First, the answer to Riddle #2:
"Góð er gáta þín, Gestumblindi, getit er þessar. Þar fórtu yfir árbrú, ok var árvegr undir þér, en fuglar flugu yfir höfði þér ok hjá þér tveim megin, ok var þat þeira vegr."
"Your riddle is good, Gestumblindi, and I have guessed it. You journeyed across a bridge, and there was an oar-way [river] under it, and a bird flew over your head, and on both sides of you, and that was their way."
The Third Riddle
Þá mælti Gestumblindi:
(3) "Hvat er þat drykki,
er ek drakk í gær,*
var-at þat vín né vatn
né in heldr mungát
né matar ekki,
ok gekk ek þorstalauss þaðan?
Heiðrekr konungr,
hyggðu at gátu."
Then said Gestumblindi:
"What was that drink
Which I drank yesterday?
It was not wine nor water
Nor even ale,
Food it was not;
Yet I went thirstless thence?
Heiðrekr king
Ponder this riddle."
*more about this way of referring to "yesterday" here.
Currently reading: Homeric Moments
Current audio book: The Fellowship of the Ring
Currently Translating: Otfrid
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Extrapolating from the well-attested family-friendliness of Norse sagas, I'm going to guess that the speaker was stabbed in the lungs, so that blood escaped into his mouth before he died.
ReplyDeleteBut that's not what I came to comment about. I just noticed that "í gær" is pronounced the same as the French "hier", which has the same meaning. Except the redhead on the shelf assures me that "hier" comes from the Latin "heri", which is totally unrelated to anything Norse. I conclude that Indo-European speakers have no imagination.