# Old Norse:  Hann tekr sverðit Gram ok leggr í meðal þeira bert



## Ezra92

Hi, I'm reading Borge's "Ulrica" there's this quote, but I don't even know wich language it is:Hann terk sverthit Gram ok leggr i methal theira bert.Can anyone help me? thanks


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## sokol

My guess would be Icelandic. Or Faeroese.

It has some things "looking" Germanic but it is certainly not German nor Dutch, nor Danish, Norwegian or Swedish.


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## Outsider

I agree that it has a Nordic "feel" to it, but I wonder if it could also be Gothic, or Old German...


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## hanne

I'd guess Old Norse of some sort. It doesn't look quite like modern Icelandic (or Faroese) to me.

The translation would go along the lines of:
He takes the sword Gram and puts it in the middle of their bed.

The text is an excerpt from Nordic mythology (text in Danish translation).


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## origumi

“He takes the sword Gram, and lays it naked between them” from The Saga of the Volsungs.

Old Norse.


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## sokol

Here's words that I _probably _recognise (those interpretations might be wrong):

hann = han = he
ok = og = and
theira = þeirra = their (Icelandic only, I think)

The other "th" sounds also could be þ/ð.
Old German it is not; but it _could _be Gothic, probably. If it isn't Islandic, or Faeroese - or, alternatively, just made up on the spot. - Ah, I cross-posted with Origumi, so the riddle is solved.


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## Ezra92

Thaks a lot, everyone!! You saved my brain from collapsing!!!!!!!!!


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## Ezra92

I meant "Thanks", anyway... ops


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## hanne

I think origumi's is the poetic translation, and mine is the accurate one .

The story about Sigurd, Brynhild, and Gram seems to be both in the Older Edda (Völsunga Saga, as origumi mentioned), and in the Younger Edda (Skjaldskabslæren, cf. the link I posted above). Does anybody know anything about this?

Ezra, this page also mentions Borges' use of that quote.


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## dinji

There is a typal, it should obviously be *"Hann tekr sverthit....." = "He takes the sword....."*


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## butra

dinji said:


> There is a typal, it should obviously be *"Hann tek sverthit....." = "He takes the sword....."*


 

Hann tekr sverðit Gram ok leggr í meðal þeira bert. ( Old Norse or old Icelandic ).
Hann tekur sverðið Gram og leggur í meðal þeirra bert. ( Modern Icelandic ).


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## dinji

butra said:


> Hann tekr sverðit Gram ok leggr í meðal þeira bert. ( Old Norse or old Icelandic ).
> Hann tekur sverðið Gram og leggur í meðal þeirra bert. ( Modern Icelandic ).


 
The standardized Old Icelendic found in printed editions has a very orderly use of þ and ð, but was this originally the case, and what was the convention in Old Norwegian texts? Old Swedish and Old Danish from the same period frequently used <th> for both.


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