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ofthemaincharactersgoessofarastoprepareforanexpeditionbyembarking
onacourseofstudiesinvernacularlanguages.Asarule,however,everyone
seemstohaveunderstoodeveryoneelsewithoutdifficultyinthemedieval
Northernworld.EventhosewhotravelledtoConstantinopletojointhe
Varangianguarddonotseemtohavehadproblemscommunicatingwithothers;
atleast,iftheydid,theyleftusnorecordofsuchproblems.
Theoldestexistingmanuscriptsindicatethat,bythetwelfthcenturyatthelatest,
thislinguisticparadisehadbecomeathingofthepast.TheChristianizationof
Icelandaroundtheyear1000broughtaboutagreatneedtotranslateallsortsof
religioustextsintoalanguagethatthenewconvertscouldunderstand.
AccordingtotheFirstGrammaticalTreatise,anIcelandicworkongrammar
datingbacktothemiddleofthetwelfthcentury,‘translationsofholyworks’
existedinIcelandatthetime.Tojudgefromexistingfragmentsandtheearliest
extantworks,thesewouldhaveprimarilybeenexpositionsandother
interpretivewritings,ratherthanactualtranslationsinthemodernsense.Itisalso
possiblethataccountsofthelivesofsomesaintsexistedinIcelandicby1150.
Itisworthpointingoutthattheverbaðþýða,nowusedtomean‘totranslate’,
wasnotusedinthissenseinmedievaltimes.Itmeant,asarule,‘tooblige’or
‘toobey’,whiletheverbmostcommonlyusedfortheprocessoftranslation
was,itseems,aðsnúa,whichliterallymeans‘toturn’.Inthelargecorpusof
writtenIcelandiccollectedandexcerptedoverseveraldecadesbythe
UniversityofIcelandDictionaryProject,examplesoftheuseoftheverbað
þýðatomean‘translate’donotappearbeforethemiddlethirdofthesixteenth
century,whenthefirsttranslationsoftheNewTestamentwereundertaken.
TheoldestIcelandicbookofhomilies(nowpreservedintheRoyalLibraryin
Stockholm)datesfromaround1200andcontainsacollectionofsermons,half
ofwhichatleastarebasedonforeignmodels.Theseworkshaveseldombeen
‘translated’directly;theyaremostlyretellingsorevencombinationsofseveral
worksinone.Interestingly,oneofthetextsinthisbookofhomiliesaddresses
thelistenersdirectlyandbidsthemmakeallowancesforthepriestswhohad
difficultyinexpressingthemselvesinIcelandic.
InordertomakeChristianteachingsasaccessibleaspossibletothe
commoners,theseearlymedievaltranslators,allofthemclericallytrained,
adoptedasimple,idiomaticstyleofprose,occasionallyadornedwithnative
proverbsandsimilitudesfromeverydaylife.Latinflavoureddictionandsyntax,
whichlatercametocharacterizemuchoftheOldIcelandictranslationof
religiousprose,arenotgenerallyfoundintheearlyhomilies.Anumberof
classicalrhetoricaldevicessuchasantithesis,chiasmus,anaphora,alliteration
andwordpairingweresometimesaddedtoelevatethestyleofcertainhomilies.
Anotherformofpopularmedievalliterature,thelivesofsaints,wasalsoquick
totakerootinIceland.Over100accountsofthelivesofdifferentsaintsexistin
translationinmanuscriptsdatingfromthelatetwelfthcenturyonwards.Theyare
drawnprimarily,butnotexclusively,fromLatinsourcessuchastheapocryphal
booksoftheNewTestamentandlegendssuchasJacobusdeVoragine’s
LegendaaureaandGregory’sDialogues.
Inhisauthoritativework,TheOriginsofIcelandicLiterature,TurvillePetre
(1975)maintainsthatearlyreligiouswritingstaughtIcelanderslessonsthatthey
laterputtouseinwritingsecularsagas.Likethehomilies,theearliesttranslated
accountsofthelivesofsaintsshowverylittleinfluenceofLatinsyntaxand
containnomorethanafewloanwordsfromthatlanguage.EventheGreekand
RomangodsarereplacedbyNorseones:ÓðinnforMercury,ÞórrforJupiter
andFriggforVenus.Theirlively,chattystylehardlydiffersfromthestyleof
IcelandicworkssuchasthesagasofkingsorofIcelanders.Thissituationdid
notendure,however,andfromthemidthirteenthtothefifteenthcenturymany
accountsofthelivesofsaintswerewritteninamoreornate,floridstylewhich
consciouslyimitatedLatinandoftentranslatedLatinconstructionsliterally.
Inadditiontoprovidingthecommonpeoplewithproperexamplestofollowin
theformofthelivesofsaints,thechurchmen,whoinpracticaltermswerethe
onlyeducatedclassinthecountry,seemtohavethoughtitimportantto
introducethemtoChristianreligiousandphilosophicalthought.Oneofthebest
sellingworksoftheMiddleAges(tojudgebythenumberoftranslationsand
copiespreserved)wastheElucidariusofHonorius