Studia Islandica - 01.06.1994, Blaðsíða 92

90
ship such as vinátta and the word vingan, employed only
rarely in the sagas.1
Kjartan Óláfsson’s encounter with King Óláfr Tryggva-
son includes a rare instance of a speaker referring to him-
self in the third person: Hér er Óláfr konungr Tryggvason.
Such special usage is intended to give import to the
monarch’s words, which thus become more like a pro-
nouncement than a normal introduction.2
Here is Olaf the king, the son of Tryggvi. (P 134)
This is Olaf Tryggvason, the King. (V 134)
Here before you is Óláf Tryggvason, the king. (A 103)
I am King Olaf Tryggvason. (MP 145)
Despite the fact that here subjectivity is almost the only
scale by which we judge the effectiveness of the transla-
tions, most readers would agree that attempts by the first
three translators to render like more or less by like fail to
hit their mark. They give the speech simply a stilted and
artificial effect, with but little majesty. Magnússon and
Pálsson’s version sounds natural enough, perhaps too nat-
ural and normal for the situation.
It should be emphasised that the failure of any transla-
tion to reproduce individual stylistic features or language
devices such as frequent use of negatives to replace posi-
tives, marked pronouns which indicate formality, complex
tenses, and the like, is not in itself the issue. When, how-
ever, a translation fails to compensate for the loss of one or
1 See Widding (1977-78:7-11), where the formation of neologisms such
as vingan is listed as among the characteristics of late medieval skrautstíll.
The translation of this and other unusual or especially characteristic words
and phrases will be discussed in more detail in the final section of Chapter
IV which deals with specifically with lexis.
2 Netter mentions only ten instances in the entire corpus of Sagas of
Icelanders where the third person is used to replace the first person in direct
speech (1935:144).
J