> Getr hann nú um síðir losat sik, stendr nú á fætr ok sér,
> at hin skessan er búin at koma hinum báðum undir sik.

> He now at last gets himself loose, now stands on (his)
> feet and sees, that the giantess who prepared to take them
> both under himself.

> He is able now at last to free himself, stands now on
> (his) feet and sees, that the-other (hinn, Z1) giantess is
> ready to bring (koma + dative) them both under herself.

He is now at last able to free himself [and] now stands on
his feet and sees that the other giantess is ready to
overcome them both.

> Grípr hann nú undir kjálka hennar ok setr hnén við
> hrygginn ok brýtr hana svo á bak aftr, en í því hljóp úr
> henni svo vond gufa framan í hann, at hann rauk út af ok
> vissi ekkert af sér um stund.

> He now grasps under her jaw-bone and sets (his) knee
> against her spine and forces her so back, and in that
> jumped from her so difficult steam from the front side in
> him, that he emitted smoke out of (or "he was driven out
> of") and knew nothing of himself for a while.

> He grips now under her jaw-bone and sets (places) the
> (his)-knee against the (her)-spine and forces her back
> (brjóta á bak, Z7) backwards, but at that (moment) leapt
> (spurted) out-of her such a bad (foul) vapour
> from-the-front into him (into his face?), that he
> was-driven (recoiled, rjúka, Z2) out from (it) and knew
> nothing of himself (ie lost his senses) for a while.

He now seizes [her] under her jawbone and sets his knee
against her spine and thus forces her back, but at that
moment such a wretched vapor leaped out of her onto his
front [so yes, probably into his face] that he was driven
out therefrom and knew nothing of himself for a while.

> En Einarr komst nú undan henni ok náði sverði Hrana ok hjó
> af henni hausinn, en hún hafði bitit Gest á barkann áðr,
> ok var hann dauðr.

> And Einarr now escaped her and got hold of Hrani's sword
> and hacked off her skull, but she had bitten Gest
> previously on his windpipe, and he was dead.

> But Einarr escapes (lit: brings-himself from under (away))
> from her and got-hold-of (the) sword of Hrani and hewed
> off her skull, but she had bitten Gest on the-weazand
> (wind-pipe, oesophagus - what a great word!) already, and
> he was dead (not so lucky now, having contributed bugger
> all to the struggle)

But Einar now escapes from her and got hold of Hrani’s sword
and struck off her skull, but she had already bitten Gest on
the windpipe, and he was dead.

I also like <weasand> (note the more usual spelling) and its
obsolete synonym <weezle>, from the same root with a
different suffix. It’s a strange word: its Old English
etymon and its Old High German, Old Saxon, and Old Frisian
cognates have the form of a present participle or
participial nomen agentis, but no suitable verb is known.

Hm; poor Gest seems to have been a victim of pop goes the
weezle!

> Ferr nú Einarr at vita, hvort Hrani er lífs, ok raknar
> hann þá við.

> Einarr now knows, whether Hrani is alive, and he then
> recovers his senses.

> Einarr now goes to see (vita, Z3)whether Hrani is alive,
> and recovers his senses then.

Einar now goes to see whether Hrani is alive, and he [=
Hrani] then recovers his senses.

> Var honum mjök óþægt.

> He was very troubled.

> (It) was much vexed with him (Hrani) (ie Hrani was greatly
> troubled)

He was much troubled.

> Sækir nú Einarr vatn ok gefr honum.

> Einarr now looks for water and gives him (some).

> Einarr goes-to-fetch now water and gives (it) to him.

Now Einar goes to fetch water and gives it to him.

> Svo batnar Hrana smám saman víman.

> So Hrani recovers by degrees from his daze (Modern
> Icelandic has "intoxication," but I think "daze" may work
> better here.) (Z. saman: smám saman = by degrees)

> So the-giddiness (víma, CV) improves for Hrani (ie Hrani
> recovers from the-giddiness) by degrees (bit by bit).

So Hrani recovers gradually from the giddiness.

> Birtir nú hríðina, ok kemr gott veðr.

> The fog now lifts, and good weather arrives.

> (It) clears now the-snowstorm (impers , ie the snowstorm
> clears up) and good weather comes.

The snowstorm now clears up, and good weather arrives.

> Vóru þeir þar um nóttina, ok daginn eftir dysja þeir Gest
> ok þær í öðrum stað.

> They stayed there the night, and the day after they bury
> Gestr in a cairn and the giantesses in another place.

> They were (stayed) there during the-night and the-day
> after (ie next day) they bury Gestr (in a cairn) and those
> (giantesses) in another spot.

They stayed there during the night, and the next day they
bury Gest in a cairn and the [giantesses] in another place.

> Heita þar síðan Skessudysjar.

> It has been named there since (then) Giantess-cairn.

> Afterwards there (ie that place) is-called Skessudysjar
> (Cairns-of-the-Giantesses).

That place is since called Skessudysjar [‘giantess-cairns’].

> Eftir þetta fara þeir at leita hellisins, ok um síðir koma
> þeir at gljúfrum nokkurum.

> After this they go looking for the cave, and after a while
> they come to some rocky ravine. (Z. fara 5: fara leita =
> to go seeking)

> After this they journey to look for the-cave, and at last
> they come to a certain rocky-ravine.

After this they journey to look for the cave, and at last
they come to a certain rocky-sided ravine.

> Var þar hamarr stórr ok illt atgöngu.

> There was there a large crag and a poor inroad.

> A large hammer (precipice) was there and (it was)
> difficult of intrusion (ie hard to get passed, illr + gen,
> Z2).

There was a great crag there and [it was] hard to pass
[‘difficult of intrusion’].

<Atgöngu> is a minor problem: from its form it can only be
an oblique case of <atganga>, in this construction
presumably the genitive, but the desired sense is listed
only for <atgöngr>. Like Alan, I think it likely that the
sense is to be understood for the weak feminine noun as
well.

> Sjá þeir undir hamrinum, hvar skugga bar á í einum stað.

> They see under the crag, where a shadow fell upon in a
> place.

> They see under the hammer (precipice), where (it) bore a
> shadow (ie a shadow fell)  in a certain place.

They see below the crag where a shadow fell in a certain
place.

> Klifra þeir nú ok vaða þangat.

> They climb now and wade through there.

> They climb now and wade (through the snow?) thither.

They climb now and trudge thither.

Baetke has among others the glosses 'mit schweren Schritten
gehen, (mühsam) stapfen' (to go with heavy steps,
(laboriously) trudge).

> Er þeir koma þar, eru þar dyrr ok hurð í hálfa gátt.

> When they arrive there, there were there a doorway and a
> door in a part of a rabbett of a doorsill.

> When they come there, (there) is there a doorway (gramm
> plural) and (the) door in half (the) doorsill-rabbet (ie
> half closed, if not half open (gátt, CV)

When they arrive there, there was there a doorway with the
door ajar.

According to the Icelandic Online Dictonary, <gátt> is now
'doorway', and <dyrnar eru í hálfa gátt> is ‘the door is
ajar’.

> Ganga þeir nú í hellinn ok inn eftir honum, þar til þeir
> finna enn nú dyrr ok járnhurð fyrir.

> They now go in the cave and inside along it, until they
> find now one doorway and an iron door in front.

> They go (on foot) now into the-cave and inside along it,
> until the find now yet (another) doorway and an iron-door
> in-front-of (facing, confronting?) (them).

They now walk into the cave and inwards along it until they
find now yet a[nother] doorway and an iron door in the way
[or possibly ‘before [them]’, but the sense is about the
same either way].

> Nú heyra þeir stórt hrot, svo eigi þóttust þeir þvílíkt
> heyrt hafa.

> They now hear a great snore, such that it seemed they had
> not heard the likes of.

> Now they hear a great howling (cf hrot-garmr, Z1, but
> ‘snoring’ seems likely in the context), so they
> bethought-themselves suchlike not to have heard (ever
> before).

Now they hear a great snore, whose like they thought not to
have heard.

<Hrot> definitely looks like a derivative of <hrjóta> 'to
snore' (past part. <hrotinn>).

> Leitast þeir svo við at komast inn ok geta eigi, ganga svo
> báðir á hurðina í senn sem vaskligast, þar til hún hrökk
> upp.

> Thus they try to come in and aren't able, so both go to
> the door at the same time as the bravest, to where it
> (i.e., "the door) fell up.

> With such (svá við, as a result, accordingly?) they
> search-for-a-way to bring themselves inside and (but) are
> not able, both go (on foot) thus to the-door
> at-the-same-time as valiantly-as-possible (sem +
> superlative), until it (the door) was-thrown open (hrökkva
> upp, CV).

Thus they try to come inside and cannot, then both go at the
door at the same time as manfully as possible until it was
thrown open.

Baetke has <leitask við at [inf.]> 'to try [to do]'. I
think that <svo> here is simply ‘then’, as in modern <svo
fór ég> 'then I went'.

> Var þar nú bjart nokkut sakir glugga, er á berginu var
> austan til.

> It was now somewhat bright there on account of openings,
> which at the precipice was to the east (i.e., "facing
> east").

> (It) was there now somewhat bright by-reasons-of
> ‘windows’, which were on-the-eastern-side in the rock
> (precipice).

It was now somewhat bright there on account of window
openings that were on the eastern side of the rock face.

> Í því vaknar karlinn, ok var hann næsta stórr ok
> illúðligr.

> At that the gentleman wakes up, and he was rather large
> and evil-boding.

> In that (moment) the old-man (karl, Z3) wakes-up, and he
> was rather (ie very) big and grim.

At that moment the old man wakes up, and he was rather large
and grim.

> Hann spyrr, hvat um sé hark þetta ok sagði: "Hefði gesta
> von verit hér, þá hefði ek sagt mannaþef í helli mínum, ok
> ills hafa mér gefizt draumar í dag, eða hversu gekk ykkr
> reisan, ok færið þit mér höfuð Hrana?"

> He asks what this noise would be concerning, and said:
> "Has a hope of guests been here, that I had said (why
> "said"?) a man's odor in my cave, and it has poorly given
> me a dream today, how did your journey go, and you two
> brought me Hrani's head?"

> He asks, what this commotion is about and said: “Had
> (there) been an expectation of guests here, then I
> would-have reported (declared, sworn) (the)
> smell-of-humans (was) in my cave, and dreams have-proven
> (gefast, Z8) for me of a bad (kind) (not sure why the use
> of genitive, ills?) today, so how went the-journey (reisa,
> CV) for you-two, and did you-two bring to me the head of
> Hrani? (the poor old man’s a bit confused)”

He asks what this noise is about and said: ‘Had there been
an expectation of guests here, I would have declared
man-smell in my cave, and I have been given dreams of evil
today; so how went your [dual] journey, and did you two
bring me Hrani’s head?

I’m taking <ills> as the genitive of <illt> used as a neuter
noun; Baetke has <e-m gefsk e-t> 'someone is given
something'.

Brian