Gripla - 01.01.2000, Page 90

88
GRIPLA
um alla jörð Jesse unz þeir kornu allt veniatur ad montes Aethiopiae ad
til Blálands fjalla. Hann sendi þá hos omnes misit nuntios Nabucho-
þess erendis at biöja þessar þjóðir donosor rex Assyriorum (Idt 1.7-10)
allar þjóna Nabogodonosor konungi
(6r3—8)
In the third example quoted above (6v37-38), the translator has amplified the
text slightly with an alliterative addition: ‘yfir höfuð honum ok her hans’. Such al-
literation occurs sporadically in the text but it is neither as marked a feature of the
translation as in some other Old Norse translations6 nor does it usually substitute
one word in the Latin by two alliterative ones, although the odd example may be
found (cf. e.g. ‘mildr ok miskunnsamr’ (7v9) for “pius” (Idt 7.20)). Alliteration
occurs more usually as a verbatim albeit stylised translation of the original:
764 Vulgata
þótt þessi lýðr hefði hvárki skjöld né
skeyti eða sverð (6v41-7rl)
Eigi er þvflík kona á landinu at væn-
leik ok list ok vizku ok orðfæri
(8r37-38)
ubicumque ingressi sunt sine arcu et
sagitta et absque scuta et gladio (Idt
5.16)
non est talis mulier super terram in
aspectu in pulchritudine et in sensu
verborum (Idt 11.19)
As mentioned above, the translation is a faithful one, often rendering the
Latin word for word. This does not mean, however, that the style is heavily
latinate. Judith shows many of the features which scholars have associated
with translations from the twelfth and early to middle thirteenth century and
which they have referred to as saga-style, emphasising the similiarities it
bears to the style of many of the sagas.7 The style of the early translations has
thus been described as relatively untainted by Latin syntax and constructions
— the translators render Latin constructions using native idioms with the
result that the style of translations in many cases does not differ markedly
from the style of the indigenous literature (Jónas Kristjánsson 1981:290-291).
In Judith examples of this may be seen in the way characters are introduced:
6 Gyðinga saga is a case in point, cf. Wolf.l995:cxxxi-cxxxii; and this is also prominent in
Stjóm III. Cf. also Halvorsen:119.
7 For an overview of the discussion cf. Þorleifur Hauksson and Þórir Óskarsson 1994:169-182.
Cf. also Sverrir Tómasson 1988:171-179.