Ritröð Guðfræðistofnunar - 01.09.1990, Side 221

Sundurgreinilegar tungur
teknar að litlu leyti upp í þá biblíuútgáfu sem næst kom, Þorláksbiblíu frá
1644.26 par var snúið aftur til upphafsins, Guðbrandsbiblíu — og texta
Odds Gottskálkssonar.
Summary
This article discusses the language and style of the New Testament
translation of Oddur Gottskálksson which was published in Denmark in
1540. This translation is the oldest complete translation of the New
Testament into Icelandic, and is very likely the first printed work in
Icelandic. The translation has long been praised for its brilliant style, and
many sections of it are difficult or impossible to improve upon. These
sections have appeared virtually unchanged in all subsequent Icelandic
Bible editions up to the present day. But the language and style of the
translation are in some respects alien and offend many contemporary
readers, who have been taught to take the Icelandic Sagas as their stylistic
model and who subscribe to nationalistic ideas conceming the
preservation of the Icelandic language.
An attempt is made to elucidate the stylistic contradictions which
characterize Oddur Gottskálksson's translation. This is done, in the first
place, by examining the stylistic conventions of 16th-century Icelandic,
which reflected heavy foreign influence—unsurprisingly, since
translations made up an unusually large part of the Icelandic literature of
that period. Foreign influence makes itself felt, for example, in Oddur's
extensive use of Low German loan words, which he employs in order to
elevate the language of his translation above the common vemacular and
also for the sake of linguistic variety. Thus, the loan words often stand
side by side with Icelandic words of identical meaning. In the second
place, Oddur's literalistic approach to translation is described, along with
the willful departures which he makes from this approach in order to
capture subtle nuances of meaning. Finally, mention is made of the
traditional conventions of Icelandic Bible language, which affect the style
at many points. It is clear that Oddur took scholarly theological writings
from the 13th century as one of his principal models, although one may
also discem connections with simple, popular Bible translations.
The final part of the article gives a brief account of the reception of
Oddur’s translation by his contemporaries. In this connection, the stylistic
and linguistic changes which were made in the translation in connection
with the 1584 Bible edition and the publication of the New Testament in
1609 are briefly examined. Most of these changes were made in the
nationalistic spirit of classicism and were directed at reducing the number
of solecisms and foreign expressions in Oddur's translation and at
bringing its language into closer conformity with ordinary 16th-century
Icelandic.
26 Jakob Benediktsson 1953, s. 138.
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