Studia Islandica - 01.06.1994, Blaðsíða 74
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tice is followed by the other translators as well. Some more
recent translations of Icelandic works use th for both letters
in English, as the English th can be either voiced or
unvoiced. These renderings come closer to duplicating the
sound of the Icelandic word in English although perhaps
causing a greater change in its graphic appearance.
There is more variety to be found in the approaches
taken by the four translators in dealing with the vowels;
Arent has chosen to maintain almost all the accents, Press
uses no non-English orthography and Magnússon and
Pálsson have only æ, while Veblen adopts a rather incon-
sistent system, sometimes using ö, æ, and in occasional
instances á and ó, without giving any explanation for his
choices.
Bynames, used not only to distinguish between individ-
uals with the same name but also to characterise them, are
often half-translated, or given English equivalents even
though the results more often than not may sound rather
comic: Press uses “Thord Yeller” and “Thorolf Most-
Beard for Þórðr gellir and Þórólfr Mostrarskegg, but
allows Þórarinn fylsenni and Þorkell kuggi to remain
untranslated.
There are a number of inconsistencies in her system of
translations: simple epithets such as Helgi magri and Ketill
flatnefr are quite fairly rendered by “Helgi the Lean” and
“Ketill Flatnose”, Unnr in djúpúðga becomes “Unn the
Deep-minded”, while there is no indication of meaning
given for the bynames of Helgi bjólan and Óláfr feilan.
More questionable, however, are Press’s attempts to
translate Þorsteinn surtr as “Thorstein Swart”, Jórunn
manvitsbrekka as “Jórunn, Men’s Witbreaker” and Björn
buna as “Bjorn the Ungartered”. The actual meaning of the
last two bynames is uncertain; the former is thought to be
most likely a kenning for “woman”, and, while the mean-
ing of the latter is disputed, garters can scarcely have been