Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1960, Page 278

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In justice it should be pointed out that it is not all instances of
inadequate translation that are due to the translator’s incompetence.
In some cases a deviation from the original may be ascribed to what
may well deserve the name of artistic endeavour. Thus, when I
alternates between heidingi and risi as terms referring to Ferakut,
while G almost consistently uses Heide, it is hardly doubtful that
this must be considered an attempt to achieve stylistic variation.
An indisputable gain is obtained in the description of the attempt
to convert the captive Ammiral; in G the furious heathen king here
addresses his recently christianized son by means of the term of
abuse that is a stereotype of this tale Du narr vnnd lecker (G Iij);
elsewhere this is correctly translated in I (Narri 104v. 18, flensari
14v.4), but here it is replaced by a rendering more apposite in this
context: pu ert einn Smiadari [! ] ogafneytari vorraguda (1104v. 9-10).
Particularly great problems must have confronted the translator
in the translation of such terms expressing relationship as have no
exact Icelandic counterparts. Oheim is rendered modurbroder (13r. 10:
G Aiij*; correctly in form and in faet). Neffe is normally translated
frændi (for instance G Aij* : I 2r. 8, G Aiij* : I 3r. 6, G Aiiij : I 4r.
16-17 and 19), occasionally through Sisturson (G Aiij* : I 3v. 16; cf.
that G states that Roland is the Emperor’s Schwestersohn, for in-
stance G Fiiij), more seldom through nidji (G 1: 1102v. 13). In cases
like these, where Neffe is used to refer to Roland, the translator may
have drawn on his previous knowledge about the kinship between
the Emperor and Roland; but Neffe is also used for Ammiral’s
nephew Eppulard, and here it is rendered vinur (G Fiiij* : I 72v. 20,
G Fv : I 73r. 10), so that the translator can hardly have had a quite
clear conception of the meaning of the word.
Particularly interesting is the translation of the term of rela-
tionship Vetter, which originally means “paternal unde”, but which
can also be used about numerous other kinds of kinship. To refer
to kinship the word is employed G Avij* er was nit sein Vetter oder
gefreundter, rendered in I as if Vetter was synonymous with Vater:
I lir. 19-20 hann var huorki hans fader nie frændi. But elsewhere
the word is above all used in G to refer to die vetter von Franckreich
(G Diiij*) “les douze pairs”, “the Peers of France”. The translation
of this term in I presents a peculiarly inconsistent picture: