This Week's Requests (10/09) (Patreon)

Quick event update: the date for my talk and signing of The Wanderer's Hávamál has been moved back to Monday, December 9th, at 7:30 p.m. Mountain Time. The venue is still Boulder Book Store in Boulder, Colorado. Tickets and more information: https://www.boulderbookstore.net/event/jackson-crawford-wanderers-havamal

This was a good event when it was hosted for the last two books at Boulder Book Store, and though I know Colorado isn't in everyone's travel plans, early December is usually not snowy and can be a beautiful and less tourist-y time to visit somewhere other than the ski slopes if you've ever wanted to.

Videos since my last post have included a look at how difficult it is to translate "soul" and "spirit" into Old Norse (something many of you have heard me say a hundred times here, so I thought it'd be good to get it "on record" in a video) and my continued review of the Old Norse text of Hávamál, with stanzas 52-63.

Meanwhile, today it's midterms at the University of Colorado, which isn't much fun for anyone. Perhaps least of all for those that have to grade hundreds of them.

Did one of you send me a cool bird mug? Someone did, but there was no note attached.

Another thing that's perplexing me is why my months-old video on how the words for "and" in the Germanic languages are so different is getting thousands of views a day.

Thank you as always for your kind support, and all the best,

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. This is not a commercial transaction. I reserve the right to refuse requests for any reason. Small translations are done for supporters as a personal favor. No translations for commercial purposes.
5. Please don't ask Stella to "hold" part of a translation for later; just submit it piece by piece.

6. Old Norse is a gendered language. Please specify male, female, or both for any adjectives.

7. Old Norse can't be written in Elder Futhark. Nor can modern names be written in any Futhark.
8. Old Norse is weird. Not everything you can say in a modern language can be translated very well into it. For one thing, it 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 (like "soul").
 Surprisingly, military terms (even "soldier") are fairly hard to translate because the Norse were fighters but not much on professional, organized warfare.
9. I take no responsibility whatsoever for anything you do with these requests, including anything you or anyone else gets tattooed.

10. I write Old Norse in runes in a more archaic form than I typically write it in the Roman alphabet. This includes e.g. es instead of er for "is," vas instead of var for "was," umb instead of um for the filler word, etc.

—> Tyson from Ontario requests "house," "door," "welcome" (for f/m group), "fireplace/cooking area," "family," "food," "dog," "river," "stars" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚼᚢᛋ
hús
house

ᚼᚢᚱᚦ
hurð
door

ᚢᛅᛚᚴᚢᛘᛁᚾ
velkomin
welcome (for mixed m/f group)

ᛅᛚᛏᚼᚢᛋ
eldhús
fireplace/ cooking area

ᚠᚱᚬᛏᛦ
frændr
family

ᛘᛅᛏᛦ
matr
food

ᚼᚢᛏᛦ
hundr
dog

ᛅ
á
river

ᛋᛏᛁᛅᚱᚾᚢᛦ
stjǫrnur
stars

—> Ayrton requests "Pain is a sign of progress," in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚢᛁᚱᚴᛦ  ᛘᛅᚱᚴᛅᛦ  ᚠᚱᛅᛘᚴᛅᚴ
Verkr markar framgang.

To very literally back-translate this from Old Norse, you’ve got “Pain marks forward-going,” with the word for “pain” being closer to English “ache” or actual literal pain than the concept pain. In a way, the less abstract Old Norse words give a more visceral feel.

—> Federico DiGiovanni requests "Guard/protect" (Beschützen!), "Attack/Take Hold" (Fass!), "Let Go/Release" (Aus!), "Search" (Such!), "Bad/“Now, I’m pissed!” (Pfui!), "Good/“I’m pleased!” (So ist brav!/Goður!), "Left/To the Left" (Til vinstri!), "Right/To the Right" (Til hægri!) in Old Norse and Younger Futhark Notes: Those last two aren’t technically Schutzhund commands (especially that the translations are Icelandic), but they help quite a bit on her searching exercises and when she runs next to me on my daily bike rides. Just wanted to know, again, if the ON is different.

ᚼᛚᛁᚠᚦᚢ
hlífðu!
guard/protect!

ᚴᛅᚴᛏᚢ  ᛅᛏ
gakktu at!
attack/take hold!

ᛋᛚᛁᛒᛏᚢ  ᚦᚢᛁ
slepptu því!
let go/release!

ᛋᚢᚴᛏᚢ
sǿktu!
search!

ᚢᚱᛅᚴᛏ
rangt!
bad/now I’m angry!

(I gave this as literally “wrong(ly),” which is generally used much as in English to indicate something badly done).

ᚴᚢᛏ
gott!
good/I’m pleased!

ᚢᛁᚾᛏᛋᛦᛁ
vinstri!
left/to the left!

ᚼᚢᚴᛦᛁ
hǿgri!
right/to the right!

—> Marlon Agnew requests "Odin gave his eye to acquire knowledge," and "but I would give far more" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚢᚦᛁᚾ  ᚴᛅᚠ  ᛅᚢᚴᛅᛏ  ᛏᛁᛚ  ᚦᛁᛋ  ᛅᛏ  ᚠᚬ  ᚢᛁᛋᛏᚢᛘ
Óðinn gaf augat til þess at fá vísdóm.
Odin gave his eye to acquire knowledge (usually expressed as “wisdom” in Norse)

ᛁᚾ  ᛁᚴ  ᛘᚢᚾᛏᛅ  ᚴᛁᚠᛅ  ᛘᛁᚴᛚᚢ  ᛘᛅᛁᛦᛅ
En ek mynda gefa miklu meira.
But I would give far more.

—> Cody Little requests “I do not lament my death. A high seat awaits me in Odin’s hall. On that night, I shall drink from a deep horn When the Valkyries come to carry me home.” in Old Norse.

This looks like a version of stanza 29 (the final stanza) of Krákumál, which I’ve translated (here) as:

I’m eager for the next risk,

the Dísir invite me home,

sent from Valhalla by Óđin 

to guide me there.

I’ll be drinking beer gladly

with the Æsir in a high seat, 

the hours of my life are over, 

I will die laughing.

In Old Norse, that’s:

Fýsumk hins at hætta,

heim bjóða mér dísir, 

sem frá Herjans hǫllu 

hefr Óðinn mér sendar. 

Glaðr skal’k ǫl með Ásum 

í ǫndvegi drekka, 

lífs eru liðnar stundr, 

hlæjandi skal’k deyja.