At 7:35:22 PM on Monday, June 7, 2010, Fred and Grace Hatton
wrote:

I see that Alan's covered some of this, but I'd already
written most of the post, so I'm letting it stand. (I've
not had a chance to look at Rob's yet.)

> Þykist hann mjög svívirður vera í þeirra skiptum.

> He thinks himself to be in great dishonour in their
> disputes.

I'd say 'greatly shamed' or 'greatly humiliated':
<svívirðr> is the past participle of <svívirða> 'to
disgrace', used adjectivally. I might also prefer the more
general 'dealings' for <skiptum>, but that's a matter of
taste.

> Er hann þar þó í eyjunum og hefir það að vísu í hug sér að
> rétta þenna krók er honum var svo nauðulega beygður.

> He is still there in the isles and has it certainly in his
> mind to straighten this hook which was so hard bent for
> him.

<Vera> can also be 'dwell, stay', which I think better suits
the context here: 'He nevertheless stays in the islands'.
CV suggests 'direly, closely' for this use of <nauðuliga>,
but of course the whole thing is idiomatic: <beygja e-m
krók> is 'to make it awkward for one', and <rétta> just
continues the metaphor. In context the awkwardness must be
the humiliation that he feels, and <rétta> must have not
only the literal sense 'straighten' to fit the metaphor, but
also the sense 'put right': he has it in mind to put right
the (unjust) humiliation that has been so direly imposed
upon him.

> Hallur uggir ekki að sér og hugsar það að engir menn muni
> þora að halda til jafns við hann þar í átthaga hans.

> Hall apprehended no danger and thinks it that no men will
> dare to be a match for him there in his home.

'Apprehends': <uggir> is present tense. <Muni> is a
subjunctive, so it's 'no men would dare'. English 'in his
home' suggests the actual dwelling, but <átthagi> is really
'the place where one is bred and born'. The idea is that no
one would dare to challenge him on his home turf; if this
were an urban culture, it might be something like 'in his
own neighborhood'.

> Hallur reri í hálsi fram.
> Hall rows forward in (the) prow.

<Reri> is past tense: 'rowed'.

> Og er hann hleypur á land þá er Þórólfur þar nær staddur
> og höggur til hans þegar.

> And when he leaps ashore then where Thorolf stopped near
> there and hews at him at once.

The second <er> is the verb 'is': 'And when he leaps ashore,
Þórólf is positioned near there and hews at him at once'.

> Kom höggið á hálsinn við herðarnar og fýkur af höfuðið.

> (The blow) came on the neck by the shoulders and off flys
> the head.

No need for parentheses: the subject <höggið> 'the blow' is
there.

> Þórólfur leitar nú á brott úr eyjunum því að hann veit þar
> engra þeirra manna von er skjóli muni skjóta yfir hann
> eftir þetta stórvirki.

> Thorolf seeks now (to get) away out of the islands because
> he knows there of none of those men's habit (I had much
> difficulty sorting this out and am not happy with it) who
> will shoot help (in the sense of a shield?) over him after
> these major deeds.

Everything up through <því at> is clear enough, but then it
gets a bit rough. To start with the easier stuff, <skjóli
muni skjóta yfir hann> is 'would give him shelter' (see Z
s.v. <skjól>). I know that Z. marks <stórvirki> as a neuter
plural, but <þetta> is neuter singular, and <virki> is a
neuter singular as well, so <eptir þetta stórvirki> must be
'after this serious/grave deed'.

Next, <muni> has no explicit subject, so either its subject
has been omitted, or its subject is the particle <er>. An
omitted subjects certainly isn't impossible, but the
alternative is worth considering first. If <er> is the
subordinating particle, functioning more or less as a
relative pronoun here, its only possible antecedent is
<(engra) þeirra manna>, and that works: it's plural, and
<muni> can be third person plural. (It can also be third
singular, but there's no possible singular referent here.)
Thus, the subordinate clause is <engir þeirra manna muni
skjóta skjóli yfir hann eptir þetta stórvirki> 'none of the
people would give him shelter'.

<Vita ván> is 'to expect', noted somewhere in Z's entry for
<vita>. That it takes the genitive of the thing expected
presumably explains the genitive plural <engra>. At this
point the meaning is reasonably clear: he expects that none
of the folks there will give him shelter. Unfortunately,
this appears to be one of those times when there just isn't
any good way to match the ON syntax closely with a fairly
direct English translation that's even halfway
understandable.

> Hann átti þar og enga frændur þá er hann mætti sér trausts
> af vænta en þeir menn sátu nær er vís von var að um líf
> hans mundu sitja og höfðu mikið vald svo sem var Ingjaldur
> Sauðeyjargoði bróðir Halls.

> He had there also no kinsmen then who he might dare
> himself to give (him) hope then those men sat near where
> certain expectation was that (they or Ingjald?) would seek
> his life (this whole section was also troublesome) and had
> much power so as was Ingjald Sheep Isles Chieftain, Hall's
> brother.

<Þá> here isn't 'then'; it's the masc. accus. plur.
demonstrative 'those', and it's the antecedent of the <er>
that immediately follows. The <er> is the object of <af>:
'He also had there no kinsmen, those from whom he could
expect help'. It goes on 'but those men lived near from
whom (<er>) it was certainly to be expected that they would
seek his life, such as Ingjald Sauðeyargoði, Hall's
brother'. In English I'd just omit that last <var>;
alternatively, think of it as 'such [a man] as was Ingjald'.
(Note that Z. gives 'reside' as one sense of <sitja>.)

> Hann fer mjög huldu höfði.
> He went (with his) head very covered.

<Fara huldu höfði> is literally 'to go with head covered',
but Z. s.v. <hylja> notes that it actually means 'to go in
disguise, by stealth': 'He travels in great stealth'.

> Vigdís kona Þórðar godda var nokkuð skyld Þórólfi og sneri
> hann því þangað til bæjar.

> Vigdis, wife of Chieftain Thord was somewhat related to
> Thorolf and he turns thither to (the) farm.

<Goddi> is a different word from <goði>; it's been suggested
that it's a diminutive of <goði>, but I don't know whether
this has been generally accepted. I'd leave it
untranslated. You missed out <því> 'for this reason': he
went there *because* of the relationship.

> Spurn hafði Þórólfur af því áður hversu þar var háttað, að
> Vigdís var meiri skörungur í skapi en Þórður bóndi hennar.

> Thorolf had learned of it before how there was disposed
> (how things were there), that Vigdis was more outstanding
> in mind than Thord, her husband.

I think that the sense of <meiri skörungr í skapi> is 'more
strong-minded': Vigdís runs the show.

Brian