> Ríður hann fyrst inn í Dali og þaðan í Ljárskóga til
> Þorsteins frænda síns og aflar sér manna og hrossa.

> He rides first inward to Dale and then to Scythe-Forest to
> his relative Thorstein and gets for himself men and
> horses.

> He rides first into Dale and from there in Ljar’s forest
> to Thorstein, his kinsman, and procures men and horses for
> himself.

> He rides first inwards (along the fjord) to Dalir (The
> Dales)and from-there to Ljárskógar (woods (gen plural) of
> New-mown grass?) to Þorsteinn his kinsman and procures for
> himself men (persons) and horses.

Copying an old note:

It's actually 'Ljá-river-wood'. According to
<http://visindavefur.hi.is/svar.php?id=55502> and
<http://arnastofnun.is/page/ornefni_lja> there have been a
number of serious proposals for the etymology of the
river-name. K. Rygh thought that it was related to <lé>
or <ljár>; Ásgeir Bl. Magnusson thought that improbable
preferred to relate it to the words <löður> and <laug>.
Þorsteinn Þorsteinsson maintained that the sense was
'little river'; the river is very little, but there are
difficulties with this suggestion. Gösta Franzen thought
a relationship with <ljá> doubtful and pointed instead to
OIc. <læ> 'damage, destruction; fraud, treason; venom,
bane', referring to large spring floods. He also
suggested <ljá> 'new-mown grass' as a possibility, from
meadows along the river. (I'm not sure what to make of
Franzen's apparently contradictory positions on <ljá>: the
first one isn't glossed, so it may refer to a different
word.)

> Hann fer síðan norður til Hrútafjarðar og dvelst þar um
> hríð og hefir ætlan á um ferðina, safnar að sér hestum þar
> um fjörð því að hann vildi eigi fleiri farar að gera ef
> svo mætti takast.

> He then goes north to Hrutafjardar and stays there for a
> while and has the intention concerning (not sure I
> undersand “á um”) the journey, gathers for himself there
> horses (from) around the fiord because he didn’t want more
> to go to do if so it was able to take place. (?)

> He then goes north to Hrut’s fjord and stays there for a
> time and has intended upon, regarding the journey, to
> assemble horses there for himself around the fjord because
> he did not want to go further to do so if it might happen.

> He journeys after-that north to Hrútafjörðr and stays
> there a while and takes a plan on (devises, adopts,
> implements a plan?, cf hafa á rás, Z14) concerning
> the-journey, collects for himself horses there around
> (the) fjord because he wanted not to make (gera) several
> journeys (farar is acc plural of för) if (it) might so
> be-brought-about (ie if he could help it).

<Hafa ætlan á um ferðina> also occurs in Jómsvíkinga saga:

Það er nú sagt að þeir láta ráðna vera ferðina þegar
veizlunni er slitið, og skipa þar nú til alls að erfinu og
hafa ætlan á um ferðina.

It is now said that they resolve to make the journey as
soon as the feast is over and make everything ready for
the funeral feast and ... .

After a good deal of browsing I’ve come to the conclusion
that it’s more or less ‘have [meaning 'make'] a plan for the
journey’; the actual sense may be closer to our ‘make
arrangements for the journey’.

> Hann dró viðinn norðan meir en á tuttugu hestum og lætur
> liggja viðinn á Ljáeyri.

> He drew the wood north (with) more than 20 horses and has
> wood placed at Scythe-Island.

> He hauled the wood from the north on more than twenty
> horses and has the wood placed in Lja Island.

> He dragged the-timber from-(the)-north more than using (á,
> Z.iii.5?) twenty horses and causes the-timber to lie at
> Ljáeyrr.

I think so, with word order that seems odd to us: ‘using
more than’.

> Fara þeir heiman og voru saman vel tuttugu menn.

> They go from home and were together a good 20 men.

> They went from home and were a good twenty men together.

> They journey from-home and were together well (at least?)
> twenty-men.

Zoéga s.v. <vel> even has a gloss: <vel tuttugu menn>
'twenty and upwards'. Near as I can tell, it answers very
well to English ‘a good twenty men’.

> Fátt var manna heima því að Halldór hafði sent menn norður
> í Steingrímsfjörð.

> Few men were at home because Halldor had sent men north to
> Stone-mask(?)-fiord.

No, just Steingrím’s fjord.

> Few men were at home because Halldor had sent men north to
> Steingrim’s fjord.

> Few (a small number) of persons (men) were at-home because
> Halldórr had sent persons (men) north to Steingrímsfjörðr.


> Þar hafði komið hvalur er hann átti í.

> There had been a whale which he gathered in.

> There a whale had come (ashore) which he had a right to.

> A whale had come there which he had (held) in (had control
> of?).

The closest sense of <eiga> in Zoëga is Z4, but Baetke is
more explicit: <eiga í e-u> 'Anteil haben an, Mitbesitzer
sein', i.e., 'to have a share in, to be a joint owner'.

> Þeir munu fala land mitt að mér og ef svo er þá munu þeir
> heimta mig á tal.

> They will demand from me purchase of my land and if so
> then they will meet me to talk.

> They will demand my land for purchase of me and if so then
> they will ask for an interview with me.

> They will demand-for-purchase my land from me and if (it)
> is so then they will draw me into conversation.

<Heimta> Z3 actually does have <heimta e-n á tal við sik>
'to ask for an interview with one', and I suspect that the
absence of <við sik> doesn’t have much effect; ‘ask to speak
with me’ is probably about right for sense if one isn’t
trying to stay especially close to the original syntax.

Brian