# Icelandic: með dauðann og djöfulinn á bakinu



## Silver_Biscuit

Sæl!

Can someone explain to me, in broad terms, what it means to have death and the devil at your back in Icelandic? I can't see whether it means that someone has a dark past, or whether someone is in dire straits (i.e. death and the devil are coming up behind you). I'm leaning towards the second one, but I can't just guess on this - maybe it's even something different that I didn't think of. I can't find it in _Mergur málsins _or anything (although I found _gefa dauða(nn) og djöful(inn) í e-ð_, but it doesn't really help me...). The context is this sentence, and my initial draft translation follows:


> Í stuttum en margræðum upphafskafla tekst Eyja á við móðurömmu sína sem hvetur hana til að yfirgefa áfengissjúklinginn sem hún kynntist í beitningarskúr á Vestfjörðum og giftist í einhverju bríaríi og meðvirkni þótt hann sé tuttugu árum eldri, *með dauðann og djöfulinn á bakinu*, og hefði fátt að bjóða sem heillað gæti unga stúlku.





> In the short but enigmatic opening chapter, Eyja goes up against her maternal grandmother who urges her to leave the alcoholic that she met in a baiting shed in the West Fjords and married in a fit of impulse and codependence, although he is twenty years older, *in dire straits*, and has little to offer that could charm a young girl.



Thanks to anyone who can shed light on this phrase!


----------



## NoMoreMrIceGuy

Silver_Biscuit said:


> Sæl!
> 
> Can someone explain to me, in broad terms, what it means to have death and the devil at your back in Icelandic? I can't see whether it means that someone has a dark past, or whether someone is in dire straits (i.e. death and the devil are coming up behind you). I'm leaning towards the second one, but I can't just guess on this - maybe it's even something different that I didn't think of. I can't find it in _Mergur málsins _or anything (although I found _gefa dauða(nn) og djöful(inn) í e-ð_, but it doesn't really help me...). The context is this sentence, and my initial draft translation follows:
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks to anyone who can shed light on this phrase!



Baggage.


----------



## Silver_Biscuit

Ha, like emotional baggage?


----------



## Donnerstag

Silver_Biscuit said:


> Ha, like emotional baggage?



I'm not sure how to properly articulate it in English, but it basically means that he's done bad things in his past. Maybe "notorious for his past" works? Or perhaps not, since it doesn't necessarily mean that many other know about his past deeds, just that he did something bad in the past.


----------



## Silver_Biscuit

Skeletons in his closet?


----------



## Donnerstag

Silver_Biscuit said:


> Skeletons in his closet?



Yes, that sounds great!


----------



## Silver_Biscuit

Or I suppose just _shady past_, _dark past_ like I originally suggested, since _skeletons in the closet_ are bad things done in the past that have specifically been concealed. Anyway, thanks for your help, both of you


----------



## JohanIII

Does _gefa dauða(nn) og djöful(inn) í_ mean you should stay away from / leave it bloody well alone? (swedish has _ge fan i_)


----------



## Silver_Biscuit

It's explained as don't care at all about something, let something take its own course, which sounds like it could be a _similar_ sentiment at least.


----------

