Talk:Hrafnkels saga

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Some notes on what not to do.

• Icelanders are referred to by their given name, not their patronym. Okay, not always in an English text. But in enlightened scholarly discourse on Old Icelandic subjects I think this has become the norm. Or at least a norm. Tell me if I'm wrong. Some Icelanders, like Sigurður Nordal, have family names. They can be referred to with them, indeed we often speak of Nordal, even in Icelandic. In the article I've referred to every Icelander by their given name for consistency but if you want to change Sigurður to Nordal go right ahead. I would not revert such a change. If you insist you could also order him under N in the bibliography. I'd rather not, though. See Naming conventions of Iceland.
• There is no consensus on the spelling of Old Norse names in an English text. None. Anywhere. Everyone seems to do it her own way. The matter has been discussed on Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Old Norse/Old Icelandic/Old English) but there is no consensus. My personal usage, however, is consistent within this article and I think it would currently be best if my spellings there were not changed.
• The article uses British spelling. This is just a completely arbitrary decision I made. There is no particular reason. I might as well have flipped a coin. However, to maintain consistency, it is Wikipedia policy to maintain the existing spelling convention of an article.
• The names of sagas are traditionally spelled as in the article. Also in English discussion. Please don't change "Hrafnkels saga" to "Hrafnkels Saga" or some such.
• Sweeping changes are probably best discussed here before implementation.

Haukurth 00:59, 25 Jan 2005 (UTC)

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In the 1975 Britannica version there are all of four lines on Hrafnkels saga.

Their article on sagas in general, however, is much better and more coherent than ours. I'm not sure how best to proceed in improving it. Some people always seem to want to define the term so broadly that it all but loses its meaning. A word that lumps together The Iliad, Beowulf and Njáls saga is probably not very useful.

Haukurth 14:31, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Suggestion

This would be more interesting to read if there were some examples or extracts or excerpts from the actual saga itself. As it stands, there is about nothing from Hrafnkel's saga itself. Plenty about it though... --Maru (talk) 21:19, 17 September 2005 (UTC)

I fully agree. Originally I included some quotes from the saga but the pedants at WP:FAC insisted they'd be moved to Wikiquotes. :) - Haukurth 21:07, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Ideas for improving the article

• I think that including some text from the saga would make the long summary less boring. Originally I included some quotes but formalists were quick to demand that they be moved to Wikiquote :) But I think that direct quotes inside the summary would make it more fun and give the reader a better idea of how the saga actually reads.

• It would seem natural to have something on translations of the saga, especially English translations. A little overview of those would surely be helpful for readers looking for more information.

• If the translations were checked then it would be natural to look at what anglicized forms of the Old Norse names the translators have used. There might be place for this information in the article.

• There's some archaeology going on near Hrafnkelsdalr now and remains have been found of buildings from the saga-age. Maybe it would be fun to include something on that but I suppose it should wait for some formal publications to use as references.

- Haukur Þorgeirsson 00:51, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

I'll add a list of English translations. Haukur 14:55, 28 July 2006 (UTC)