hi I'm Dr Jackson Crawford I teach in
the department of Scandinavian at the
University of California Berkeley
formerly at UCLA and I've recently
translated the poetic ETA into Modern
English this is a continuation of my
patreon supported series of videos about
Old Norse language and myth and in
particular this video is part of a uh
cluster of videos that I'm making about
words in Old Norse that have multiple
meanings uh this particular video is
about
air and how to read air and its
different uses in Old Norse ER is one of
the first words that we learn in
learning Old Norse because it means
simply is so many of the times when you
run across it it's just going to mean is
and be very easily translatable that way
so in a sentence
like it is and Denmark no problem it
simply reads as is and sentence word
order all the same as in English the
difficulty lies in the fact that a is
also the relative pronoun and relative
conjunction in Old Norris it takes the
place of English who that which where
and when in relative senses so let's
take a look at some sentences or phrases
that contain this word in those senses
uh so we can get a a feeling for how
this is
used so let's take a look at this one
all that gold which you own or that you
own if you read the sentence expecting
air to only mean is it would be very
difficult to make sense out of it all
that gold is you own that just doesn't
read well in English or old noris but if
remember that a can stand for that or
which and the relative then we have a
good sentence all that gold that you own
but no is in translating a as that or
which it does not mean that in a sense
of pointing out something as that what
is that what did you mean by that it
does not translate that in that sense
only in the relative sense of um
the the bank that I use the bird that
flies uh the book which I love that kind
of thing that's the that or which in a
relative sense the air
translates similarly ER can translate
English who in the sense of a relative
so
Han he had a son who was named iner the
word order is different than English but
a is used here in the sense of who just
like it's used in the sense of that or
which there in a relative sense so he
had a son more information about the son
follows the relative who was named in
gelder again reading this is is uh
simply wouldn't make a sensible
sentence but notice that it is not used
to mean uh who in a questioning sense
this is not how you would ask who is it
this is how you would say uh the uh the
president is the one who decides or I am
the one who knocks or uh you're the one
uh who I saw that kind of thing a
relative
similarly can mean where in a relative
sense so in this
sentence Nar in hel where narvi
lived whenever you see a in a sentence
and it doesn't immediately uh translate
as is run down your options of that or
which or who or where and see what makes
sense and H is narvi lived doesn't make
sense that narvi lived who narvi lived
that doesn't make sense but what where
makes perfect sense because we have a
verb about living somewhere and we have
a place name so it can mean where in
that relative sense too similarly it can
mean when in a relative sense so and
when came home then he spoke so we have
a good hint that a here means when
because we also have a full in the sense
of thin uh so meaning at the same
time and also since the sentence almost
begins with air that's a pretty good
hint that it's not is right we wouldn't
say and is leot came home this is pretty
clearly a relative and since we're
talking about a time when he did
something when he spoke it's a pretty
good indication that air here means when
so that's a basic rundown of what a can
mean and the possibilities to watch out
for as you read in Old Norse text from
the University of California Berkeley
all the best to you