Studia Islandica - 01.06.1994, Blaðsíða 141

139
Often Kjartan would go to the Sælingdale-spring, and mostly it hap-
pened that Gudrun was at the spring too. Kjartan liked talking to
Gudrun, for she was both a woman of wits and clever of speech. It
was the talk of all folk that of all men who were growing up at the
time Kjartan was the most even match for Gudrun. Between Olaf
and Osvif there was also great friendship, and often they would
invite one another, and not the less frequently so when fondness was
growing up between the young folk. (P 127-28)
Press’s use of the word “spring” to translate laugar
(which will be discussed in the section dealing specifically
with lexis) presents the image of two innocent youngsters
meeting at a spring, where they would conceivably stop to
drink; it scarcely suggests long or drawn-out meetings, nor
would a spring offer the sort of opportunity for intimacy
which is involved in bathing in hot springs.
“Kjartan liked talking to Gudrún” in this context loses
any suggestiveness, and indeed Press, perhaps affected by
the Victorian currents of her time, has quite consistently
translated any references to “conversations” between
heroes and queens in a similarly innocent fashion.
The rendering “Kjartan was the most even match for
Gudrun” cannot help but add a corisiderably stronger hint
of marrying than was evident in the original með þeim
Kjartani ok Guðrúnu þœtti vera mest jafnræði.
In each instance the ambiguity of the original phrasing
is either removed in the translation or slanted in a direction
slightly different from that of the original, with the result
that the total effect of the passage becomes completely
altered.
Veblen’s version takes even more liberties, embroider-
ing and interpreting the passage with but little regard for
what lies behind the carefully chosen words of the original.
Kjartan went often to the hot baths in Sælingsdal. And often it hap-
pened that Gudrun, too, was at the baths. To Kjartan it seemed very
good to get into talk with Gudrun, for she was both wise and beau-
tiful and a good talker. It was all the talk that Kjartan and Gudrun