At 3:07:25 PM on Monday, January 11, 2010, Fred and Grace
Hatton wrote:

> It all started coming off the rails for me after they
> sprinkled the blood around.

The blood greased the skids, eh? <g> It does seem to have
a few trickier spots.

> Þann vetur er Andríður bjó fyrstan í Brautarholti
> That winter when Andrid lived for the first in Roadhold,

This is another one of those disconcerting discontinuous
constructions. <Fyrstan> is the masc. acc. sing. of
<fyrstr>, and the only masc. noun in sight that's in the
acc. sing. is <vetr>: if the fact that it's an acc. of time
doesn't give it away, the determiner <þann> does. Thus,
<fyrstan> goes with <þann vetr>, and it's 'The first winter
that A. lived at Roadholt'. (Note that it's 'holt', not
'hold'.)

> Hann reisti bæ við fjörðinn er hann kallaði Saurbæ.
> He built a farm at the firth which he called Dirt? Farm.

'Mud Farm' would probably be better; CV says that <saurr> in
place-names generally referred to swampy tracts, sour soil,
etc.

> Var það brátt stórkostlegt enda stóðu margar stoðir undir,
> vinir og frændur.

> It was soon in grand style and besides many pillars stood
> beneath, friends and kinsmen.

<Stoðir> must have its figurative sense here, 'supporters'
(among his friends and kinsmen). <Stórkostligt> is the
adjective 'grand', not the adverb <stórkostliga> 'in grand
style'. This sentence is part of the story of Þorgrím's
rise to power in the district, so I'd bet that the sense is
'It quickly became a magnificent place, and moreover he
acquired many supporters, both friends and kinsmen'.

> Hafði hann mannaforráð allt til Nýjahrauns og kallað er
> Brundælagoðorð.

> He had authority all the way to New Year??? and was called
> chieftain of Brun (burnt?) Dale.

<Nýjahraun> is a place-name, 'new lava-field'. If it's
really <Brundælagoðorð>, the first element is from <bruni>
'burning, heat', but I've also seen it as <Brunndælagoðorð>,
whose first element would be from <brunnr> 'a spring; a
well'. Whichever it is, it's a <goðorð>, not a <goði>: the
authority and office of the goði, and secondarily the
community over which it extended and its geographical
extent. One might say something like this: 'He had
authority over everything to Nýjahraun, an office called the
<goðorð> of the Brundalr-folk'. (<Brundæla-> is from
<Brundælir> 'people of Brundalr').

> Þar skyldu allir menn hoftoll til leggja.
> There all people should contribute temple toll.

'Tax' is a better choice than 'toll', I'd say.

> Það var allt tjaldað og gluggað.

> It was all ( made with) windows and (furnished with)
> hangings.

Given the English propensity for verbing nouns, you could
even say 'all tapestried and windowed'!

> Frammi fyrir þar stóð stallur með miklum hagleik ger og
> þiljaður ofan með járni.

> Before (them) there stood a pedestal made with great skill
> and covered down with iron.

Here you want Zoëga s.v. <ofan> (2): 'covered on top with
iron'.

> Þar á skyldi vera eldur sá er aldrei skyldi slokkna.
> There upon should be that fire which should never go out.

It's a small thing, but I'd translate <skyldi vera> as 'was
to be'.

> Á þeim stalli skyldi liggja hringur mikill af silfri ger.
> On that pedestal should lie a great ring made of silver.

And here 'was to lie', and similarly throughout.

> Þar skyldi í láta blóð það allt er af því fé yrði er Þór
> var gefið eða mönnum.

> Therein should blood be let? all that which was from those
> animals which Thor was given or people.

<Mönnum> is detached from its natural place in the phrase
<af því fé eða mönnum>: 'Therein was to be let all that
blood that came from the livestock or people that Thor was
given'.

> Hlautinu skyldi dreifa yfir menn eða fé en fé það sem þar
> var gefið til skyldi hafa til mannfagnaðar þá er
> blótveislur eru hafðar.

> (One?) should sprinkle the blood over people or animals
> and those animals which were given there should have for
> the pleasure of those people who are present? at the
> sacrificial feast.

<Mannfagnaðr> 'the fare at a banquet'; <hafa e-t til e-s>
'to use for': 'The sacrificial blood was to be sprinkled
over people or livestock, but that livestock that was
offered up was to be used as the fare when sacrificial
banquets were held'.

> En mönnum er þeir blótuðu skyldi steypa ofan í fen það er
> úti var hjá dyrunum.

> And for people when they should be sacrificed cast down
> into that bog which was outside near the door.

The disposition of sacrificed people is contrasted with that
of sacrificed animals, so this <en> is 'but': 'But people,
when they were sacrificed, were to be cast ...'.

> Þau þvertré voru í skálanum að Hofi er verið höfðu í
> hofinu þá er Ólafur Jónsson lét bregða.

> They were across in the hall at Hof which had been in the
> temple then when Olaf Jon's son had torn down?

<Þvertré> is 'a cross-beam'; here it's plural, as can be
seen from <þau> and <voru>.

Those cross-trees were in the hall at Hof that had been in
the temple when Ólafr Jónsson had it broken up/torn down.

> Lét hann þá öll kljúfa í sundur og voru þá enn alldigur.

> Then he had all cleft asunder and then (the ruins?) were
> still very big.

The cross-beams: <öll> is neut. acc. plur., referring to
<þau þvertré>.

> Þorgrímur lét setja vorþing á Kjalarnesi
> Thorgrim established a spring assembly at Kjalsness

Either <Kjalarnes> or, if you want to translate it,
<Keelsness>.

> Enn sér stað búðanna.
> Still (one?) sees places for the booths???

It's an impersonal construction (Zoëga s.v. <sjá> (5)): 'The
booths' place is still to be seen', i.e., 'You can still see
where the booths were'.

> Hann var snemmendis uppivöðslumaður mikill og þótti allt
> lágt hjá sér.

> He was soon a very overbearing man and all seemed to lie
> near him?????

Here <hjá> is 'in comparison with (Zoëga s.v. <hjá> (5)),
<lágt> is the neuter nom. sing. of the adjective <lágr>
'low, humble', and <allt> is the subject of <þótti> in the
first construction in Zoëga s.v. <þykkja>: 'and everything
seemed "low" (humble) in comparison with him'. (This is of
course from *his* point of view!)

> Það var að ágætum gert hversu fögur hún var og því var hún
> kölluð Ólöf hin væna.

> It was excellently? done? how fair she was and for that
> reason was she called Olof the vain.

Zoëga s.v. <ágæti>: <gera e-t at ágætum> 'to praise highly';
s.v. <vænn> (4) 'fair to behold, fine, beautiful. 'It was
highly praised how fair she was, and therefore she was
called Ólöf the fair.' Or in more natural English: 'Her
beauty was highly praised, and therefore she was called Ólöf
the fair.'

Brian