᚼᛅᚠ  ᛘᛁᛏᚾᛅᚦ  ᚬᚾ  ᚠᚢᚱᛚᛁᛏᚾᛁᚴᛅᛦ
ek hef metnað án fyrlitningar
I have pride without contempt

—> Kathleen Gurnett requests "What is your song? How will you sing it?" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark (re: gender; said as single male to mixed group and said as single female to single male)

Since the only adjectives are describing nouns with inherent gender, there is no difference in how this would be said regardless of the sex of the speaker or audience. However, I’ll provide the version as said to one person vs. as said to a group.

ᚼᚢᛅᛏ  ᛁᛋ  ᚦᛁᚾ  ᛋᛅᚴᛦ  ᚼᚢᛅᚱᛋᚢ  ᛘᚢᚾᛏᚢ  ᛋᚢᚴᛁᛅ  ᚼᛅᚾ
Hvat es þinn sǫngr? Hversu muntu syngja hann?
What is your song? How will-you sing it? (to one person)

ᚼᚢᛅᛏ  ᛁᛋ  ᚢᚦᚢᛅᚱ  ᛋᛅᚴᛦ  ᚼᚢᛅᚱᛋᚢ  ᛘᚢᚾᛁᚦ  ᛁᛦ  ᛋᚢᚴᛁᛅ  ᚼᛅᚾ
Hvat es yðvarr sǫngr? Hversu munið ér syngja hann?
What is your song? How will you sing it? (to a group)

—> Daniel Schaefer requests “he who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man” ("A person that becomes a beast knows no pain" suggested as a less abstract variant) and "valkyrie dragon-slayer" (if it's possible to make that into a one-word compound) in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚦᛅᚾ  ᛘᛅᚾ  ᚢᛁᚱᚴᛁᛦ  ᛁᚴᛁ  ᛁᛋ  ᚢᛁᚱᚦᛦ  ᛏᚢᛦ
þann mann virkir eigi es verðr dýr
that man has-pain not who becomes a beast
(“A man who becomes a beast has no pain”)

It’s not usual in Old Norse to have three words form one compound, probably the most natural thing to do with your second request is to say “valkyrie, dragon’s-slayer”:

ᚢᛅᛚᚴᚢᛦᛁᛅ  ᚢᚱᛘᛋᛒᛅᚾᛁ
valkyrja ormsbani
valkyrie, dragon’s-slayer

—> Carl Grasso requests “woodcarver” in Old Norse and Younger Futhark (For context, I have an Etsy shop where I sell carved rune sets and pendants, looking to use this as the name of the shop. “Runecarver” would also work if there wasn’t a word for “woodcarver.”)

ᛏᚱᛁᛏᛅᛚᚴᛁᛅ
trételgja
woodcarver

—> Nicholas Hoyle requests "The sight of the men with red and white shields filled many people with awe." in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

I’ve adjusted this to more natural-sounding Norse syntax.

ᚦᛅᚢ  ᚢᛏᚱᚢᚦᚢᛋᚴ  ᚦᚬᛋ  ᚦᛅᚢ  ᛋᛅᚢ  ᛘᛅᚾᛁᚾᛅ  ᛘᛁᚦ  ᚱᛅᚢᚦᚢᛘ  ᛅᚢᚴ  ᚼᚢᛁᛏᚢᛘ  ᛋᚴᛁᛅᛚᛏᚢᛘ
þau undruðusk, þá’s þau sáu mennina með rauðum ok hvítum skjǫldum
they were awed, when they saw the men with red and white shields

—> Alex P requests "Life is beautiful" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᛚᛁᚠ  ᛁᛋ  ᚠᛅᚴᚱᛏ
líf es fagrt
life is beautiful

—> Jeremy Carroll requests a name for a workshop, a 'shed' in Old Norse, or something with more associative like Heorot from Beowulf.

Most buildings in Old Norse are just called something that ends with hús “house,” for instance an enclosure for livestock is a fjárhús “cattle-house.” So a “house” or shed for making things might be your smiðjuhús “smithing-house,” or maybe (using a word especially associated with creative work) your yrkjuhús “work-house.”

ᛋᛘᛁᚦᛁᚢᚼᚢᛋ
smiðjuhús

ᚢᚱᚴᛁᚢᚼᚢᛋ
yrkjuhús