My advice would be: if you're still stuck after trying everything you know, ask! Then you'll get to spend more time memorising, and less time pondering. Ideally you'll learn the particular word you're stuck on, and the reason why you were stuck on it. This will put you in a better position to learn more. And don't worry, you'll never run out of things to learn!
In the case of <óhægenda>, your problem may be that this word is spelt in different ways depending on which normalised spelling convention is being used. <ó> is a prefix cognate with English <un> which either negates the word it's affixed to, or denotes badness. Sometimes the same prefix is written <ú>, and it's under the <ú> spelling that such words are listed in Zoega and in Cleasby/Vigfússon (of which Zoega's dictionary is essentially a convenient abridgment).
http://norse.ulver.com/dct/zoega/index.html
http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/germanic/oi_cleasbyvigfusson_about.html#images
In later medieval Icelandic, the sounds represented by <æ> and <> merged, both being pronounced as a long open mid front vowel. Because of this, some editors use <æ> also for words that originally had the sound represented by <>. This is just such a word. Zoega uses the more archaic <>, whereas Cleasby/Vigfússon spell it with <æ>.
The <e> in the second syllable of this word originally had half stress, but came to be pronounced in a fully unstressed way. In most normalised spelling systems for Old Norse, the unstressed high front vowel is written <i>. But editors vary in their practice, some using <e> in cases like this where the syllable originally had half stress, some <i>.
(The vowel in the final syllable varies according to case.)
Spoiler warning! <átti> is 3rd person singular preterite indicative of the verb <eiga>. Zoega (linked to above) has an appendix of "irregular forms" which can be helpful in such cases, and an appendix of irregular verbs. Some grammars refer to this class as preterite-present verbs, because their present tense looks like the preterite of regular strong verbs. The form <átti> can be deduced from the 1st person form <átta> in Zoega's table of paradigms.
LN
--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, "startrekdataandworf" <heinrichbrun@...> wrote:
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> Hello,
>
> As part of my study of Old Norse, I figured that going through some texts and trying to translate them would be beneficial. I've found it quite enlightening. However, there are the occasional words that I cannot find the translation of, no matter how hard I try. I realize that umlaut/transformation has a lot to do with my problem, but even when I account for that (or, rather, think that I have accounted for that), I still cannot find anything that'll bring me any closer to the meaning of the word.
>
> This brings me to my question: What do you do? Surely you've much more experience, and thus have come upon a similar quandary in times passed. Do you give up? Skip the word? I've spent an hour - or more - on a single word at times. 'óhægenda', from Yngvars saga Víðörla, has been the most infuriating; I've managed to figure out closely enough the translation of 'átti' (something to do with being married?), though I'm still having trouble with it. However, I must make it clear that I do not want the translation of those words (!!!) I want to do it on my own - I'll never learn if I'm spoonfed the answers - but would desperately like some strategies so that I may do so successfully.
>
> Thank you.
>