Hrólfs saga kraka — chs 34-35 §34.1
Síðan ‘Then’
Síðan ferr Bǫðvarr ‘Then goes Bǫðvarr’: The verb occupies the second position, so because the sentence starts with the adverb síðan, the verb comes second and the subject comes directly after the verb.
Closeferr ‘goes’
3rd pers. pres. sg.
fara (verb; ferr, fór, fóru, farinn): go, travel
Síðan ferr Bǫðvarr ‘Then goes Bǫðvarr’: The verb occupies the second position, so because the sentence starts with the adverb síðan, the verb comes second and the subject comes directly after the verb.
CloseBǫðvarr ‘Bǫðvarr’
nom.
Síðan ferr Bǫðvarr ‘Then goes Bǫðvarr’: The verb occupies the second position, so because the sentence starts with the adverb síðan, the verb comes second and the subject comes directly after the verb.
Closeleið ‘way’
acc. sg.
leið (noun f.; °-ar, dat. -u/-; -ir/-ar): path, way
leið sína ‘on his way’: There is no preposition here, but the accusative case of leið ‘way’ implies the translation.
Closesína ‘on his’
acc. f. sg.
3. sinn (pron.; °f. sín, n. sitt): (refl. poss. pron.)
sína ‘his’: Sína (from sinn) is the so-called reflexive possessive pronoun. It refers to the subject of the sentence: here, Bǫðvarr, so ‘his’ (way). It inflects the same way as minn ‘my’ and þinn ‘your’, taking the number, gender and case of the thing that is possessed; here sína has the form for acc. sg. fem., agreeing with leið. In most cases the possessive pronouns come after the noun, as here. — leið sína ‘on his way’: There is no preposition here, but the accusative case of leið ‘way’ implies the translation.
Closesína ‘on his’
acc. f. sg.
3. sinn (pron.; °f. sín, n. sitt): (refl. poss. pron.)
sína ‘his’: Sína (from sinn) is the so-called reflexive possessive pronoun. It refers to the subject of the sentence: here, Bǫðvarr, so ‘his’ (way). It inflects the same way as minn ‘my’ and þinn ‘your’, taking the number, gender and case of the thing that is possessed; here sína has the form for acc. sg. fem., agreeing with leið. In most cases the possessive pronouns come after the noun, as here. — leið sína ‘on his way’: There is no preposition here, but the accusative case of leið ‘way’ implies the translation.
Closetil ‘to’
til Hleiðargarðs ‘to Hleiðargarðr’: Til is the only pronoun that is used with the genitive case. Although Hleiðargarðs here literally means ‘Hleiðargarðr’s, of Hleiðargarðr’, this form is required with til.
CloseHleiðargarðs ‘Hleiðargarðr’
gen.
Hleiðrargarðr (noun m.): [Hleiðargarðr]
til Hleiðargarðs ‘to Hleiðargarðr’: Til is the only pronoun that is used with the genitive case. Although Hleiðargarðs here literally means ‘Hleiðargarðr’s, of Hleiðargarðr’, this form is required with til.
CloseHann ‘He’
nom. m. sg.
hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
Closekemr ‘comes’
3rd pers. pres. sg.
koma (verb; kem, kom/kvam, kominn): come
kemr ‘comes’: Note that the tense here and in the first sentence is present (as indicated by the -r ending of the verb, equivalent to -s in English). Old Norse texts often use the present tense (sometimes called the historical present), but also shift tense unexpectedly.
Closekonungs ‘the king’s’
gen. sg.
konungr (noun m.; °dat. -i, -s; -ar): king
konungs ‘the king’s’: Here the genitive case is used for the possessive, hence ‘king’s’.
Closekonungs ‘king’s’
gen. sg.
konungr (noun m.; °dat. -i, -s; -ar): king
konungs hestum hinum beztu ‘the king’s best horses’: An unusual construction. The definite article hinn (here in the dative plural form hinum) is used separately from the noun when there is an adjective (beztu ‘the best’).
Closehestum ‘horses’
dat. pl.
hestr (noun m.; °-s, dat. -i; -ar): horse, stallion
konungs hestum hinum beztu ‘the king’s best horses’: An unusual construction. The definite article hinn (here in the dative plural form hinum) is used separately from the noun when there is an adjective (beztu ‘the best’).
Closehinum ‘the’
dat. m. pl.
konungs hestum hinum beztu ‘the king’s best horses’: An unusual construction. The definite article hinn (here in the dative plural form hinum) is used separately from the noun when there is an adjective (beztu ‘the best’).
Closebeztu ‘best’
dat. m. pl. weak; superlative;
betri (adj. comp.; °superl. beztr/baztr; pos. góðr adj.): better, best
konungs hestum hinum beztu ‘the king’s best horses’: An unusual construction. The definite article hinn (here in the dative plural form hinum) is used separately from the noun when there is an adjective (beztu ‘the best’).
Closeat ‘[for permission]’
at ‘[for permission]’: Literally, ‘about, at’. Often prepositions can be used without a noun, with an implied pronoun ‘it’; here, ‘about [it]’.
Closegekk ‘he went’
3rd pers. pret. sg.
2. ganga (verb; geng, gekk, gengu, genginn): walk, go
gekk ‘he went’: The subject (Bǫðvarr) is implied.
Closeí ‘to’
í: The preposition í ‘in, into’, like many prepositions which can denote movement or state, can be used with either the accusative or dative case. If the noun is in the accusative, as here, it tends to denote movement, so ‘into’; with dative, it tends to denote position, ‘in, inside’.
Closeok ‘and’
ok var þar ‘and there were’: Here the verb occupies the first position in the clause (var after the conjunction ok).
Closevar ‘were’
3rd pers. pret. pl.
2. vera (verb): be, is, was, were, are, am
ok var þar ‘and there were’: Here the verb occupies the first position in the clause (var after the conjunction ok).
Closeþar ‘there’
ok var þar ‘and there were’: Here the verb occupies the first position in the clause (var after the conjunction ok).
Closefátt ‘few’
nom. n. sg.
3. fár (adj.; °compar. fǽrri/fárri(Mág² 11), superl. fǽstr): few
ok var þar ‘and there were’: Here the verb occupies the first position in the clause (var after the conjunction ok).
CloseHann ‘He’
nom. m. sg.
hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
Closesezk ‘sits himself’
3rd pers. pres. sg. middle
sezk ‘sits himself’: The middle voice (normally ending -sk) isused here in a reflexive sense ‘sits himself’.
Closeútarliga ‘near the entrance’
útarliga (adv.): [near entrance]
útarliga ‘near the entrance’: Literally, ‘further out’. The entrance to a hall was usually at one end of the building, with the chieftain or king sitting at a high seat at the opposite end. Seating position was determined by rank, so the most important warriors sat closest to the king, and the lowest ranking ones near the door.
Closehann ‘he’
nom. m. sg.
hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
Closeheyrir ‘hears’
3rd pers. pres. sg.
heyrir hann ‘he hears’: Here the subject comes after the verb because the first position of the sentence is taken by a subordinate clause: sem hann hefr þar nǫkkra hríð.
Closehann ‘he’
nom. m. sg.
hann (pron.; °gen. hans, dat. honum; f. hon, gen. hennar, acc. hana): he, she, it, they, them...
heyrir hann ‘he hears’: Here the subject comes after the verb because the first position of the sentence is taken by a subordinate clause: sem hann hefr þar nǫkkra hríð.
Closehornit ‘the corner’
acc. sg. definite form;
hornit ‘the corner’: The definite article (‘the’ in English) is normally suffixed to the end of a word: horn is ‘corner’; hornit is ‘the corner’. The article is here indicated in the glosses as ‘definite form’.
CloseHǫndin ‘The hand’
nom. sg. definite form;
hǫnd (noun f.; °handar, dat. hendi; hendr (hendir StatPáll³ 752¹²)): hand
Hǫndin ‘The hand’: Suffixed definite article. The article changes according to the gender, number and case of the noun.
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