This Week's Requests (for 07/24) (Patreon)

As I warned, this week's translation request post is late because of limited internet access. I will continue to have limited (often no) internet access for the next few weeks, so please bear with me if responses are slow and posts behind schedule.

In positive news, we are probably close to having the cover for The Wanderer's Hávamál. This has gone differently than the last two times, when I approved the cover pictures, but they were discovered and chosen by the publisher. In this case, I approached a photographer after seeing a particularly suitable picture in his gallery and now he and Hackett are working out the details. I'll hint that he's a well-known Coloradan photographer, though the photo in question is not from Colorado.

Videos since my last weekly post have included a more detailed look at the moon in Norse myth, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing (thankfully this time I haven't heard from anyone who thinks the moon isn't real). I also dug into the structure of ljóðaháttr and galdralag poems in Old Norse, and spoke off the cuff about the major errors people make about the Old Norse language timeline.

Below are the requests from this past week. 

As always, thank you for your incredible support, and all the best,

Jackson Crawford

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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 (or as near to that as I can).
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 some abstract words.
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.

—> Ross Griswold requests “Horace the Freak” and "Horace the Red" (DnD character names)

I’m always reluctant to try names that aren’t Old Norse in Younger Futhark; probably the closest you could get to Horace as it’s pronounced in English would be ᚼᚢᚱᛅᛋ or ᚼᚢᚱᛁᛋ. 

A general catch-all for “fool” or “freak” would be fífl ᚠᛁᚠᛚ — as you might expect, the word is fairly offensive.

“The red” attached to a male name would be  ᛁᚾ  ᚱᛅᚢᚦᛁ.

—> Nicholas Hoyle requests "And at the foot of their mighty shield wall many foes did fall." in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᛅᚢᚴ  ᛘᛅᚱᚴᛁᛦ  ᚢᚢᛁᚾᛁᛦ  ᚠᛁᛚᚢ  ᚠᚢᚱ  ᛋᚴᛁᛅᛚᛏᛒᚢᚱᚴ  ᚦᛅᛁᛦᛅ
ok margir óvinir fellu fyr skjaldborg þeira
“and many enemies fell before their shield-wall”

I’ve translated this in more straightforward language, but you can adjust the word order to be more like that English sentence (e.g. fyr skjaldborg þeira fellu margir óvinir, “and before their shield-wall fell many foes”). Old Norse doesn’t use “at the foot of” in the same way as English, and there is no “dummy-verb” such as English “did” added in Old Norse declarations or questions.

—> Gareth Snaith requests "Attention! (Get ready)," Shoulder weapons (basically, stop lounging about and get ready to do something)," "Present weapons (bring them into position and be all menacing!)," "Advance (Going forward in good order)," "Charge!," "Withdraw (fall back)," "Shieldwall," "Hold/steady yourselves" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark. "The idea would be to get authentic one commands that could be given as orders (or more likely requests!) to the fighters in a given warband... I've included some alternative wordings because it's the idea of the command that's more important than a direct translation.”

ᛅᛏᚼᚢᚴᛁ
athugi
attention

ᚢᛅᛒᚾᛏᛁᛦ
væpntir
take weapons

ᛏᛅᚴᛁᚦ  ᚢᛅᛒᚾ
takið vápn
present weapons

ᚠᚱᛅᛘ
fram
advance

ᛋᚢᚴᛁᚦ
sǿkið
charge

ᛅᛒᛏᚱ
aptr
withdraw

ᛋᚴᛁᛅᛚᛏᛒᚢᚱᚴ
skjaldborg
shieldwall

ᚴᚢᚱᛁᛦ
kyrrir
hold/steady yourselves

I’ve translated these in various ways; some are adjectives in the masculine nominative plural: “væpntir” is literally “(be) armed,” kyrrir is “(be) calm/steady.” “Fram” and “aptr” are literally “forward” and “backward.”

—> Christian Fernández Carrillo requests "Much that once was is now lost." in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚠᛁᛅᛚᚦ  ᛋᚢ  ᛁᛋ  ᚠᚢᚱᚦᚢᛘ  ᚢᛅᛋ  ᚾᚢ  ᛁᛋ  ᛚᛁᚦᛁᚾ
fjǫlð sú es forðum vas, nú es liðin
much that once was is now lost

—> Amber Hubert requests "fate" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᛅᚢᚦᚾᛅ
auðna
fate

This is the most usual word for fate as a non-personified concept; of course it can also be personified as Urðr ᚢᚱᚦᛦ.

—> Ryan Wasser requests "The warrior, the guide. Always constant, always strong." in Old Norse and Younger Futhark (gender is female if relevant)

ᚼᛅᚱᚴᚢᚾᛅ  ᛚᛅᛁᚦᚴᚢᚾᛅ  ᛅ  ᚼᚢᛚ  ᛅ  ᛋᛏᛅᚱᚴ
Herkona, leiðkona. Æ holl, æ sterk.
Army-woman, guide-woman. Always constant/loyal, always strong.

—> Tony Lokason requests "You have glory in your veins." in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚦᚢ  ᛅᛏ  ᛏᛁᚱ  ᛁ  ᛅᚦᚢᚾᚢᛘ
þú átt tír í æðunum
you have glory in your veins