(no subject)

[rimturse]

This is one of my favourites:

Ask veit ek standa,
heitir Yggdrasill,
hár batmr, ausinn
hvíta auri;
þaðan koma döggvar
þærs í dala falla,
stendur æ yfir grænn
Urðarbrunni.

(Ash tree I know stands,
called Yggdrasil,
a tall tree, sprinkled
with white loam;
from here comes the dew
which falls in the vally,
stands eternally green
over Urd's well)

Miraculously I got C to read some of the Voluspa, I guess it appealed to the side of him that likes Metal and Giger. He of course had another favourite:

Sól tér sortna,
sígr fold í mar,
hverfa af himni
heiðar stjörnur.
Geisar eimi
ok aldrnara,
leikr hár hiti
við himin sjálfan.

(Sun blackens,
earth folds into sea,
cast from the heaven -
hot stars.
Fumes rage
flames burst
Heat plays against
heaven itself.)

I did my own translations - not as poetic as the official ones I'm afraid, but hopefully a bit more authentic, although I'm far from understanding every single word of the original.

Comments

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

It better be finished when J and I come to visit. :D

[frigg.livejournal.com]

hah! Let's see.

[rabiagale.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, do! Of course, they'll be in Danish, not English, but maybe you can provide a pamphlet with a translation for the non-polyglot visitors to your home??

What is the Voluspa? Some kind of Norse saga?

[frigg.livejournal.com]

hehe...well actually they'll be in old Norse/Icelandic as written here. It's similar enough to modern Danish for me to understand a little if I speak it out loud, but I need to concentrate a lot and some words are completely different:

The Danish translation of the first verse would look something like this:

Ask ved jeg står,
hedder Yggdrasil,
et højt træ, sprinklet
med hvid ler;
fra den kommer duggen,
som i dalen falder,
står evig grøn
over Urdbrønden.

[frigg.livejournal.com]

err that should be "hvidt" and not "hvid" - in case any Danish people are reading this.