Okkur Kært (Íslenska) [All Is Found]

Revisiting a much-loved song! This time in Icelandic!

You can find the French version here, with my comments.

This version is pretty to the point as a prophecy. The last line is a little more heartwarming than in the English version though (‘when all is lost, then all is found’).

It’s pretty cool that the structure of the song pretty much resembles the English (original) version, in that the first and last stanzas end in ‘okkur kært’, just as how the English version ends the first and last stanzas in ‘all is found’. Maybe it’s because it’s easier to translate across Germanic languages? Also in terms of rhyme scheme: both are AABB CCDD EFEF AABB. The change in rhyme scheme from XXYY to XYXY happens when the melody changes up too, which is interesting. (Ok, the first line’s AA is not really AA, but come on…I do that too in my poems.)

Yes, I am currently gushing over Icelandic. I especially love the words ævileið (life-way) and töfradraum (dreams of magic). There’s just no way to make ‘lifeway’ or ‘magicdream’ work in English – the latter is worse to me because it mixes Greco-Roman with Germanic origin words. But ‘ævileið‘… ‘everlead’? Hmm…

But, even though I am no expert in Icelandic, I am mildly disturbed by some instances where the grammar of the words seems not to add up. I’ll comment about them later. For now, just enjoy the song!

The video is taken from FlamSparks. Thanks again! The lyrics are an average of those found on lyricstranslate and those found in a video uploaded by Gyllti Hanskinn (The Gilded Glove). Gyllti Hanskinn’s version also has subtitles for the scenes directly before and after the song. Check it out!

Okkur Kært (Dear To Us)

Written by: Robert Lopez, Kristen Anderson-Lopez
Composed by: Christophe Beck
Performed by: Thelma Hrönn Sigurdórsdóttir

[…Allt í lagi. Komið nær, kúrum saman…]
[…Alright. Come ye near, let’s cuddle together…]

Norðanvindur strýkur haf / Þar er áin allra minninga
(The) Northern Wind strokes (the) sea / There is the river of all memories

Sofðu, ástin, blítt og vært / Því allt hún geymir okkur kært
Sleep thou, love, blithely and soundly / Because she keeps all (that is) dear to us

Þar hún streymir, djúp og breið / Og þér sýnir þína ævileið
There she streams, deep and broad (wide) / And to thee shows thy life’s path

Kafðu djúpt í hennar hljóm / En ekki of langt – þá færð þinn dóm
Dive thou deeply in(to) her sound / But not too long – then (thou) getst thy doom

Hún syngur allt sem syngja má / Hún syngur um þinn töfradraum
She sings all that she may sing / She sings about your dreams of magic

En líka um (þá/það) sem hug þinn hrjá / Þolir þú þann stríða straum?
But also about (her/them/it) who vex thy mind / Withstandst thou that strong stream?

Norðanvindur strýkur haf / Þar er móðir sem að sögur gaf
(The) Northern Wind strokes (the) sea / There is a mother who gave (told) sagas (stories/histories)

Komdu, ástin, heim(a) er vært / Þar allt við finnum okkur kært
Come thou, love, home is calm (safe?) / There we find all (that is) dear to us

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Notes

Since I am not a proper translator of Icelandic (I have been trawling 4 different websites to find suitable meanings for words), I have taken some liberties with the translation.

I have tried to keep true to the grammar of Icelandic, and so færð þinn dóm and Þolir þú…? are rendered ‘getst thy doom’ and ‘Withstandst thou…?’ However, it may be more useful to think of these as ‘thou shalt get thy doom’ and ‘shalt thou withstand…?’ just written in a super old-timey way.

Also, the translation for blítt og vært has been translated in other media as ‘safe and sound’ or ‘warm and safe’, but vær(t) in my reference dictionaries is ‘calm, tranquil’, and so I have translated it as ‘soundly’ and ‘calm’ at different points. Meanwhile, blítt comes from blíður, which is from the same origin as English blithe, so while it means ‘mild, tender’ in Icelandic, I have taken the liberty to translate it as ‘blithe’.
And I mean, just look at how Anna sleeps in the video (0:41) :3

Questions

What is sem að? How is it different from sem?

Isn’t dóm(ur) judgment rather than death? Is there an idiom in Icelandic I’m missing?
By the way, English doom used to mean ‘judgment’ too. Doomsday is more accurately understood as ‘day of judgment’ rather than ‘day of (mass) death’. But you see how the meanings are related – often it is thought we are judged when we die.

Now, nitpicking!

Þolir þú þann stríða straum? – stríða is a weak declension of the accusative case. But straumur is a strong noun, and I would expect stríðan.

Komdu, ástin, heim(a) er vært – heima is an adverb, as I understand. In this case, since heim(a) seems to function as the subject in the clause/sentence heim(a) er vært, I would expect heimur. The -ur could be shortened, so something like heim’r er vært.
On that note, if it were heimur, I would expect vær, without the t at the end.

Norðanvindur strýkur haf – both Norðanvindur and haf don’t have the definite article (i.e. ‘the’) written onto them. I am still awaiting confirmation if the lack of ‘the’ means the line could technically be understood as ‘A northern wind strokes a sea.’ Although probably the lack of ‘the’ is for rhythm purposes.
By the way, with ‘the’, I would expect Norðanvindurinn strýkur hafið.