At 7:07:55 AM on Friday, November 5, 2010, Fred and Grace
Hatton wrote:

> "Seiðmenn einir gøra óvini úr brœðrum sínum," segir
> Víga-Óbívan.

> "Some? Only? sorcerers make enemies out of their brothers"
> says Slayer Obiwan.

<Einir> follows <seiðmenn>, so it's 'only'.

> ... svá at engi skakkar með þeim,
> ... so that no one aids them

Here I think that <svá at> is 'in such a way that', not 'to
the end that', and since <skakka> has to do with the balance
between them, I'd make it 'in such a way that no one aids
[either of] them agains the other'. In other words, it was
an even match, neither having or getting any significant
advantage over the other.

I discovered, by the way, that the line is largely lifted
from 'Grettis saga', which has this: <Þorgeirr ok Þorgils
sóttust lengi, svá at engi skakkaði með þeim, ok var
hvárrtveggja hinn ákafasti>.

> ok er hvárrtveggi inn ákafasti;
> and since each of the two (is) the eager (one)?,

There's no 'since' there: 'and each of the two is the
fiercest/most vehement'. This appears to be an idiomatic
way to say that both of them fought very fiercely.

> ... at Víga-Óbívan høggr til Anakins á lærit hœgra, svá at
> ór tekr allan vöðvann, ok Anakinn fellr nær í hraun ...

> ... that Slayer Obiwan hews at Anakinns right leg so that
> all muscle is taken off and Anakinn falls near (the) lava
> field ...

Since <lær> seems to be specifically the leg above the knee,
'thigh' might be a better choice than 'leg'. Here I think
that <nær> is the adverb 'nearly': he falls nearly into the
lava field. (This doesn't greatly change the sense, of
course, but it does make the statement a little stronger, I
think.)

> en klæði hans taka at brenna, ok snart hann sjálfr.
> but his clothing starts to burn and it touched him.

Here <snart> is the neuter of <snarr> 'swift' used as an
adverb meaning 'soon, quickly': 'but his clothing began to
burn, and soon he himself'.

> Með seiðvögnun hafði hann lifat enn, en hann kunni ekki
> seiða þann seið, er skyldi grœða limuna aptr.

> He had still survived with magic ways but he was not able
> to perform that magic which would grow (his) limbs back.

<Kunna> is 'to know': he did not know how to perform it.

> "Sœmilega hefi ek þik nefndan Anakin seiðjarl," ...
> "Honourably have I named you Sorcerer-earl Anakinn," ...

He's saying that the description <seiðjarl> was indeed
suitable, since it turned out to be a very accurate
description, so the sense of <sœmilega> here isn't so much
'honorably' as 'becomingly': the byname becomes Anakinn,
it's suitable, fitting, appropriate. An almost exact
English equivalent would be 'seemly' as an adverb, 'in
seemly fashion': 'In seemly fashion have I named you'. But
that's a bit unwieldy, so I'd probably translate it as
'fittingly' -- as I now see that Jackson has done.

> En margir hermenn Falfaðins göbbuðu Anakin, kölluðu
> Veiðr-Anakin, því at þeim þóttisk hlœgiligt, at hann hafði
> veidd mýss með tennrnar.

> But many warriors of Palpatine mocked Anakinn, called
> (him) Hunter-Anakinn, because to them (it) seemed
> laughable that he had caught mice with (his) teeth.

To be strictly accurate, that's 'Hunting-Anakinn' or
'Hunt-Anakinn'. And since we're translating the byname as
some form of 'hunt' rather than of 'catch', it would be more
consistent to translate <veidd> as 'hunted' rather than as
'caught'.

> Hermennirnir óttuðusk mann þann, er mætti kœfa þann mann
> er hann snart eigi við, en Falfaðinn konungr lofaði hann
> því meira, kallaði hann inn mesta seiðmann.

> The warriors feared that man, who was able to choke a man
> when did not touch him, and King Palpatine praised him
> more for it, called him the greatest sorcerer.

<En> here is contrasting the Palpatine's behavior with that
of his men, so the intended sense must be 'but'.

Brian