Why translations usually don't have the original Old Norse
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Most published translations of Old Norse poems and sagas don't include the original Old Norse. This video looks at why that is, and recommends resources for those who are looking for the original Old Norse (including many resources on this channel).
Jackson Crawford, Ph.D.: Sharing real expertise in Norse language and myth with people hungry to learn, free of both ivory tower elitism and the agendas of self-appointed gurus. Visit jacksonwcrawfo... (includes bio and linked list of all videos).
Jackson Crawford’s Patreon page: / norsebysw
Visit Grimfrost at www.grimfrost.com?aff=183
Latest FAQs: vimeo.com/3751... (updated Nov. 2019).
Jackson Crawford’s translation of Hávamál, with complete Old Norse text: www.hackettpub... or www.amazon.com...
Jackson Crawford’s translation of The Poetic Edda: www.hackettpub... or www.amazon.com...
Audiobook: www.audible.co...
Jackson Crawford’s translation of The Saga of the Volsungs: www.hackettpub... or www.amazon.com...
Audiobook: www.audible.co...
Music © I See Hawks in L.A., courtesy of the artist. Visit www.iseehawks.com/
Logos by Elizabeth Porter (snowbringer at gmail).
"..and not that many people watch these videos"
me: immediately opens the said videos to watch them out of guilt
I felt the same guilt. But I decided to buy the Wanderers Havamal instead :P
Your Old Norse readings are so helpful, I realize not many people will use them, but for those who do it’s much appreciated. Don’t know of many other places to find readings of Old Norse in original pronunciation.
I certainly understand the reasons for not including the original text and respect them but regarding 13:30, I am not sure I entirely I agree.
As no more than an enthusiast, my interest in older languages comes from a copy of Beowulf when I was young, which included the Old English on the left side. I think there is something cool about looking for cognates and finding some commonalities. It's also why I enjoy so many of the videos where the Old Norse text is shown. I admit this is because you can see Old Norse/Old English with modern English, and if it were a completely unrelated language, I wouldn't notice.
I'm not saying it justifies alone the extra work of the including it alone, but I don't think it's just for decorative/symbolic purposes for people with interest enough to read but isn't seriously studying language.
Similarly for me it was a parallel text Beowulf at the age of 13 which opened a rabbit hole I'm still falling down.
Dr. Crawford, you've missed the most obvious reason people like me value parallel translations . We may not be able to *read* old Norse, but we want to be able to sound it out to ourselves - grasp the music and the rhythm of the language. Speaking "Grendel gongan / Godes yrre baer" is a different experience from reading "Grendel came, bearing God's wrath"; I want both.
I agree. I think Crawford doesn't understand the interest in the artistry of language. He's come at the question too much as a scholar and not enough as a poet. What he calls a desire for "decoration" I call an interest in the linguistic artistry of the original. You don't have to know or be seriously studying the language to appreciate the flow and feel of it's sounds.
It can also be a very good way to help with actually learning the language/getting a better grasp of it.
Me and my wife love your videos...we are both Icelandic and have read All of these in it's original from...and you are extremely accurate and that is important!
I feel guilty not listening to those vids now ;p Though I'm here for the mythology and history than the language (my interests being in theology, psychology and history rather than linguistics). Having said that, I usually leave long 'story' videos for when I've got something like sewing/mending/crafting to do - something like that along with a video like one of these is such bliss!
Thank you so much for all your hard work. Even if it doesn't bear immediate fruit, it's still enormously valuable. I think I really only support you on Patreon because of the value I place on your work - I've yet to put any work into learning Old Norse! ;p
13:35
On the contrary Dr. Crawford, I ask if your publication has the Old Norse text because I've been working my way through your lessons and appreciate the opportunity to practice reading the Old Norse with the English translation to fall back on. There's no better method of learning it than actually doing it, particularly when you provide notes along the way.
Cheers! And thank you for everything you do.
Been subscribed for a few years now. I love that in EVERY video, the disclaimer "I know the difference between Modern Iclandic and Reconstructed Norse" is used
I like having original text included with translations out of linguistic interest, so even if I don't speak the language I can try to pick some of it up by comparing.
But I am also working on a modernized edition of John Wilkin's _Essay Towards a Real Character_, and oh my goodness that is *so much work*, for a document that is *already in English*, just to get it basically readable and printable... so I completely understand not wanting to bother with including it if you don't absolutely have to!
Yes same here. I love to trace comparisons. It's usually what I buy the book for, not even the translation. When I was a kid I had a copy of the Divine Comedy that I used to pore over, looking for roots. To this day I haven't read the Divine Comedy translation. (Weird kid.)
@@WendyHopper about wierd kids in another way.
As a 15 year old kid, I took a compiler/interpreter of FORTH and LISP (computer program that interpret text and execute that or makes it into a new program) and disassemble them into assembler code text files (lovers level of programming language). Then I figured out how those programming languages (FORTH and LISP) worked.
But I wasn't able to write any useful programs in either of those languages 😀
I think I still have those listings with notes somewhere. And now I know how to write programs in them.
@@AndersJackson there is a lot of similarity. :) Assembly was my favorite class in college. We had a great 68k emulator and you could watch the registers change with each instruction. :)
Hey, your Old Norse transliteration/translation/lessons are very helpful! Your first videos on Old Norse are what inspired me to pursue Old Norse as a language, and, as an historian of Early Medieval Ireland, it has become a very valuable skill for me to have.
Thank you Dr Jackson. I have several of your books, and The Wanderer's Hálvamál is especially loved and read because it has the Old Norse, which I do read, again and again, often loud, attempting to speak it more or less correctly, with the aid of your pronunciation guidelines. What surprises me regularly is the recognition of words I come across in the stanzas. I don't speak Icelandic nor Norwegian, just German, my mother tongue, and English, as I live in the UK and have for a long time, but seem to regularly recognise words linked in the language to both English and German. I only recently rediscovered my love for the Eddas, I read the prose Edda in my youth in an 'adaptation', in modern German aimed at a young audience, the less said about that the better. Now I want to read the Sagas, the Tales of the Gods, the Jotun's, etc again and as close as possible to the original. That's why I like it very much if the original Norse text is included, though I do now understand the additional challenges and costs. I already look forward to your next book being released soon. And I will try and hunt down some of the texts from the sites you mentioned. Thank you again for all your hard work, I very slowly work my way through the catalogue of your videos, which are such a fantastic resource! Thank you once more!
the complete videos in old norse with translations are my very favorites of all your videos.. love following along hearing you translate it word by word
Same here! Am Swedish, so your explanation is often enough to make me feel as though I understand the Old Norse (not with full connotations of course), and definitely enough to appreciate the beauty of the poetry.
@@sirilandgren same here, as a Swede I kind of know what they are saying, as many words are like modern Swedish words. And the word order makes more sense then then English translation, as the Old Norse is not in the same order as English are.
So yes, have the English translation and Old Norse gives a better understanding (or most time any understanding) of the old text.
My background was in Archaeology but I developed serious back issues, so I went back to school for history. My major was medieval history, minoring in nelc (near eastern civilization & languages) & Scandinavian studies.
Both minors had the credits for the major if I'd taken the language requirements. I just felt overwhelmed and intimidated. Since I was on a history track, I had some formal training in hieroglyphics & I did study runes, but Arabic & Icelandic... I just felt like I'd never get it so I accepted the minor in both.
I think if I'd known Jackson or about this channel I might have pushed through on the Scandinavian track. I'm betting he has helped a lot of students and researchers, and will continue to do so indefinitely.
I’m not planning on learning Old Norse anytime soon but I still love watching this guys videos with my wife over dinner after we get home from work he’s just a great speaker and it feels like we have our own private class!
The saga of the volsungs ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ I immediately started reading it a second time!
I'm Norwegian, I understand some of the old Norse, and I've watched most of the videos that "no-one" watches :) They are my favorite videos, but I understand it must be a niche thing maybe. But seeing and hearing them make me feel somehow more connected to my ancestors. And I love languages and language history. Also how the language used communicate something about the time they were written. Fascinated by prehistory and oral cultures and how the language used in the earliest text reflects (remnants) of a society that memorized knowledge, a culture that we in a way look down on as they couldn't read or write, but it is just very, very different. I speak French as well and loved Marcel Jousse's "L'anthropologie du geste" that, hm.. let me try to translate some of the description of it from French here: "This field of study was born from the conviction that “the original and capital sin of our written-style civilization is to believe that it is Civilization par excellence. Everything that does not "fit" in her writing page is, for her, non-existent ”. It is a very weird book in many ways, but very fascinating when you have read it and then hear and see really old texts, how it is structured the words they use and the characters that are included.
As always Dr. Crawford, your work is appreciated. My manuscript studies lean more to the English language, however listening to you has actually been more helpful than much I can find for Old English. Been listening to you through my undergrad, and grad. Thank you.
just wanted to stick my head in and say that i do love your full old norse video series! this isn't necessarily the intended use, but they're super nice as, like, a podcast sort of experience while i'm driving long distance! and because i want to learn old norse but am pursuing a degree in a whole other field i pick up more words listening to them than i do with the actual teaching series lol
i use side by sides for phonetic value, its a poem you need to know how it sounds. besides if you sense something funny in the translation you have something to compare to and even just by syntax it helps a lot you can usually tell what classes of words are being added in or expanded , itll give some context to just how the sentences are
Hey! Just wanted to add my name to the pile of people commenting that they love your Old Norse reading series :). Especially since most of those works are metered and were historically delivered orally, it's a thrill to get to hear them recited properly. On my own, lacking both the requisite knowledge of ON and the requisite well-edited manuscript, it would be almost impossible to really understand and appreciate the actually poetic elements of the poems.
I always find the process of translating historical texts super interesting! The kinds of decisions made by translators in light of evidence as to the mistakes-as well as conscious alterations-made by scribes. Hearing that you indicated where you inserted a word made me really happy, because for me I find I understand things better when I know where they came from. It's a small thing, but indicates to me an attitude toward the original text and toward the audience which I can respect. It's convinced me to go and buy your books!
Just wanted to say that I’ve watched your entire series on Völuspá. I’m working on doing a translation of it myself into my home language, which would probably make it the very first Old Norse text ever translated into it and those videos were godsend for the trickier stanzas.
Hello, may I ask what your home language is?
@@sarah8383 Of course, Afrikaans.
@@heilmodrhinnheimski Oh that is interesting. 🙂
@@sarah8383 Thank you, and yours?
I love seeing you break down how you interpret ambiguities in the original text, I love getting the little weird details on how this or that is a dialectical quirk or whatnot. But then again I'm an ex linguist of sorts, (the interest has been delegated to hobby for me these days) so perhaps I'm a narrow demographic.
I thank you for including the original Old Norse text. I was curious about the Hávamál (learned about it from your videos) but your extra effort to include the Old Norse text inspired me to put it on my Amazon list to buy and I’m excited to get a hard copy when I am able.
Now, while I cannot read Old Norse, I studied modern Standard German in both high school and university. I enjoy going through the original texts (especially an expert’s edit) and learn more about the languages I know, especially German. While I could find the original text, I don’t have any capability to get any useful information out of them or even recognize anything out of them. However, given an expert’s edit I can actually get a little bit of insight to things I studied elsewhere.
In fact, I went out of my way to find an edition of Beowulf that included the Old English and I learned a lot about English from it, particularly how it’s changed. I’ve even used it as reference for some things I’ve (creatively) worked on.
So, I know you may not see the appreciation people have for the original texts, the appreciation is definitely out there! I hope this reaches you and you get a sense for the appreciation people have for your hard work! And your hard work will net you some extra ducats in your bank account from me :)
As usual, thank you for such well produced and well thought out content. I have heard about subjectivity in translations, but you have highlighted at least part of the process from which that comes from.
I friend of mine (much more serious about studying the old Norse language and culture) pointed me towards your channel, and it has been a fascinating dive. You have my respect.
Your Old Norse readings and translations are, I think, some of your most valuable videos. I always recommend them. Please know your work is immensely appreciated, even if it's a niche audience!
I watch them! I really hope you keep making them, I use them for relaxation as well as information and I like challenging my brain even if I'm not necessarily learning the language. I also don't want your work to go to waste.
A very interesting discussion and a good explaination!
Interesting! I would have expected more standard transcriptions. Very enlightening
Thanks for the video! After seeing just a few short documents in Old English, I have a deep appreciation for anyone who can make heads or tails of old texts and get why they aren't included in translations. Extremely cool and interesting to look at, but in a practical sense, not very useful. I just don't have the right skills.
i really enjoy your readings both the translated and the non translated ones. i often listen to them when i'm driving. thank you so much for all the work you put into this
I enjoy listening to your translations.
I bought a copy of the Wanderers Hávamál because I wanted to start getting a better idea of old Norse as a language and potentially begin to read some small amounts on my own. It's really just super interesting.
I'm sure we're few in number, but I absolutely use the original Old Norse texts to help with my learning of Old Norse. The Wanderer's Hávamál has been a key tool in my belt for studying the language. And since there are still things not yet translated (into English, anyway), I absolutely want to read Old Norse, and I'm starting to get there where I can read most lines without having to jump into a dictionary.
Thank you dir explaining, again. I loved the old norse in havamal and read the book along with your Video reading. Geat experience! I love the videos and Hope you will keep them up as l very much enjoy your readings old norse.
those old norse text videos are my favorites.
I am excited for all of the language tips!!! Thank you. just fyi, I sort of always look for a "Jackson Crawford" endorsed version when trying to decipher the truth because you seem most trustworthy and less agenda-filled.
In graduate school, one of my two languages was German (among others, but we had to choose officially).
I told my German professor I wanted to be able to read Mozart’s hand. He and his father actually exchanged a lot of preserved correspondence.
He said that’s a completely different hand, and he could teach a graduate-level class in it.
And Mozart is much more recent than these writings!
Currently doing exams in Old Norse Religion. My course books include the "original" text along side the translation. I like that; because I have an interest in the linguistics also it's fun to see how much of it I, as a native Swedish-speaker, can understand. Any time there is Old Norse text, I read that section out loud too.
Thanks for the in-depth look at how the manuscripts' texts are edited. Very interesting!
i may be very immature but with my limited knowledge of norwegian, the website name in 3:22 made me chuckle.
Like many others here I'm no scholar or professional, I just have a keen interest in languages. Having the original texts to compare to modern languages like English and Swedish is very interesting.
But as you say in your video, I'm not sure it motivates all the extra work and a higher price tag for a few words here and there.
This video provides some truly fascinating and useful coverage of medieval manuscript features!
Since there were mistakes in written documents then, just as there are now, I am wondering if any of the Norse medieval manuscripts - and/or any of the runic inscriptions - show evidence of having been written by people with dyslexia.
I ask this out of both personal and professional interest, as I have dyslexia (along with several other neurological conditions) and I am also a private teacher with a caseload that abounds in people who have dyslexia and/or smiler conditions.
If you wrote a version translated into runes you'd sell...some copies. Me and at least 2 or 3 other people would buy it.
And you are right, for aesthetics not to actually read.
You could pay for that. But I guess it would be very expensive...
Och som han sa i videon, originalen var skrivna med latinska tecken och ej med runor.
What I would love to do is to learn their language fluently like I do with English and maybe somehow bring the language back based on what you're saying of how hard it is to bring that back it will require a lot of work
Love what you do, man. Keep doing good things, whatever form that takes.
Great video! Been having the same question myself. The example from the manuscript was particularly interesting.
I love the gunslinging intro
I HAVE gotten use out of those labor-intense original-text videos. They've been invaluable when I've wanted to check pronunciation, runic spelling, translation notes and things like that.
That sort of use probably doesn't reflect well through UA-cam metrics, though. Because as I said, I'm using them as reference; diving into one or two videos out of 30 to get some perspective on a particular stanza. A four-hour video going through the entirety of Havamal is an amazing resource to have, but it's not the sort of thing I sit down to watch on a Saturday night.
I imagine some of the hardest things to decipher from old texts (regardless of language) are idioms that don't have obvious modern equivalents.
illuminating. thanks for all your hard work!
I want the old norse text to examine the alliterative composition, number of syllables and other metric characteristics of the poem. For example the most common form of verse contains exactly 9 syllables, which hints at the number 9 being the preferred on Ljosahattr (and you know how important was the numer 9 in norse culture), none explains this, I had to see it on the text itself. And your videos reading the Voluspa, Grimnismal and Havamal were extremmely useful to make my own personal edition: out of your literal translation word by word I rearranged the texts the closest to the original metre that I could; and picking more suitable words to keep the metre, bc you used a lot of latin-rooted words in those videos which use to be 3 syllables-long or more, old norse words normaly are one or two syllables long instead. So even if those videos are not watched by many people, are very apretiated
I pleasantly stumbled upon this video (and intend to start watching your other videos) by accident while doing a simple search after hearing (and falling in love with) the music done by Heilung. I was curious if you are familiar with their work, and how in line with your translations and work their lyrics are, if you can comment on that? I am a complete novice and totally ignorant of how the various older languages interact, but I believe they are using similar works and information.
I know your primary focus is education, but you could probably do an indiegogo or something where you translate parts of the eddas into runes and have an artist make it all look nice in a format that people can hang on their wall.
It's not always easy to find the original text, even when it's a Latin or German version of old Norse text.
I believe the original kingsbook is particularly difficult to find in digital form, you had to grab it on an Icelandic file sharing site last I looked for it. I'm not certain it was ever officially uploaded, but someone uploaded the pictures used to make the private library use only copies.
There's certain silly ideas that have persisted from original Victorian age translations, the text being avaliable right there is a badge of authenticity.
For me, no, I don't read old Norse, but I like to be able to consult it. Because even though I can't just read it, I can use it, together with dictionaries, to kind of help say 'Oh, that's why the translation says this.' Usually, if the English translation seems like it doesn't make sense to me, or if there's something in which I have a very particular interest.
EDIT: I should mention that while I find philology fascinating, I am very, very bad at learning languages.
I would want to see the Old Norse next to the English translation so that I could compare the two, and be able to learn some of the original language that way. I could learn some phrases at least. I'm really surprised you don't do a side-by-side.
The Norwegian Konunga sagorna The edition printed in the 17th century and is free on Google books is full of whose odd spellings and abbreviations so thoose probly pretty close to the original, and they had used a printing press with normal letters it was only one problem they didn't have the letter ð just þ.
Your videos are amazing, I love your content! But please try to do something with the audio, it could be much louder and better processed.
The Poetic Edda readings are my favourites.
3:18 That is a very clear and pretty hand the scribe had. Do we know who wrote it?
Do you not have access to Super Thanks yet? If you do, you should turn it on!
I started an Old Norse class over t’Internet a couple of months ago, but I just don’t have the time at the moment to make weekly commitment - along with the hour or so per day required to make best use of that weekly commitment. So I’m returning to your series and the SignumU self study course, so I can go at a slower pace.
I’d LOVE an Old Norse book produced by you. “A New Introduction” is still too heavily dependent on understanding grammar, for me.
I just love listening to you speak Norse then in English. I don't particularly care about any of it as a professional endeavor.
I have scans of the Poetic Edda and I just read that when I want the original text. It is wierd because I have memorized several stanzas in Old Norse but it does not say exactly what I have learned. And it appears to have things crossed out. It is a little messy but the handwriting is pretty legible.
I imagine many headaches are involved in transition. I know you work in medieval text, but curious if you knew earlier rune/ogham text as well?
In "mildann", has the scribe written only the first stroke of the capital N? And if so is that a common way of writing it, or is it just because it's at the end of the line and he's run out of space for the rest of the letter?
Any video plans on explaining textual criticism and its current state in Old Norse studies?
May the algorithm gods bless you..
Good job. I am probably wrong (and apparently contradict both Jónsson and Evans), but could it be that "svági" was not an error but translates som "neither" (maybe similar to "svá eigi" in Old Icelandic, though it can be a "false friend")? Could it be that genitive "fjár" does not relate to a missed word but to the earlier adjective "góðan" (i.e. "matar-góðan", fjár-góðan") and the syntax is divided? I suppose Old Norse was not too strict regarding "correct" use of double negatives.
maybe codex runicus would count as a longer written text in runes
I think you skipped one reason for including the text of Havamal but not those of the sagas: Havamal is poetry, and the reader might want to glance from the translation to the (edited) "original" to see what the sound patterns are, or to identify a particular word that is repeated. If the lines match up (line 12 is the same in both edited text and translation), this is not too hard to do. So that particular reader becomes a little bit of a co-editor. Of course, listening to the poem read aloud would be an even better introduction to the translation, as you say.
Love your videos. I think that markets for translated text and original one don't really overlap, so it may actually be worth it to sell 2 books separately. After all, even before translation, the original text should exist in pretty printable form. All the ligatures are deciphered and all the decisions regarding mistakes are made, you might just as well tidy it up and try to earn a bit more money.
I think you really don't understand the problem.
The are a lot of work just get people to proof read a book. They must know the original text, language and interpretations. Even more important when you have Old Norse. If you don't spot the errors, they will be there forever. As a scholar, that PhD Jackson Crawford is, that is a bad thing. Yes, there will always be errors in books, but still.
And no, it is not just to take someone else's work and print, it is a thing called copyright. So the transcription from the original to the book are work. Selling two books are also expensive as there are then to setup costs for the book. One for the only English and one with the added but still translated/transformed Old Norse version. That is not making more money, it makes more work for less money for Jackson Crawford. It is probably more money, or at lest not lose money, to have both texts in the same book. Still lots of work.
I bet that a video on what some of these things would've theoretically sounded like in the time they were told vs. as it was written down would get a whole bunch of views if properly dressed up...
Tell us how you really feel about Bylock ...
Dr. Crawford, we would still be interested in having you speak to our graduate language/history club at UCCS. I'm sure we could arrange some kind of funding through the club system.
The stanza/verse (?) of Havamal you discuss, beginning around the 10:00 mark, the one dealing with gift-giving and reciprocity, seems to demonstrate parallelism. This, of course, is a common feature of Hebrew poetry as found in the psalms of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible or "Old Testament"). Is this also common in Old Norse poetry or is this quotation from Havamal an isolated instance of parallelism in Old Norse poetry?
Have you read the originals or translations? Because there are differences which can't get though in translations. There are truth in Missing in translation.
If someone is going to archaize something, they should go all out. Do it in P.I.E. or go home.
The more I am watching these videos it's feeling like Norse mythology is like a soup. Many can cook it, but some add extra ingredients, some leave some ingredients out, everyone has their own recipe and way, and the result always looks and tastes and smells a bit different.
But it's still the same soup. Well, except it isn't, at all. But it is still being given the same name.
I'm not much interested in Old Norse texts, but I am interested in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts of the Bible. Ancient Greek writers seem to have had a lot more calves than Norse people did, but still they abbreviated words like Θεου (ΘΥ with a bar on top). Also, some copyists made errors, and it can be difficult to figure out what the original wording was. This is complicated by that some of the writers of Greek NT texts (particularly Revelation) were native speakers of only Semitic languages, so you can't go by which has the best Greek grammar.
As to archaisms, the optative (a verb mood) was falling out of use in Greek when the NT was written. But in Acts 17, both Paul (possibly having been coached by Timothy) and the Athenians use a variety of verbs in the optative.
So when you start out getting engaged with the systems of old norse or the religious studies of the vikings, is there usually a stable amount of money given for teaching?
He has a few videos on teaching and doing this as a job. I would seek those out. There are a few things I have gleaned from them that I will try to summarize.
1. There aren’t many jobs in this field, and even fewer of them are tenure track positions as opposed to contract positions. It often seems completely random as far as who gets hired for what.
2. The pay seems average at best in these positions, and if you come in with a lot of debt this can be a real issue. He has a video from two or three years back with a Danish colleague, and a lot of their experience in teaching seemed to differ in large part because the Danish fellow had like $5000 in student debt when he graduated whereas Jackson had several times that much.
3. He more or less can live the lifestyle he wants now, but it takes a lot of work at essentially three jobs, publishing, UA-cam videos/Patreon, and consulting on film and video games. He quit teaching in universities because without a tenure track position the time requirements versus the reward just didn’t make sense. But that is now whereas when his first book was published he was teaching and working as a janitor to make ends meet, and he was left wondering if that would be the end of his career in this. And when he does talk about this he often mentions that he doesn’t know that he won’t go back to school to train as an engineer or something with a more secure paycheck some day.
Anyways I would go to his website and look through his video índex to watch some of these for a more indepth view.
Hey does your new book include the old Norse text?
OK I amazed how do we know that that is an error.
How do you translate? Do you just read the blocks of text with abbreviations and no punctuation or line breaks and are you able to split it into stanzas and translate to English immediately? Or is there a more intermediate form, maybe not as professional looking as what you showed in this video? It seems to me that just the foundation work to be able to start a translation would already by 75%+ of the way to "presenting the old Norse" the way people imagine it to be
But also I know nothing about this and can't speak or read any of these languages.
Pt 2 of the alphabet?
Is this the first video with gloves?
Nei
I have a question
I want a translation of Hrólfs saga Gautrekssonar that doesn't translate the male pronouns for Thorberg as female... because Thorberg is trans, like very clearly in the text, to me.
Ok, now I have to go watch those Norse text versions. Don’t want you to have done those in vain.
Had this thought the other day that with how sing songy scandinavian languages are today and compared to Old east norse compared to old west sounds more barbaric? Neaaat
So, i am disappointed that your (Mr. Crawford) comments on why people want old Norse sound as if they come out of the ivory tower you so often condemn. I understand your hesitance to include the old Norse. I might suggest a "deluxe edition". Even for those who want it for the flavor, what's wrong with that? I want to explain also, my feeling that the two books of your i own would be improved with more footnotes at least. I don't read old Norse, nor do I want to. I have friends who do. I have read other ancient languages (mostly Japanese) and find that having explanations really helps understand the context. I am fluent in French, and read Dumas original Three Musketeers, but still need notes and a translation to understand it. Even from french to English, translated jokes fall flat. A great deal is lost because the translations can't include the many levels of formality that exist in the original. So when i read your books, i find myself constantly flipping to tht introduction or the internet to understand. I have listened to 1 of your videos explaining the translations (the 3 hr++ compendium) but it is hard because i need both texts and a notepad and UA-cam is rubbish for backing up to listen to what i missed. Anyway, yes, we want to be entertained and we want to go deeper. That's why we listen to you and don't take our history lessons from "The Vikings" on history channel ;)
I think you're a little too hard on people who want the Old Norse for "decoration" as you put it. I think you're too immersed in the mentality of a scholar and not of a poet. What you call "decoration," I call the beauty of the language. There is more to a literary work than the bare meaning of its words - the way the phones flow or percuss, alliterative slides or fat syllabic beats - that you just can't translate. I think your readers may very well be interested in the artistry of the original language, and they don't necessarily have to know or be studying it to appreciate it. Yes their interests may sometimes come from naïve fanboying over the "Viking" culture, but there's nothing intrinsically wrong with that aesthetic curiosity.
I took a glance at your videos reading complete Old Norse works, and yes they are seem highly detailed and informative, but they're not very artistically appealing. I suspect that's why nobody has watched them, as the target audience is basically those with a this very niche scholarly interest. If you made videos just reading out the Old Norse, with cadence and emotion, and have translation just as subtitles, I bet that would appeal to a much wider audience. Would be another big project though, and honestly you don't strike me as much of an orator, so maybe someone else will have to take up that idea.
This video was fascinating though, a cool glimpse into the particular challenges of your field. I wouldn't have imagined the nuances and complexities of the original texts, how you have to decode or correct them just to even understand them in their own original language. Like with an ancient inscription in hieroglyphs or cuneiform, there's bits worn away, their uncertain glyphs, so you sort of get the puzzles they pose, but the nuances of lazy, sloppy scribes － very interesting!
Your old intro was better