Studia Islandica - 01.06.1957, Page 55

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lost in this instance. Fortunately, cases of this sort are
rare. Much more frequent are the additions of single
words, phrases, lines, and occasionally whole passages.
As most of these additions are not found in the Danish
or German translation, they must be laid at the door of
the Icelandic translator. Nearly all the single words and
short phrases added are included for the sake of allitera-
tion. As regards the longer additions, they are often
brought in to complete a stanza, and generally amplify
the thought of the original. At the same time they often
have genuine poetic quality.
Naturally, the translation is considerably longer than
the original. As the fornyrðislag is normally octosyllabic,
one line and a quarter should be about equivalent to a
line of blank verse. On this basis, Book III, which has 742
lines in the original, runs to about 1,000 lines in the trans-
lation, which seems too large an increase, even if it is ad-
mitted that a translation is bound, in any case, to be
somewhat longer than the original. Comparatively seldom
does Þorláksson, on the other hand, omit anything of con-
sequence. The most important omissions are lines 514—21
of Book I and lines 534—37, 637—642, and 942—947 of
Book II, all of which are omitted in the Danish transla-
tion. Altogether, however, the omissions are not nearly
as numerous, nor as serious from the point of view of
translations, as are the additions and the expansions. The
latter often do away with the condensation which is one
of the principal characteristics of Milton’s grand style.
Another characteristic of Milton is his use of the re-
petition of a word or a phrase, an effective means of em-
phasis. These the Icelandic translator almost always ren-
ders successfully. Many a translator impoverishes the
thought and style of his original by robbing it of its ima-
gery, so that a mere skeleton remains. Of this Þorláksson
is hardly ever guilty. Milton’s vivid similes and rich ima-
gery suffer hardly any loss in the translation. Another