Thank you for your help. Isn't it remarkable that combatants always fall
dead immediately with no untidy groaning, thrashing or lengthy suffering.
One of the definitions for móti in Zoega, which unless I read it wrong = í
móti, is "in return for." But maybe it can't be used without the sense of
"for?"
Grace

> Í móti Kára réð Mörður Sigfússon og Sigurður Lambason og
> Lambi Sigurðarson.

> Mord Sigfuss' son and Sigurd Lambi's son and Lambi
> Sigurd's son attacked Kari in return.

I don't see any basis for 'in return'.

> Þorgeir mælti: "Hvort vilt þú að við vekjum þá?"

> Thorgeir spoke, "Do you wish that we wake them?"

> Kári svarar: "Eigi spyrðu þessa af því að eigi hafir þú
> þetta áður ráðið með þér að vega eigi að liggjandi mönnum
> og vega skammarvíg."

> Kari answers, "You did not ask this because you have not
> previously agreed not to slay sleeping men and slay in
> shameful manslaughter." (too many negatives??)

You got it basically right; now you just have to interpret
it properly! It's a litotes, like 'not unattractive' for
'attractive'; the literal sense is more or less 'You asked
this because you have previously resolved not to slay
sleeping men ...'. But I think that the indirect expression
gives it a different emotional charge from that plain
statement, something more like 'Come on, we all know that
you've previous resolved not to slay sleeping men, so why
are you even asking?'.

> Síðan æptu þeir á þá. Vöknuðu þeir þá og hljópu upp allir
> og þrífa til vopna sinna.

> Afterwards they shouted at them. They awakened then and
> all leaped up and seized their weapons.

> Þeir Kári réðu eigi á þá fyrr en þeir voru vopnaðir.

> They Kari (and Thorgeir) did not attack them before when
> they were armed.

By being too literal, you've changed the meaning; it's
simply 'before they were armed'. Kári and Þorgeirr are
being chivalrous.

> Þorgeir skorargeir hleypur þar að sem fyrir var Þorkell
> Sigfússon.

> Thorgeir skorageir leaps there where before him was
> Thorkell Sigfuss'son.

Here I think that <hlaupa> has more of its other meaning,
'runs, charges'.

> Í því bili hljóp maður að baki honum og fyrr en hann gæti
> unnið Þorgeiri nokkurn geig þá reiddi Þorgeir tveim höndum
> öxina Rimmugýgi og rak í höfuð þeim öxarhamarinn er að
> baki honum stóð svo að hausinn brotnaði í smán mola.

> Just then a man leaped on his back

And again here: the man ran behind him (<at baki honum>).

> and before he was able to do some harm to Thorgeir then
> Thorgeir swung the axe, Rimmgygi, with two hands and drove
> the back of the axe into (the) head (not sure what þeim
> refers to - - his hands?)

The man who was attacking him from behind: <þeim> is the
dative singular masculine of the demonstrative pronoun <sá>
'the, that', used here as a dative of respect functioning
much like a possessive: '(the) head to that one' = 'that
one's head' = 'his head'.

> (of the one) who stood at his back so that the skull broke
> in small pieces.

> Féll sá þegar og var dauður.

> That one fell at once and was dead.

I always get a kick out of this kind of very matter of fact
description.

> En er hann reiddi fram öxina hjó hann á öxl Þorkatli og
> klauf frá ofan alla höndina og féll Þorkell dauður niður.

> And when he swung the axe forward he hewed at (the)
> shoulder of Thorkell and cleaved below the whole arm and
> Thorkell fell down dead.

Here I think that <frá ofan> is simply 'from above': he
drove the axe down (i.e., from above) through Þorkell's
shoulder, cleaving off his whole arm.

> Í móti Kára réð Mörður Sigfússon og Sigurður Lambason og
> Lambi Sigurðarson.

> Mord Sigfuss' son and Sigurd Lambi's son and Lambi
> Sigurd's son attacked Kari in return.

I don't see any basis for 'in return'.

> Hann hljóp að baki Kára og lagði til hans spjóti.

> He leaped to Kari's back and thrust at him with a spear.

I think that he ran at Kári's back.

> Kári fékk séð hann og hljóp upp við lagið og brá í sundur
> við fótunum.

> Kari was able to see him and leaped up with the thrust and
> broke it apart with (his) feet.

He leaped up at the thrust and spread his legs apart (so
that it would pass between them).

> Kom þá lagið í völlinn en Kári hljóp á spjótskaftið og
> braut í sundur.

> Then the thrust came into the ground and Kari leaped at
> the spear shaft and broke?? it asunder.

He leaped onto the spear shaft. (This is probably not a
separate leap; my guess is that he simply came down on it.)
'Broke' is correct: <braut> is 3rd sing. past indic. of
<brjóta>.

[...]

> Eftir það snerist hann á hæli svo sem skaftkringla og að
> Lamba Sigurðarsyni en hann fékk það eitt fangaráðið að
> hann tók á rás undan.

> After that he turned on heels

Singular.

> like a top and towards Lambi Sigurd's son but he took one
> expedient that he took to his heels away.

Here <þat eitt fangaráðit> is 'that one expedient' = 'the
only expedient': 'but he took the only expedient (that gave
him a chance) and ran away'.

Brian


Fred and Grace Hatton
Hawley Pa