Eystk Útkv 1VIII (Hálf 48)/1 — letja ‘futile’
Sjálft mun letja slíks at freista;
Hálfs eru rekkar hverjum meiri.
Þik veit ek manna miklu fremstan,
einn snjallastan, er þú átta vátt.
Sjálft mun letja at freista slíks; rekkar Hálfs eru meiri hverjum. Ek veit þik miklu fremstan manna, einn snjallastan, er þú vátt átta.
It is self-evidently futile to try such a thing; Hálfr’s champions are superior to everyone. I know you [to be] by far the foremost of men, one of the most valiant, because you slew eight men.
notes
[1-2] sjálft mun letja at freista slíks ‘it is self-evidently futile to try such a thing’: Lit. ‘it will dissuade itself from trying such’. The meaning of ll. 1-2 is difficult to grasp, particularly the sense of sjálft ‘itself’ in l. 1. Some eds have considered emending sjálft ‘itself’ to sjálfr m. nom. sg. ‘self’. Edd. Min. in a footnote queries whether l. 1 should not read sjálfr mun [ek] letja ‘I myself will dissuade’, while Andrews (Hálf 1909) translates gerade davon will ich abraten ‘I will just advise against it’ but does not alter the text. Here it is proposed that sjálft means something like ‘self-evidently’ and refers back to Útsteinn’s proposal in st. 47 that Eysteinn might consider bringing on more warriors for him to fight, since he has now finished off all the sons of Úlfr. Eysteinn’s response recognizes the futility of such a move, given the evident superiority of the Hálfsrekkar as warriors.