This Week's Requests (for 08/28) (Patreon)

Not too much news here. I completed another circuit around the sun yesterday, and mostly just am drowning in all the extra obligations of the school year. But The Wanderer's Hávamál is truly done; I've approved the proofs the final book will be printed from, and no more edits are possible.

We do have one confirmed date for a talk and signing for The Wanderer's Hávamál, at Boulder Book Store in Boulder, Colorado, on Tuesday, November 19th. If you live anywhere close, consider coming!

All the best for now, and thank you for your support,

Jackson Crawford

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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 or even for unexpected things that speakers of Old Norse simply never conceived of.

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 do with these requests, including anything you or anyone else gets tattooed.

10. Small translations are done for supporters as a personal favor. No translations for commercial purposes. 

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—> Alex Wilt requests "Let our love flow like the rivers and grow like the trees. Forever I am yours.” (woman speaking to a man) in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚱᛅᛋᛁ  ᚬᛋᛏ  ᚢᛅᚱ  ᛋᛁᛘ  ᛅᛦ  ᛅᚢᚴ  ᚢᛅᚴᛋᛁ  ᛋᛁᛘ  ᛏᚱᛁ  ᛁᚴ  ᛁᛘ  ᚦᛁᚾ  ᛅ
Ræsi ást vár sem ár, ok vaxi sem tré. Ek em þín æ.

Note that this takes fewer words in Old Norse, partly because “let…” is expressed not by a separate word but by a different (subjunctive) set of endings on the main verb.

—> Capitan Jutland requests "For enemies and friends in human form" ('human form' is being translated from the Danish “menneskedragt;” the quote is a continuation of "ek hef metnað án fyrlitningar.") in Old Norse and Younger Futhark 

Based on the context of the earlier line, “I have respect without contempt,” I would rewrite both lines to be more grammatical in Old Norse; “have respect for” is not an Old Norse idiom. More straightforward would be “I pay respect to (“of” in Old Norse) enemies and friends in human form, without contempt.”

ᛁᚴ  ᚴᛁᚱᛁ  ᛘᛁᛏᚾᛅᚦ  ᚢᚢᛁᚾᛅ  ᛅᚢᚴ  ᚢᛁᚾᛅ  ᛁ  ᛘᛅᚾᛚᛁᚴᚢᛘ  ᚬᚾ  ᚠᚢᚱᛁᛦᛚᛁᛏᚾᛁᚴᛅᛦ
Ek geri metnað óvina ok vina í mannlíkum, án fyrirlitningar.

I’m using mannlík, “human-bodies,” in imitation of the way dwarves are called mannlíkun (“human-like beings”) in Vǫluspá.

—> Cody Little requests “I plight my troth unto the Æsir.” in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᛁᚴ  ᚢᛅᛁᛏᛁ  ᚬᛋᚢᛘ  ᛏᚱᚢᚴᚦᛁᛦ
Ek veiti Ásum tryggðir.

Since no such statement of faith survives from Old Norse, I’m borrowing from legal language and having the speaker render (veita) pledges of fidelity (tryggðir, the same thing Hávamál says we can’t trust from Óðinn) to the Æsir.

—> Katia Abgottspon requests "Only you and I were born to break the chain“ in Old Norse and Younger Futhark ('you' is m, 'I' is f)

ᚢᛁᛏ  ᛅᛁᚾ  ᚠᚢᛏᚢᛘᛋᚴ  ᛏᛁᛚ  ᚦᛁᛋ  ᛅᛏ  ᛒᚱᛁᚢᛏᛅ  ᚠᛁᛅᛏᚢᚱᛁᚾ
Vit ein fǿddumsk til þess at brjóta fjǫturinn.

In imitation of typical Old Norse style, instead of “you and I” I use the form of “we” (vit) that means “we two,” and using the form of “alone/only” (ein) in the neuter plural to indicate that “you and I” are a man and a woman.