At 3:50:10 AM on Friday, December 4, 2009, AThompson wrote:

> Hann var orðinn sár mjög en látið (methinks this must be
> noun with def art suffixed) sonu Brjáns báða áður.

> He was (had) become very sore (much wounded) but (and) the
> death (?) of (the) sons of Brján both before (already).

I'm pretty sure that it's the neuter past participle. Note
that <látinn> is 'deceased, dead'; the problem is that on
the face of it one would expect <látnir synir Brjáns báðir>,
not the neuter singular <látit> and the accusative plural
<sonu báða>. But compare this, from Hávarðar saga
Ísfirðings:

[Þ]ykkir mér þeir nú hafa af hinn versta; látit menn sína
marga ok þar með drengskap sinn.

It seems to me that they now have the worst of [it]; [they
have] lost many [of] their men and therewith their
courage.

From Þorsteins saga Víkingsonar:

Lét konungr lítt yfir ferð þeira ok kveðst nú hafa fengit
meiri skaða en þótt hann missti Óláfs, sonar síns, látit
nú sjau sonu sína ok fjölda annarra manna.

(The) king reported little about their journey and said
that he had now suffered more harm and although he missed
Óláfr, his son, [he had] now lost seven of his sons and a
multitude of other men.

In both of these the ellipsis can be restored from an
earlier clause, but otherwise it seems to be the same
construction. If so, the omitted subject here must be
Óspak's and Brján's side: 'and [they had] already lost both
of Brján's sons'.

> Hann þóttist þar sjá helvítis kvalar í niðri

> He bethought-himself to see there (the) torments of hell
> in a low position (in the depths?)

I think so, yes; or 'down below'.

> Bróðir kallaði þá hátt: "Kunni það maður manni að segja að
> Bróðir felldi Brján."

> Bróðir called then loudly: ‘Be able to (kunna + inf, Z10
> (?)) say that, man to man, that Bróðir killed Brján.’

<Kunni> must be a subjunctive here, expressing a wish: 'May
it be (able to be) told about that Bróðir killed Brján'.
(For 'about' see Zoëga s.v. <maðr>: <sýndi m[aðr] manni>
'one showed it to another, it went round from hand to
hand'.)

> Slógu (slá) þeir þá hring um þá Bróður og felldu að þeim
> viðu (acc of viðr).

> They made a ring then around (see slá hring um e-n, under
> hringr, Z1) Bróðir

Note <þá> 'them': the ring is around B. and his men.

> and brought-down (see fella, Z4 (?)) tree-limbs on them.

You don't need Z4: this is the basic meaning, Z1, 'felled
trees [but here presumably branches] on them'.

Brian