> Skammkell mælti: "Vel er við orðið bóndi en hvergi varst þú
óreiðulegri á þinginu þá er þú tókst sjálfdæmið og þú hélst á atgeirinum."
> Skammkel said "It is well with words - Farmer - (?well-spoken) but
how (?CV - Unreliable) / angry were you at Thing when you took for
yourself - self-judgement and you held onto the Halberd
'orðið' = 'orðit', supine (neuter past participle) of 'verða', rather
than 'orð' + the definite article. Zoega 'verða við' "to respond to";
Online Icelandic Dictionary 'verða vel við e-u' "to accept something
calmly" -- which seems to be the meaning here. MM & HP "You are
taking it calmly". Here with an impersonal construction, lit.: "Well
is to-that responded", "that is well (i.e. calmly) responded to."
Incidentally, I'm guessing there's a bit of non-too-subtle innuendo
going on with Skammkell's constant references to Gunnarr's 'atgeirr'...
> Runólfur gaf Otkatli góðar gjafar og kvað þá eigi sjást mundu oftar.
Runolf gave Otkel good gifts and said they would not see each other
more often (or ever again ?) (was this meant to indicate a "prophetic
utterance")
Yes & yes, 'eigi ... optarr' = "never again", and I think you could be
right about it being prophetic. When people say things in that tone
of voice in sagas, they usually come to pass (unless there's someone
even more foresighted around to contradict or qualify them).
LN