Gripla - 01.01.2002, Side 134

132
GRIPLA
10. Word order
This is an area in which the fundamentalist approach to translation must be
tempered, simply because the inflectional system of Old Icelandic permitted
greater flexibility than is possible in English. Where English has a strong pref-
erence for the subject-verb-complement order, the Icelandic sentence can
begin with a verb (Fóru menn þá heim til húða sinna, 141.376), an object
(“þik eru vér komnir atfinna, vinr;” “liðveizlu vilju vérþik biðja,” both 138.
367), an adjective (“Torsóttr þótti yðr ek næstum vera, er ek vilda eigi taka
undir vandræði yður,” 139.370), or an adverb (“Einu hverju sinni reið Njáll
upp í Mgrk,” 93.236).
Apart from the common verbal fronting (Fóru menn þá heim til húða
sinna, 141.376) or adverbial fronting (Um liaustit sendi Mgrðr Valgarðsson
orð ... 76.185),26 inversions occur especially in direct speech, where they
often lend emphasis or proverbial force. In such cases it is sometimes possible
to retain the order of the Icelandic:
“Sjaldan heft ek aðra haft at skildi fyrir mér.” (5.17)
“Seldom have I used others as a shield for me.”
“Fggr er hlíðin,...” (75.182)
“Lovely is the hillside — ...”
“ok eru kgld kvenna ráð”. (116.292)
“Cold are the counsels of women.”
“Berr er hverr at baki, nema sér bróður eigi." (152.436)
“Bare is the back of a brotherless man.”
More often, however, the inverted order is too jarring in modem English, though
for Dasent in mid-nineteenth century it seems to have been less of a problem.
26 Certain adverbial beginnings (“now,” “then,” “soon,” “later” and the like) are common in both
Old Icelandic and English: Litlu síðar fundusk þeir Njáll, 60.152, “Shortly after, he met with
Njal.” The difference is that in Icelandic the verb follows immediately, whereas in English the
subject must follow.