At 2:53:04 AM on Tuesday, July 23, 2013,
elliot.holland@... wrote:

> •Var þar fjölmenni mikið og hið skörulegsta lið, ríða nú
> leið sína og koma í Tungu. (Among other things, this
> sentence uses the superlative form of an adjective.)

> --Was there many-people (nom. neu) great/tall and the most
> notable folk (n nom.), to ride now way (fem.) his and to
> come in Tungu.

> --There were many great people and the most notable folk
> now get on their way (riding) and arrive in Tungu.

<Mikið> actually modifies <fjölmenni>: 'a great multitude'
instead of just 'a multitude', or 'a great crowd' instead of
'a crowd'. In context I’m inclined to take <skörulegsta>
here to be 'most magnificent' rather than 'most notable'.
<Ríða> and <koma> are 3rd plur. pres. indic., not
infinitives. Fairly literally, if not the most idiomatic
English:

A very great multitude was there, and the most magnificent
company; [they] ride now their way and arrive at Tunga.

The choice of locative preposition (<í>, <á>, etc.) with a
place-name depends to a considerable extent on the type of
terrain implied by the place-name. In general place-names
denoting low land, firths, inlets, valleys, woods, nesses,
etc. take <í>, but in such cases it usually shouldn’t be
translated 'in'. Here 'arrive at' and 'come to' would both
be fine.

> •Snorri gaf Þorkatli gjafar sæmilegar og þeim Guðrúnu
> báðum, slíkt sama öðrum sínum vinum og frændum.

> --Snorri (nom) gave Thorkatli (dat.) gifts (acc. pl.)
> honerable and to them (dat) Gudhrunu asked (for
> something), such (neu) befit his other (masc.) friends
> (pl. dat. mas. strong) and kinsmen (dat. pl. mas.).

Here <báðum> is the dat. of <báðir> 'both' (all genders);
it’s part of the dat. phrase <þeim Guðrúnu báðum> 'them
both, Guðrún [and Þórkel]'. Constructions like <þeim
Guðrúnu> (with or without <báðum>) naming one person but
talking about more than one ('them') are quite common; you
have to fill in the missing person(s) from context.

<Slíkt> is the neuter of <slíkr> used as an adverb (Z3)
meaning 'in such wise, so, in similar fashion'; <sama> is
the adjective <samr> 'the same' in the masc. acc. plur.
However, the phrase <slíkt sama> is simply 'similarly'.

> --Snorri gave Thorkatli honorable gifts and asked them for
> Gudhrunu, such as something that would befit his friends
> and kinsmen.

The nom. is <Þórkell>.

Snorri gave them both, Þórkel and Guðrún, honorable gifts,
[and] similarly] his other friends and kinsmen.

By the way, ON <sœmiligr> is the source of English <seemly>.

> •Um sumarið eftir kom skip af hafi í Hvítá.

> --Around summer, after came (3rd. past.) ship from the sea
> (dat.) in Hvita.

> --During the summer after, the ship comes from the sea to
> Hvita.

<Um sumarið eftir> can be translated simply 'the next
summer'. (Despite what the dictionaries say, <um> is not
always to be translated 'during' in these expressions of
time.) No ship has previously been mentioned, so it’s just
'a ship'. <Hvítá> is the name of a river: <Hvít-á> 'White
River'.

The next summer a ship came from the sea into the Hvítá
[White River].

> •Það skip átti hálft Þorleikur Bollason en hálft áttu
> norrænir menn.

> --That ship had half þorleikur Bollason, but half had
> norwegian (acc. f. like heiða) men (acc.).

> --Thorleikur Bollason had half the ship, but Norwegian men
> had half.

I’d use 'owned' rather than 'had'. I think that in this
case <en> is simply narrative continuation, better
translated 'and'.

> •Og er Bolli spyr útkomu bróður síns ríður hann þegar
> suður til Borgarfjarðar og til skips. (Note that "er" can
> be something other than the verb "to be.")

> --And when Bolli, asks comes out (cannot find in
> dictionary. just guessing) of brother (ten mas.) of him
> (ten) he rode at once southernly to Borgarjarði and to the
> ship (ten).

> --And when boll asks for his brother to come out, he at
> once rode south to Borgarfjardhar and to the ship.

This is <spyrja> Z4 'to hear, be informed of'. <Útkoma>
'coming out to Iceland' is in Zoëga in a section of <út->
compounds headed by <útjörð>.

And when Bolli hears of his brother’s arrival in Iceland,
immediately rides south to Borgarfjörð and [the] ship.

(You probably know already, but I just approved your
membership in Cybalist. I hope that it doesn’t turn out to
be too disappointing: most of the really knowledgeable
people no longer post, and there a few genuine cranks.)

Brian