> Fréttir Ólafur nú hvað líði bónorðsmálum.

> Now Olaf asks what took place (with the) businesses of
> wooing.

> Olaf learns now what happened regarding the proposal.

> Ólafr hears now what transpired in (the) wooing-business.

It's a judgement call, but given the context, I prefer Rob's
choice of translations of <fréttir>: I'd expect Ólaf
actively to ask about the matter.

> Er það og satt að sagt er, að úlfar eta annars erindi.

> That is also true, that is said, that wolves eat another's
> errand.

> It is also true to say that when one wolf hunts for
> another, he may eat the prey.
> (http://www.usask.ca/english/icelanders/proverbs_LDS.html)

> That is also true that is said, that wolves eat (the)
> errands of another,

This proverbial expression seems to have been much
discussed. Everyone seems to agree that it's a warning not
to rely on others, who may be unreliable when their own
interests are not involved -- 'if you want it done right, do
it yourself'. The correct literal interpretation seems to
be less certain. One possibility is that <eta> 'eat,
consume, devour' has here the sense 'spoil, lay waste'.

> Vita þóttist hann að þar mundi vera Þorgerður dóttir
> Egils.

> He thought (he) knew that there would be Egil's daughter
> Thorgerd.

> He thought to know that there would be Thorgerd, Egill’s
> daughter.

> He bethought-himself to know there would be Þorgerðr,
> Egill´s daughter.

Here <mundi> has more the sense of 'must': 'there must be
Egil's daughter Þorgerð'.

> Víkur Þorgerður þá til ráða föður síns.
> Thorgerd then turns to advice of her father.
> Thorgerd turns then to her father’s advice.
> Þorgerðr refers then to (the) counsel of her father.

It's actually a slightly stronger statement: 'Þorgerð then
turns [it] over to her father's decision'. See Zoëga s.v.
<víkja>, <v. e-u til ráða e-s> 'to hand it over to one's
decision', here with the <e-u> unspecified.

> Varð þeim þá unnt af metorða, Laxdælum, því að þeim skyldi
> færa heim konuna.

> They were then granted esteem, the Laxdalers, because to
> them would go home the woman.

> It was then to them, Lax River Dalers, worked out?? from
> (their) distinction, because to them the woman should be
> conveyed home.

> (It) was then granted out-of consideration to them, the
> Laxdalers, (that, that?) (because?)(they) should convey
> the-woman home to them.

<Unna> takes the dative for the person to whom something is
granted and the genitive of the thing granted; <þeim> and
the appositive <Laxdœlum> are evidently the persons to whom
something is granted, but the only genitive in sight is the
genitive plural <metorða>. Moreover, <af> doesn't take the
genitive, so <metorða> isn't part of a prepositional phrase
<af metorða>. The first clause would therefore seem to be
something like 'To them, the Laxdœlir, was granted
esteem/consideration'. (Even though <metorða> is plural,
the English works better with a singular.)

I'm undecided whether <af> here serves some obscure and
probably untranslatable adverbial function in conjunction
with <unna>, or whether, more likely, it's part of a
disconnected <af því at>. Either way, I take <(af) því at>
to be 'in that', giving not so much the reason for the
granting of esteem or consideration, but the manner: 'To
them, the Laxdœlir, was granted (special) consideration, in
that they should take the woman home [to them]'.

As I understand it, a wedding was normally celebrated at the
home of the bride's father; to celebrate it at the home of
the groom's father, as in this case, was to show show him
exceptional respect and honor.

> Var ákveðin brullaupsstefna á Höskuldsstöðum að sjö vikum
> sumars.

> A wedding-meeting was appointed at Hoskuld's town at seven
> weeks of (the) summer.

> The wedding meeting was arranged to be at Hoskuld’s steads
> at seven weeks into ??(the) summer.

> (A) wedding-meeting was appointed at Hoskuldsstaðir at
> seven-weeks of summer.

<At sjau vikum sumars> is literally 'at seven weeks of
summer' or 'at summer's seven weeks', but its interpretation
is a little tricky. We know that these events are taking
place at the Alþingi, which started at the beginning of the
tenth (later eleventh) week of summer (CV s.v. <alþingi>).
Thus, the seventh week of summer is already past, and <at
sjau vikum sumars> must mean something else. The discussion
in CV s.v. <sumar> offers two possibilities: week seven
after midsummer, or seven weeks before winter. In all of
CV's examples it's pretty easy to see which interpretation
is intended. This sentence, unfortunately, lacks the
markers that make those examples easy to interpret. Editors
seem generally to have interpreted it as 'seven weeks before
winter', but I'm not sure why. (Then again, summer was
about 26 weeks long, so 'the start of the seventh week after
midsummer' and 'seven weeks before winter' describe about
the same time anyway.)

Brian