This Week's Request (for 08/07) (Patreon)

Final revisions submitted this morning. Available for pre-order on Friday, August 16th.

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.

—> Matthew Axvig requests "To the South that makes us warm" and "To the West that brings us gold" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᛏᛁᛚ  ᛋᚢᚦᚱᛋ  ᚦᛁᛋ  ᛁᛋ  ᚢᛅᚱᛘᛁᛦ  ᚢᛋ
Til suðrs þess es vermir oss.
To the south that warms us.

ᛏᛁᛚ  ᚢᛁᛋᛏᚱᛋ  ᚦᛁᛋ  ᛁᛋ  ᚠᚢᚱᛁᛦ  ᚢᛋ  ᚴᚢᛚ
Til vestrs þess es fǿrir oss gull.
To the west that brings us gold.

—> Daniel Schaefer requests "Faster, stronger, Fight until your dying breath; Fiercer, harder,This is a matter of life and death" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚼᚱᛅᚦᛅᛦᛅ  ᚠᛅᛋᛏᛅᛦᛅ  ᛋᛚᛅᚦᚢ  ᚢᛏᛋ  ᚦᛁᚾ  ᛒᛁᚦᛦ  ᛒᛅᚾᛅ  ᚠᚱᚢᚴᚾᛅᛦᛅ  ᚼᛅᚱᚦᛅᛦᛅ  ᛏᛁᛚ  ᚦᛁᛋᛅ  ᚼᚬᛏᛁᛦ  ᛚᛁᚠᛁ  ᛅᚢᚴ  ᛏᛅᚢᚦᛅ
Hraðara, fastara. Sláðu unz þinn bíðr bana. Frǿknara, harðara. Til þessa hættir lífi ok dauða.
Faster, stronger. Fight until your dying breath. Fiercer, harder. (One) risks lift and death on this.

In spite of what it might look like, Old Norse fastara is the translation for “stronger” not “faster” (think English “hold fast”). I have substituted Old Norse idioms in a few places: unz þinn bíðr bana is literally “until you await your death/killer” (borrowing a phrase from Hávamál 15) and in the last part, since Old Norse has no literal translation of “a matter of life and death” I have substituted an Old Norse idiomatic expression of similar meaning.

—> Michael Jaguar requests "Thank you," "I greet you," "may today be good," "indwelling spirit," "forest," "mountain," "river," "sun," "day," "Mother Earth" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚦᛅᚴ
Þǫkk.
Thank you.

ᛁᚴ  ᚴᚢᛁᚦ  ᚦᛁᚴ
Ek kveð þik.
I greet you.

ᛚᛁᚦᛁ  ᚦᛁᛋᛁ  ᛏᛅᚴᛦ  ᚢᛅᛚ
Líði þessi dagr vel.
May today be good.
Lit, “May this day pass well.”

ᛋᛅ  ᚼᚢᚴᛦ  ᛁᛋ  ᛒᚢᛦ  ᛁᚾᛁ
Sá hugr es býr inni.
Indwelling spirit.

I’m not really sure what “indwelling” is supposed to mean, but participles of that kind are unusual in Old Norse anyway. What I have here is literally, “The spirit/thought that dwells within.” Hugr means “spirit” in the sense of one’s internal life/thought/feelings; if you’re looking for something closer to “spirit” in the sense of “invisible supernatural creature,” I’d probably replace sá hugr with sú dís  ᛋᚢ  ᛏᛁᛋ. Old Norse does not have an easy equivalent to the multivalent English word “spirit.”

ᛋᚴᚢᚴᛦ
Skógr.
Forest.

ᚠᛁᛅᛚ
Fjall.
Mountain.

ᛅ
Á.
River.

ᛋᚢᛚ
Sól.
Sun.

ᛏᛅᚴᛦ
Dagr.
Day.

ᛘᚢᚦᛁᚱ
Móðir.
Mother.

ᛁᛅᚱᚦ
Jǫrð.
Earth.

If you want to combine those last two as “mother earth,” I’d put the word “earth” before the word “mother” in Old Norse.

—> Jeff Rodig requests "Sword in my hand, axe on my side, Valhǫll awaits me" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᛋᚢᛁᚱᚦ  ᛁ  ᚼᛅᛏᛁ  ᚢᚴᛋ  ᚬ  ᚼᛚᛁᚦᚢ  ᚢᛅᛚᚼᛅᛚ  ᛒᛁᚦᛦ  ᛘᛁᚾ
Sverð í hendi, øx á hliðu, Valhǫll bíðr mín.
Sword in hand, ax at side, Valhalla awaits me.

Old Norse never uses “my” with body parts (hand, side) and rarely specifies them in any other way if the context is reasonably clear.

—> Cody Little requests “I, (name), pledge/swear to live and die with honor/honorably" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᛁᚴ  ___  ᛋᛏᚱᛅᚴᛁ  ᚦᛁᛋ  ᚼᛅᛁᛏ  ᛅᛏ  ᛚᛁᚠᛅ  ᛅᚢᚴ  ᛏᛅᚢᛁᛅ  ᛏᚱᛁᚴᛁᛚᛅ
Ek, _, strengi þess heit, at lifa ok deyja drengila.
I, _, swear to live and die like a drengr.

In my usual way, I’ve translated “honor” and related words with words related to drengr (in this case, drengila, “like a drengr, in the fashion of a drengr”).

—> Rebecca Sonta requests "Iðunn's Golden Apples (Iðunar Gullir Eplir?)," "Kvasir's Blood (Kvasis Bloð?)," and "Mímisbrunnr" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark (translation check on first two)

ᚴᚢᛚᚾᚢ  ᛅᛒᛚᛁ  ᛁᚦᚢᚾᛅᛦ
gullnu epli Iðunnar
Iðunn’s golden apples

ᛒᛚᚢᚦ  ᚴᚢᛅᛋᛁᛋ
blóð Kvasis
Kvasir’s blood

ᛘᛁᛘᛁᛋᛒᚱᚢᚾᛦ
Mímisbrunnr

—> Finley Clayton is wondering if “up on/via the Valkyrie way” using a kenning like “valkyrjum veg” would work-- if so, in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

I’m not completely sure I understand what’s being asked, but I think “way of the valkyries” could be a kenning, probably meaning “death in battle.” 

“Way of the valkyries” in the nominative would be:

ᚢᛁᚴᛦ  ᚢᛅᛚᚴᚢᛦᛁᛅ
vegr valkyrja

But “on the way of the valkyries” would require the dative:

ᚬ   ᚢᛁᚴᛁ  ᚢᛅᛚᚴᚢᛦᛁᛅ
á vegi valkyrja

—> Richard Kristiansen requests "Brede" (male name) in Old Norse and Younger Futhark (if possible)

I’m always reluctant to handle names in languages other than Old Norse, but “Brede” could be a last name of Old Norse origin. Bred in Modern Danish, Swedish, or Southeastern Norwegian means “broad” and comes from Old Norse breiðr; the -e at the end is probably from ey “island” or possibly á “river.” 

ᛒᚱᛅᛁᚦᛅᚢ
breiðey
broad island

ᛒᚱᛅᛁᚦᛅ
breiðá
broad river

—> Merritt Burton requests "I wear these runes to honor the old gods." (or "as a tribute to the old gods") in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᛁᚴ  ᚢᛅᚦᚢᛘᛋᚴ  ᛁ  ᚦᛁᛋᚢᛘ  ᚱᚢᚾᚢᛘ  ᛏᛁᛚ  ᚦᛁᛋ  ᛅᛏ  ᚴᛅᚠᚴᛅ  ᚠᚢᚱᚾᚢ  ᚴᚢᚦ
Ek væðumsk í þessum rúnum til þess at gǫfga fornu goð.
I clothe myself in these runes to honor old gods.

Old Norse has no generic word corresponding to English "wear" (and there is no vocabulary related to "wearing" tattoos, if that's what this is for--there isn't even Old Norse word for tattoo, and we don't know if they had them at all). I chose one of the words referring to the action of clothing oneself or wearing clothes.