> Þá vaknaði hann ok mundi vísuna.

> Then he woke up and remembered the verse.

> Then he awoke and remembered the-verse.

Then he awoke and remembered the verse.

> Jón hét maðr.

> A man was named John.

> [There] was a person (man) called Jón

There was a man called Jón.

> Hann var Þorsteinsson.

> He was Thorstein's son.

> He was Þorsteinn’s-son

He was Þorstein’s son.

> Hann var húskarl á þeim bæ, er á Kúlu heitir.

> He was a man-servant at the farm which is called "at
> Kulu."

> He was a man-servant at that farm, which is-called ‘at
> Kúla’ (‘Knob’)

He was a housecarl at the farm that is called ‘at Kúla’
[‘knob’].

> Þar bjó sá maðr, er Kjartan hét.

> The man named Kjartan lived there.

> There dwelt that person (man), who was-called Kjartan.

The man who was called Kjartan lived there.

> Maðr hét Símon.

> A man was named Simon.

> [There] was a person (man) called Símon.

There was a man called Símon.

> Hann var Bjarnason.

> He was Bjarnar's son.

> He was Bjarni’s-son

He was Bjarni’s son.

> Hann var heimamaðr Hrafns á Eyri.

> He was Hrafn's servant at Eyri.

> He was one-of-the-household of Hrafn at Eyrr.

He was a member of the household of Hrafn at Eyrr.

> Símon átti barn ok byrgiskonu á Kúlu.

> Simon had children and a concubine at Kulu.

> Símon had a child (sg, children would be <börn>) and
> concubine (‘kept-woman’?) at Kúla.

Símon had a child and concubine at Kúla.

GPH says that <byrgiskona> is a very rare word: there are
only three other known instances, all early. The first
element appears in two other rare compounds, <byrgismaðr>
‘paramour’, translating Latin <corruptor> ‘corrupter,
briber, seducer’, and <byrgisskapr>, which is glossed
‘concubinatus’ (free love) by CV and ‘utugtig Omgang mellom
Mand og Kvinde’ (immoral intercourse between man and woman)
by Fritzner. It is apparently <byrgi> ‘what shuts off or
protects, enclosure, barricade’, but how it functions in
these compounds remains unclear.

> Jón fífldist at þeiri konu.

> John acted as a seducer to their wives.

> Jón was-seduced by that woman.

Jón seduced that woman.

> Einn helgan dag fór Símon til fundar við fylgjukonu sína
> ok sat á tali við hana, en Jón gekk at honum ok hjó hann
> banahögg.

> One holy day, Simon went to meet with his mistress and sat
> down to talk with her, but John attacked him and stuck him
> a death-blow.

> One holy day Símon journeyed to a meeting with (ie to see)
> his mistress (concubine) and sat in conversation with her,
> but (and) John went at (ie attacked) him and smote him a
> death-blow.

One holy day Símon went to visit his concubine and sat in
conversation with her, and Jón attacked him and struck him a
death blow.

> Fyrir þat víg gerði Hrafn Jón sekjan skógarmann.

> For that slaying, Hrafn sentenced John to outlawry. (Z.
> sekja 3: gøra e-n sekjan; esp. to sentence one to
> outlawry)

> For that slaying Hrafn made Jón a convicted outlaw.

For that killing Hrafn declared him under penalty as a full
outlaw.

I’m using GPH’s gloss of <sekr skógarmaðr>; however one
phrases it, the effect is that he lost all of his property
and all of his rights of any kind, no one was allowed to
help him in any way, and anyone could kill him with
impunity.

> Nökkuru síðar færði Jón Hrafni höfuð sitt, en Hrafn gaf
> Jóni upp höfuðit, en hann þakkaði Hrafni höfuðit ok
> launaði illu illt höfuð, sem síðan mun sagt verða.

> Somewhat later, John conveyed to Hrafn his (i.e., Simon's)
> head, but Hrafn gave up the head to John, and he thanked
> Hrafn for the head and rewarded ill stingely the head, as
> since will be related.

> Somewhat later Jón surrendered (surrendered his person,
> lit: conveyed his head) to Hrafn, but Hrafn
> ‘undid-the-surrender’ (lit: gave up the head) to Jón, and
> he (ie Jón) thanked Hrafn for
> giving-him-back-personal-control (lit: the-head) and
> rewarded badly the bad-‘unsurrendering’ (lit: [the] bad
> head), as later will become said. (ie as shall be
> explained later)

Somewhat later Jón surrendered unconditionally to Hrafn, but
Hrafn waived retribution, and he [= J.] thanked Hrafn for
this and rewarded with evil the gift of his evil life, as
will be said later on.

The Old Norse passing of the head back and forth is
delightful, but a literal translation just doesn’t work in
English. I could be wrong, but I take <illt höfuð> to refer
not so much to the life that Hrafn implicitly returned to
Jón.

> Hrafn bætti síðan fé fyrir víg Símonar frændum hans ok
> færði sjálfr fram sýknu hans.

> Hrafn then paid weregild for the slaying of his relative
> Simon and removed himself from his day on which lawsuits
> and actions are permitted.

> Hrafn after-that paid weregild for [the] slaying of Símon
> (gen sg) to his (símon’s) kinsmen (dative plural), and
> [Hrafn] himself brought forward (ie produced) the-charge
> (variant of <sök> + def art?) (ie he was both prosecution
> and (little or no) defence in the case).

After that Hrafn paid weregild for the slaying of his
kinsman Símon and himself declared his [= J’s] innocence [or
possibly ‘granted him a reprieve’].

CV s.v. <sykn> argues for a short vowel here and hence in
<sykna>, and Z. of course follows this; they have the
expression <fœra fram syknu e-s> ‘to declare one’s
innocence’. GPH evidently disagrees, as she makes it
<sýkna>, though glosses it ‘mitigation, reprieve’, a
slightly weaker sense than the ‘declaration of innocence’
implicit in the CV/Z gloss.

> 15. Atför Þorvalds við Hrafn.

> Thorvaldr's attack against Hrafn.

> [The] attack of Þorvaldr against Hrafn.

Þorvald’s attack against Hrafn.

> Þat var eitt vár, at Þorvaldr fór með fjölmenni norðan ór
> Ísafirði til Arnarfjarðar, ok er þeir kómu ofan á
> heiðarbrún í Arnarfjarðarbotni, þá sá sú kona för þeira,
> er Ástríðr hét.

> It was a certain spring that Thorvadlr went with many men
> north from Isafirth to Annarfjard, and when they came down
> to the edge of a heath in Arnarfjardarbotn, then the
> woman, named Astridr, observed their journey.

> That was one spring, that Þorvaldr journeyed with
> many-people from-the-north (ie south) out-of Ísafjörðr to
> Arnarfjörðr, and when they came down to [the]
> edge-of-[the]-heath into Arnarfjarðarbotn ([the] head of
> Arnarfjörðr), then that woman, who was-called Ástríðr, saw
> their journey.

One spring Þorvald travelled south from Ísafjórð to
Arnarfjörð with many people, and when they came down to the
edge of the heath at the head of Arnarfjörð, the woman who
was called Ástríð saw them travelling [‘their journey’].

> Hon var Gunnarsdóttir, Bárðarsonar, bræðrunga Hrafns.

> She was the daughter of Gunnar, the son of Bardar, Hrafn's
> younger-brother (?).

> She was [the] daughter-of-Gunnarr, son-of-Bárðr,
> male-first-cousin of Hrafn.

She was [the] daughter of Gunnar [the] son of Bárð, Hrafn’s
(female) first cousin.

That is, Ástríð was Hrafn’s first cousin. Hrafn’s father
was Sveinbjǫrn at Eyrr, another son of Bárð. A male first
cousin is <brœðrungr>, gen. sing. <brœðrungs>, so if
<bræðrunga> referred to Gunnar or Bárð, it would have to be
<bræðrungs>.

> Hon bjó at Borg.

> She lived at Borg.

> She dwelt at Borg

She dwelt at Borg [‘small, dome-shaped hill’].

> Ok er hon sá för margra manna saman, þá sendi hon son sinn
> út á Eyri til fundar við Hrafn at segja honum mannaferð.

> And when she saw many men travelling together, then she
> sent her son out to Eyri to meet up with Hrafn and tell
> him about the passage of people.

> And when she saw [the] journey of many persons (men)
> together, then she sent her son out to Eyrr to a meeting
> with (ie to see) Hrafn to say (relate) to him the
> passage-of-people.

And when she saw many people travelling together [‘[the]
journey of many people together’], she sent her son out to
Eyrr to visit Hrafn to tell him [of the] passage of people.

> Ok er Hrafn spurði þetta, þá sendi hann menn til
> Selárdals, at Ragnheiðarsynir kæmi til fulltings við hann
> með svá marga menn sem þeir fengi til, ok þeir söfnuðu at
> sér mönnum ok flotuðu skipum.

> And when Hrafn learned of this, then he sent men to
> Selardale that Gafnheidr's sons shoujld come to help him
> with so many men as they could get, and they gathered men
> to themselves and they launched ships.

> And when Hrafn  was-informed-of this, then he sent persons
> (men) to Selárdalr, (such) that [the] sons of Ragnheiðr
> would-come for-the-purpose-of support to him with as many
> persons (men) as they got, and they gathered to themselves
> persons (men) and launched ships.

And when Hrafn learned of this, he sent people to Selárdal,
that Ragnheið’s sons might come to his aid with as many men
as they might get, and they gathered men to themselves and
launched ships.

<Fengi> is past subjunctive.

> Þorvaldr kom litlu síðar á Eyri en Hrafn hafði sent menn
> yfir fjörð.

> Thorvaldr arrived a little later at Eyr, and/but Hrafn had
> sent men over (the) fiord.

> Þorvaldr came to Eyrr a little later than Hrafn had sent
> persons (men) over [the] fjord.

Þorvald arrived at Eyrr a little after [‘later than’] Hrafn
had sent men across [the] fjord.

> Þá er Hrafn hafði sanna frétt af ferð Þorvalds, þá bað
> hann sína menn búast við eftir föngum brennu þeira
> Ísfirðinga.

> When Hrafn had truly heard of Thorvaldr's journey, then he
> asked his men to prepare after the burned provisions of
> the people of Isfirthing.

> Then when Hrafn had a true account of [the] journey of
> Þorvaldr, then he bade his people (men) to
> ready-themselves according-to [their] means (<fang>, Z7)
> for [the] burning (arson attack) of them, [the]
> folk-of-Ísafjörðr.

When Hrafn had true intelligence of Þorvald’s journey, he
told his men to get ready as best they could for [the]
burning of the Ísfirðings.

I take it that the <brenna> in question is the one that the
Ísfirðings are about to attempt against Hrafn & Co.

On the basis of some mss. GPH inserts <kvámu> (<kváma>
‘arrival’) after <föngum>.

> Hrafn skipaði mönnum fyrir í húsum með vápnum ok lét vera
> opnar dyrr allar ok skaut í slám.

> Hrafn assigned men for (going?) in houses with their
> weapons and had all the doors opened and shot in struck.
> (??)

> Hrafn put persons (men) in charge (<skipa e-m fyrir, Z1)
> in farm-buildings with weapons and caused all doorways to
> be opened and (it) thrust into [the] bolts) (I suspect
> this is an impersonal construction but not sure what it
> means - the bolts were thrust into place?)

Hrafn placed men forward in [the] buildings with weapons and
had all of the doorways opened and shoved [the] bars in[to
their brackets].

I don’t think that we’re dealing with <skipa e-m fyrir e-t>
‘to put someone in charge of something’; I think that
<fyrir> here is adverbial in some sense. I’m not entirely
sure exactly what that sense is, but I think that he’s
placing them inside in position to defend the entrances.
GPH explains the last bit. Apparently the doors opened
outwards and when closed were secured by bars dropped
dropped into brackets on the doors themselvs and the bars of
the doorway. Hrafn opened the doors but dropped the bars
into place across the doorway.

Hrafn skipaði mönnum fyrir í húsum inni með vápnum, ok lét
vera opnar dyrr allar ok skaut slám fyrir innan.

> Hrafn hafði boga ok skaut.

> Hrafn had a bow and shot (it).

> Hrafn had a bow and shot [it].

Hrafn took a bow and shot.

> Þorvaldr bar eld at húsum, þegar er hann kom, ok kveikti
> fyrir þeim durum, er honum þótti minnst vörn fyrir verða,
> en þeir, er inni váru, báru í vatn ok sýru í eldinn ok
> slökktu svá sem þeir máttu.

> Thorvaldr set fire to some houses, immediately when he
> arrived, and kindled over the doors, which seemed to him
> least defence to be in his way, when they were inside,
> smeered water and sour whey in the fire and extinguished
> so as they were able.

> Þorvaldr bore (ie set) fire to [the] farm-buildings,
> as-soon-as-he came, and lit in-front-of those doorways,
> where [it] seemed to him to meet (ie that he met) [the]
> least defence, but (and) those, who were inside, carried
> in water and sprinkled (sprayed) [it] (variant spelling of
> <söru>, past tense of <sá>, Z3?) into the-fire, and
> extinguished such as they could.

Þorvald set fire to the buildings as soon as he arrived and
kindled [it] in front of those doorways before which there
seemed to him to be least defense, and those who were inside
carried water and sour whey to the fire and quenched it as
well as they could.

<Sýru> is the gen./dat./acc. sing. of <sýra> ‘sour whey’,
here the acc.

Brian