> Það var þá kaupmanna siður að hafa eigi matsveina en
> sjálfir mötunautar hlutuðu með sér hverjir búðarvörð
> skyldu halda dag frá degi.

> It was then a merchant’s custom to have no cook than
> messmates themselves allotted with whatever food should
> hold from day to day.

> It was the custom of those merchants to not have a cook,
> but messmates cast lots among themselves who who should
> keep cookery (duties) from day to day.

It was then merchants’ custom not to have cooks, but
messmates themselves selected by lot who should take care of
the cooking day by day.

A footnote from another edition:

Mötunautar voru þeir skipverjar nefndir, sem borðuðu
saman. Lögðu þeir allir til matvæli, en hafa skipzt á um
eldamennsku. Mötuneyti hafði nokkra lagaþýðingu [reference
omitted].

Crew who ate together were called mötunautar. They all
contributed to the store of food and took turns with the
cooking. These mess companies had a certain legal
significance.

> Þá skyldu og allir skiparar eiga drykk saman og skyldi ker
> standa við siglu er drykkur var í og lok yfir kerinu en
> sumur drykkur var í verplum og var þaðan bætt í kerið svo
> sem úr var drukkið.

> Then all sailors should also have the same drink and a
> goblet should withstand a mast who was a drink in and a
> lid over the goblet and some drink was in casks and was
> then improved in the goblet as was drunken out of. (??)

> Then also not all seamen should drink together and the tub
> should stand by the sail where one drank and also a cover
> over the tub and some drink was in casks and was from
> there ?? in the tub so that out of (it) was drunk.

Then all sailors were also to drink together, and a vessel
was to stand by [the] mast, that [the] drink was in, and a
lid over the vessel, and some drink was in casks and was
added from there to the vessel [‘bettered thence into the
vessel’] as soon as it was drunk from.

> En er þeir voru mjög búnir þá kom þar maður á Búðarhamar.

> And when they were very fitted out, then a man arrived
> there at Booth-craig.

> And when they were quite ready then a man came there to
> Budarhamar.

And when they were almost ready, a man came there to
Búðarhamar.

This is <mjök> Z3.

> Þessi maður var mikill vexti og hafði byrði á baki.
> This man was very large and had a large box on (his) back.
> This man was grown tall and had a burden on (his) back.

This man was tall and had a burden on [his] back.

> Sýndist mönnum hann nokkuð undarlegur.
> It seemed to people (that) he was somewhat extraordinary.
> It seemed somewhat remarkable to people.

He seemed to people somewhat extraordinary.

> Hann spyr að stýrimanni og var honum vísað til hans búðar.

> He inquired after the captain and was directed to him to
> his abode.

> He asks for the captain and he was directed to his booth.

He asks after [the] captain, and he was shown to his booth.

> Hann lagði af sér baggann hjá búðardyrum og gekk síðan inn
> í búðina.

> He placed off himself the pack next to the door of the
> abode and then went inwards into the abode.

> He put down his pack near the booth doors and went in to
> the booth then.

He laid the pack down by [the] door to the booth and then
went into the booth.

> Hann spyr ef stýrimaður vildi veita honum far um hafið.

> He asks if a captain wanted to give him passage across the
> ocean.

> He asks if the captain would grant him a journey over the
> sea.

He asks whether [the] captain would give him passage across
the sea.

> Þeir spurðu hann að nafni en hann nefndist Arnbjörn, sonur
> Ásbrands frá Kambi, og kvaðst vilja fara utan og leita
> Bjarnar bróður síns er utan hafði farið fyrir nokkurum
> vetrum og hafði eigi til hans spurst síðan hann fór til
> Danmerkur.

> They answered him to namesake and he was named Arnbjorn,
> Asbrand’s son from Kambi, and said for himself (he) would
> go abroad and search for his brother Brjorn who had been
> abroad for some four years and had not been informed of
> him since he went to Denmark.

> They asked him his name and he said his name was Arnbjorn,
> son of Asbrand of Kambi and said he wanted to go abroad
> and search for Bjorn, his brother who had sailed abroad
> some winters ago and had not been heard of since he went
> to Denmark.

They asked him for [his] name, and he gave his name as
Arnbjörn, son of Ásbrand from Kamb, and said that he wanted
to go abroad and seek Björn, his brother, who had gone out
several years earlier, and nothing had been heard of him
since he went to Denmark.

> Austmenn sögðu að þá var bundinn búlki og þóttust eigi
> leysa mega.

> The Eastern men said that then was covered in the hold
> that was not thought to be able to get loose.

> Easterners said that then was cargo bound and thought not
> to be able to loosen it.

[The] Eastmen said that the cargo was already [‘then’] tied
down and covered, and they thought that it could not be
opened.

Despite the gloss in Zoëga s.v. <búlki>, it appears that the
cargo was actually tied in a pile on the deck and then
covered for protection from the water.

> Hann lést eigi hafa fararefni meiri en liggja megi á
> búlka.

> He didn’t (lest?) have more equipment than can lie in
> cargo.

> He allowed as how he did not have more equipment and (it)
> could lie on the cargo.

He declared that he did not have more equipment than could
lie on the cargo.

> En með því að þeim þótti honum nauðsyn á ferðinni þá tóku
> þeir við honum og var hann einn saman í mötuneyti og bjó á
> þiljum fram.

> But as it seemed to them he stood in need of the journey,
> they received him and he was alone together in
> messmateship and he stayed at the forward planking.

> But because it seemed to them the journey necessary to him
> then they accepted him and he was alone (separate from?)
> the messmates and lived in the forward deck.

And because it seemed to them that he had need of the
journey, they took him on, and he was quite alone in
messmateship and lived on the foredeck.

In other words, he fixed his own food and ate by himself.

> Í bagga hans voru þrjú hundruð vaðmála og tólf vararfeldir
> og farnest hans.

> In his pack were 300 hundred wadmals and 12 cloaks and his
> provisions for a journey.

> In his pack were three hundred of vadmal and twelve cloaks
> and his provisions.

In his pack were 360 ells of wadmal and 12 trade-cloaks and
his provisions for the journey.

This is the so-called long hundred, 120. I found an online
Icelandic definition of vararfeldr that says that the term
is historical for an armless rectangular cloak of fixed
size, about 2 × 1 m, of wadmal with tufts woven in to
resemble a fur cloak, legal currency in days of old.

> Arnbjörn var liðgóður og ofléttur og virðist kaupmönnum
> hann vel.

> Arnbjorn was handy and unbraided (??) and the merchant men
> esteemed him well.

> Arnbjorn was handy and ready and much appreciated by the
> merchantmen.

Arnbjörn was handy and willing, and [the] merchants esteemed
him highly.

> Þeir fengu hæga útivist og komu við Hörðaland og tóku þar
> útsker eitt.

> They had an easy time at sea and arrived at Hörðaland (a
> county in Norway, according to Wikipedia) and reached
> there a distant skerry.

> They had a comfortable passage and arrived in Hordaland
> and reached a distant skerry.

They had an easy voyage and came to Hörðaland and took
harbor there at a distant skerry.

> Þeir bjuggu þar mat sinn á landi.
> There they prepared their food on land.
> They prepared their food there on land.

They prepared their food there on land.

> Þorleifur kimbi hlaut búðarvörð og skyldi gera graut.

> Thorleifr Kimbi was allotted cooking (duties) and decided
> to make porridge.

> Thorleif kimbi was allotted the cookery and should make
> porridge.

Þorleif kimbi drew cooking duty and was to make porridge.

> Arnbjörn var á landi og gerði sér graut.
> Arnbjorn was on land and made porridge for himself.
> Arnbjorn was on land and made himself porridge.

Arnbjörn was ashore and made himself porridge.

> Hafði hann búðarketil þann er Þorleifur skyldi hafa síðan.

> He had a porridge kettle, that which Thorleifr decided to
> have afterwards.

> He had that booth kettle which Thorlief should have
> afterwards.

He had the cooking kettle [‘booth-kettle’] that Þorleif was
to have afterwards.

> Gekk Þorleifur þá á land upp og bað Arnbjörn fá sér
> ketilinn en hann hafði þá enn eigi þafðan sinn graut og
> hrærði þá enn í katlinum.

> Thorleifr then went up on land and asked Arnbjorn to give
> him the kettle, but he had not cooked his porridge thick
> and then still stirred the pot. (Z. þefja: hann hafði þá
> eigi þafðan sinn graut, he had not cooked his porridge
> thick) (Z. hrœra 1: hrœra í katlinum = to stir the pot)

> Thorleif went then up on land and told Arnbjorn to give
> him the kettle and he had then still not thickened his
> porridge and still stirred (what is the infinitive?) (it)
> in the kettle.

Then Þorleif went up on land and asked Arnbjörn to give him
the kettle, but he had not yet cooked his porridge thick and
still stirred the kettle.

A footnote about <þafðan> from another edition:

Þetta orð kemur einu sinni fyrir hjá Braga gamla; það
hefur verið í nefnif. þaf(i)ðr, dregið af *þefja. Orðið er
skylt þæfa og þýðir: nudda, hræra.

This word occurs once in Bragi gamli; in the nominative
case it was þaf(i)ðr, derived from *þefja. The word is
related to þœfa 'to full, to press' and means 'to rub',
'to move, to stir'.

> Stóð Þorleifur yfir honum uppi.
> Thorleifr stood up over him.
> Thorleif was left standing over him.

Þorleif was left standing over him.

Brian