This Week's Requests (for 11/06) (Patreon)

These are fairly late, on account of how many there were and the reduction of time I can spend typing while I let my wrists get better. 

Videos this week have included Hávamál stanzas 90-103 ( https://youtu.be/ELPTrmkifdU ) and a look at what our medieval sources say about dwarves being short ( https://youtu.be/hIKldRVG7Xo ). I also posted a list of nine principles that I follow in my online video education efforts, and might help other people who are interested in trying something similar.

About a week ago I also recorded a fun interview with Unorthodox, "the Leading Jewish Podcast," as "Gentile of the Week." That interview will probably be in an episode in late November or early December; I'll look forward to sharing it with you when it drops because the questions were really unique and compelling, and produced a portrait of my life and work that I felt good about.

Below are this week's requests, as delivered to Stella at admin@jacksonwcrawford.com by Tuesday of this week at 9:00 a.m. U.S. Mountain Time or earlier. As of November 26, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. US Mountain time, we will discontinue taking translation requests.

Thank you all for your support this week, and for now, all the best,

Jackson Crawford

*

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 tend to 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.

—> Rebekka Holmgaard requests "Waxing moon", "Full moon", "Waning moon", "Dark moon/New moon" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚢᛅᚴᛋᛅᛏᛅ ᛏᚢᚴᛚ
vaxanda tungl
waxing moon

ᚾᚢ
ný
full moon

ᛘᛁᛋᚴᛅᚴ
misgǫng
waning moon

ᚾᛁᚦ
nið
new moon

The language about the moon’s phases is different in Old Norse than in English. There is an ancient alliterating phrase that contrasts the ný and the nið—when the moon is light and dark—and note that ný, which literally means “new,” is the full moon (the opposite of our use). Misgǫng is a fairly ancient phrase for the waning.

—> Jonathan requests "Heathen", "Tribe", "Unconquered", "Kent", "England", "Crecganford" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚼᛅᛁᚦᛁᚾ
heiðinn
heathen (as an adjective, in this case in the masculine nominative singular)

ᛘᛅᚾᛦ
menn(r)
tribe

In the Old Norse period, typically any group of people is just called the people or men of a certain area.

ᚢᛋᛁᚴᚱᛅᚦᛦ
ósigraðr
unconquered (masculine nominative singular)

ᛁᚴᛚᛅᛏ
England
England
The word is identical in Old Norse.

Kent & Crecganford
I don’t know Old Norse forms of these English placenames.

—> Adam Rauh requests "And yet it all seems limitless." in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᛅᚾ ᚦᛅᛏ ᛅᛚᛏ ᛋᚢᚾᛁᛋᚴ ᚢᛘᚬᛚᛏ
Enn þat allt sýnisk ómælt.
Still it all seems limitless (“unmeasured”).

I’m using “unmeasured” (ómælt) for “limitless” (ómælt could also be read as “unspoken,” by the way).

—> Joseph Nichter requests "You still need me, so guide me well.” in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚦᚢ ᚦᛅᚱᚠᛏ ᛘᛁᚴ ᛅᚾ ᛚᛅᛁᚦ ᛘᛁᚴ ᚦᚢᛁ ᚢᛅᛚ
Þú þarft mik enn, leið mik því vel.
You still need me, so guide me well.

I’m interpreting the “you” here as singular.

—> Casey Calhoun requests "Doubt whispers to the warrior, 'you can't withstand the storm'. The warrior whispers back, 'I am the storm'." (F to mixed f/m) in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᛁᚠᛁ ᚼᚢᛁᛋᛚᛅᛦ ᚢᛁᚦ ᚼᛅᚱᛘᛅᚾ ᛁᛦ ᚠᚬᛁᚦ ᛁᚴᛁ ᛋᛏᚢᚱᛘᛁᚾ ᚦᚢᛚᚦᛅᚾ ᛁᚾ ᚼᛅᚱᛘᛅᚦᛦᛁᚾ ᚼᚢᛁᛋᛚᛅᛦ ᛅᛒᛏᚱ ᛁᚴ ᛁᛘ ᛋᛏᚢᚱᛘᛦᛁᚾ
Ifi hvíslar við hermann, “Ér fáið eigi storminn þolðan.” En hermaðrinn hvíslar aptr, “Ek em stormrinn.” 

—> Joseph McCully requests "Odin owns you all" and "Gungnir" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚢᚦᛁᚾ ᛅ ᚢᚦᛦ ᛅᛚᛅ
Óðinn á yðr alla.
Odin owns you all.

ᚴᚢᚴᚾᛁᛦ
Gungnir.

—> Matthew Axvig requests "To my Viking brothers, May the stars shine bright and the winds blow strong." in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᛏᛁᛚ ᚢᛁᚴᛁᚴᛅᛒᚱᚢᚦᚱᛅ ᛘᛁᚾᛅ ᛋᚴᛁᚾᛁ ᛋᛏᛁᛅᚱᚾᚢᛦ ᛒᛁᛅᚱᛏᛚᛁᚴᛅ ᛅᚢᚴ ᚢᛁᛏᛅᛦ ᛒᛚᛅᛋᛁ ᛋᛏᛅᚱᚴᛚᛁᚴᛅ
Til víkingabrǿðra minna. Skíni stjǫrnur bjartliga ok vindar blási sterkliga.
To my viking brothers, may the stars shine bright and the winds blow strong.

—> Capitan Jutland requests "Accept this offering through me." in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚦᛁᚴᛁ ᚦᛁᛏᛅ ᛒᛚᚢᛏᛁ ᚴᚢᚴᚾᚢᛘ ᛘᛁᚴ
Þiggi þetta blǿti gøgnum mik.
Accept this offering through me.

—> Christiane Pelmas requests "We gather together to weave our wellness for the good of all Life; please help us do our critical work" (f) in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚢᛁᛦ ᛋᛅᛘᚾᚢᛘᛋᚴ ᛏᛁᛚ ᚦᛁᛋ ᛅᛏ ᚢᛁᚠᛅ ᚼᛅᛁᛚᛋᚢ ᚢᛅᚱᛅ ᚠᚢᚱᛁᛦ ᚴᚢᚦᚢ ᛅᛚᛦᛅ ᛚᛁᚠᛅᛏᛁ ᚼᛁᛅᛚᛒ ᚢᛋ ᛅᛏ ᚢᛁᚾᛅ  ᚢᛅᚱ ᛘᛁᚴᛚᚢ ᚢᛁᚱᚴ
Vér sǫmnumsk til þess at vefa heilsu vára fyrir góðu allra lifandi. Hjálp oss at vinna vár miklu verk.
We gather together to weave our health/wellness for the good of all life/living; help us do our great/critical work.

There’s a lot here that’s difficult to express in Old Norse. Among other things, note that there is no equivalent to “please” in Old Norse so I’ve just left that out. It’s also not clear if this is addressed to one individual or more; I translated it with an audience of one but this does affect the form of “help” (if you’re talking to plural individuals, the plural is: ᚼᛁᛅᛚᛒᛁᚦ hjálpið).

—> Robin G. (Sig Ma) requests "congratulations" , "hooray", "happy birthday", "good work", "my condolences","that's a shame", "i apologize/i am sorry", "Happy new year", "cheers" in Old Norse

Old Norse literature is notoriously unconversational, so we really don’t have good equivalents to these phrases. I’ve tried to supply some conversational Old Norse before here: https://youtu.be/8U9nr137ITc 

Njóttu heil(l) handa
Congratulations
Literally “enjoy your hands in health;” used to congratulate someone for something well done. The adjective is heill if talking to a man, heil if talking to a woman.

I can think of no interjection close to “Hooray” in Old Norse.

“Happy birthday” is never used in Old Norse; in fact there is no word for “birthday” that is consistently attested. Using the Modern Icelandic phrase, you could try “Til hamingju með daginn.” (“To happiness with the day.”)

Gott verk
Good work

It’s hard to know what an equivalent to “My condolences” might be. A possibility is “Mér þykkir þat illt” (“It seems bad to me.”—this looks weirdly stiff to us, but when they do talk about these emotions in sagas it tends toward the stiff.)

“That’s a shame” would be literally “Þat er skǫmm,” but it’s hard to know what equivalent thing might be said in indicating sadness about hearing an unfortunate fact.

In Modern Icelandic, the equivalent of “I’m sorry” is “fyrirgefðu” (forgive), which is conceivable for Old Norse as well.

Happy new year: Potentially “Gleðiligr nýjársdagr,” but again no such phrase is preserved anywhere.

“cheers” : if you mean something said as a toast when drinking, “skál”

—> Daniel Schaefer requests "Full of pride, We climb the iron tower; Deep inside, We're full of Drengr power" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

This depends on who “we” are (what sex they are), here I’ll assume a group of men.

ᛘᛁᛏᚾᛅᚦᛅᛦᚠᚢᛚᛁᛦ ᚴᛚᛁᚠᚢᛘ ᚢᛁᛦ ᛁᛅᚱᚾᛋᛏᛅᛒᚢᛚ ᛏᛁᚢᛒᛏ ᛁᚾᛁ ᛁᛦᚢᛘ ᚢᛁᛦ ᛏᚱᛁᚴᛘᚬᛏᛅᛦᚠᚢᛚᛁᛦ
Metnaðarfullir klífum vér járnstǫpul. Djúpt inni erum vér drengmáttarfullir.
Full of pride, we climb the iron tower/pillar. Deep inside we are full of drengr power.

“Full of drengr power” of course does not occur, I’ve had to invent the compound.

—> Simon Dickie requests "I remember Njord's steeds clashing, a byrnie the envy of kings dragged me down to Rán's hall" in Old Norse and Younger Futhark (Male speaker talking of the distant past)

ᛁᚴ ᛘᛅᚾ ᚦᛅᛏᛋ ᚾᛁᛅᚱᚦᛅᛦ ᚼᛁᛋᛏᛅᛦ ᛋᚴᛅᛚᛏᚢᛋᚴ ᛒᚱᚢᚾᛁᛅ ᛋᚢ ᛁᛋ ᚴᚢᚾᚢᚴᛅ ᛅᚠᚢᛏᛅᚦᛁ ᛏᚱᚢ ᛘᛁᚴ ᚾᛁᚦᛦ ᛁᚾ ᛁ ᛋᛅᛚ ᚱᚬᚾᛅᛦ
Ek man þat’s Njarðar hestar skelldusk. Brynja sú es konunga ǫfundaði, dró mik niðr inn í sal Ránar.
I remember when Njǫrðr’s steeds clashed. A “byrnie,” which kings envied, dragged me down to Rán’s hall.

—> Cameron Paterson requests "He was a wanderer in Scotland” in Old Norse and Younger Futhark

ᚼᛅᚾ ᚢᛅᛋ ᚴᛅᚴᛅᛏᛁ ᛁ ᛋᚴᚢᛏᛚᛅᛏᛁ
Hann vas gangandi í Skotlandi.
He was a wanderer in Scotland.

Note that “Skotland” can be ambiguous in Old Norse and actually mean “Ireland!” In the sagas they seem to know Scotland well enough that they refer to specific regions of it most of the time.