> Þeir frétta nú, at þeir eru við land komnir Hárekr konungr
> ok synir hans, ok var nú eigi þusulaust.

> They now hear, that Harek and his sons had come by land,
> and it was now not without tumult. (Apparently, þusulaust
> = þausnalauss)

> They learn now that King Harekr and his sons had come (to
> their? land) and was now not ??

> They gain-intelligence now, that they, King Hárekr and his
> sons, are (have) reached (lit: come against) land, and
> (it) was now not without-a-spirting-out (ie they arrived
> in rioutious haste?, cf þusa, CV, a spirt, spirting out,
> and Þusa=þysja CV, to rush => Þyss, CV, noise, uproar,
> riot).

They now hear that they, king Hárek and his sons, have
reached land, and [it] was now not without commotion.

Some mss. have <þausnalaust> rather than <þusulaust>, and CV
s.v. <þausn> even cites what appears to be this phrase, so
I’ve read it as <þausnalaust>. CV does have <þusa> ‘a
spurt, a spurting out’, which could make <þusalauss>
‘without a spurting out’, in which case we’d have ‘and [it]
was now not without a spurting out’. I can imagine that
this might be a way of saying that there was a sudden rush
(spurting out) of Herrauð’s men to their ships, with
associated bustle and commotion.

> Lét Herrauðr nú leggja út skipum sínum á móti þeim; hafði
> hann lið mikit ok frítt ok þó miklu minna en þeir Hárekr.

> Herraudr now had (them) sail out against them; he had a
> large, fine body of men and yet many fewer than Harekr.

> Herraudr now had his ships put out towards them, he had a
> great host and fine and yet much smaller than they, Harekr
> (and company.

> Herrauðr caused now to lay his ships’ (course) towards
> them (lit: to a meeting with them); he had troops great
> and fine and yet much less (fewer) than they, Hárekr (and
> co).

Herrauð now had his ships sail out against them; he had a
large and fine host and yet much smaller than [that of]
Hárek and his men.

> Lagði sínu skipi á móti konungi Smiðr Þvarason, en Bósi
> móti Hræreki, Herrauðr á móti Siggeiri, ok þurfti þar eigi
> at sökum at spyrja, ok tekst með þeim bardagi mjök harðr,
> ok váru hvárirtveggju inir áköfustu.

> His ship attacked King Smidr, son of Thvar, and Bosi
> against Hraereki, Herraudr against Siggeir, and it wasn't
> necessary there to inquire about the reasons, and a much
> harder battle began between them, and both of them were
> the most vehement.

> Smidr Thvari’s son thrust his ship towards the king and
> Bosi against Hraerekr, Herraudr against Siggeirr and
> needed there none to ask the cause and a very hard battle
> began between them and each of the two sides the most
> fierce.

> Smiðr Þvari’s-son (nominative) laid his ship’s (course)
> towards (the) king, but (and) Bósi towards Hroerekr,
> Herrauðr towards Siggeirr, and (one) needed there not to
> enquire as to (the) effect (cf sök, CV.ii.3?) (ie it came
> as no surprise to anyone that…), and a very hard battle
> begins between them, and each-of-the-two (sides) were the
> most-fierce.

Smið Þvarason sailed his ship against [the] king, and Bósi
against Hrœrek, Herrauð against Siggeir, and there was no
need there to ask [the] reasons, and a very hard battle
begins between them, and each of the two was [‘were’] the
fiercest.

The phrase <þurfti þar eigi at sökum at spyrja> (sometimes
with <þarf> or <er> for the finite verb) appears to be
something of a set phrase: I found examples in several
sagas. The ones that I checked seem to be in contexts
similar to this one. I’m still not entirely sure of the
meaning, but I *think* that the idea is that the oppositions
just listed were the ones to be expected.

> Ok er bardaginn hafði eigi lengi staðit, réð Siggeirr til
> uppgöngu á skip Herrauðs ok varð skjótt mannsbani.

> And when the battle hadn't lasted long, Siggeir rushed in
> upon the boarding of Herraudr's ship and there slaughter
> at once.

> And when the battle had not paused for a long time,
> Siggeirr made an ascent to Heraudr’s shp and (it) quickly
> became deadly.

> And when the-battle had not been-going (lit: stood) for a
> long-time, Siggeirr attempted (ráða til e-s, Z16) a
> going-up onto Herrauðr’s ship and quickly became (ie was)
> a man-slayer.

And when the battle had not been going long, Siggeir made to
board Herrauð’s ship and quickly killed a man [‘became a
man-slayer’].

<Ráða til> can mean ‘to get started (on something)’ as well
as ‘to attempt (something)’. Here I’m not at all sure that
the sense isn’t closer to ‘rushed to board’.

> Sniðill hét stafnbúi Herrauðar.

> Herraudr's forecastle-man was named Snidill.

> Snidlill was the name of Herraudr’s forcastle man.

> Herrauðr’s fo´c’s’le-man was-called Sniðill.

Herrauð’s fo’c’s’le man was called Sniðil.

> Hann skaut spjóti at Siggeiri.

> He shot a spear at Siggeir.

> He shot at Siggeir with a spear.

> He shot (launched) a spear at Siggeirr.

He flung a speer at Siggeir.

> Hann tók spjótit á lofti ok skaut aftr at þeim, er sendi.

> He caught the spear in the air and shot (it) back at them,
> (they) who threw it.

> He grabbed the spear aloft and shot back at them who sent
> (it).

> He caught the-spear in (the) air (ie in mid-flight), and
> shot (it) back at that-one (dat sg), who sent (it).

He grabbed the spear in the air and flung [it] back at him
who sent [it].

<Þeim> could also be dative plural, but <sendi> is singular,
and of course only one person threw the spear.

> Spjótit flaug í gegnum Sniðil ok svá langt í
> skipsstafninn, at hann nisti hann þar við.

> The spear flew through Snidil and so long into the ship's
> stem that it pinned him there against (the ship).

> The spear flew through Snidill and so long into the ship’s
> stem that it pierced it there.

> The-spear flew through Sniðill and so far into the
> ship’s-stem (probably the prow, fram-stafn), that he (ie
> Siggeirr, masc) pinned him (Sniðill, masc) there-with (ie
> with it).

The spear flew through Sniðil and so far into the ship’s
stem that he [= Siggeir] pinned him [= Sniðil] against it
[‘against there’].

Note that the <hann> is masculine, while <spjótit> is
neuter, so the first <hann> cannot refer to the spear.
Alan’s translation of <þar við> is also possible.

> Herrauðr sneri nú í móti Siggeiri ok leggr til hans með
> atgeir, svá at gekk í gegnum skjöldinn, en Siggeirr
> snaraði svá hart skjöldinn, at Herrauði varð lauss
> atgeirrinn, en hann hjó til Herrauðar, ok kom á hjálminn
> ok tók af fjórðunginn, ok fylgdi þar it hægra eyrat.

> Herraudr now turned against Siggeir and thrusts at him
> with a halberd, so that it went through the shield, but
> Siggeirr twisted the shield so hard, that the halberd got
> loose from Herraudr, and it landed on his helmet and took
> off a quarter (of it), and his right ear accompanied it
> there. (Z. lauss 1: verða lauss = to get loose)

> Herraudr turns now towards Siggeirr and thrusts at him
> with a spear so that (it) went through the shield, but
> Siggeirr turned the shield so hard that Herraudr lost the
> spear and he hewed at Herraudr and (the blow) came on the
> helmet and took off a quarter and along with it there the
> right ear.

> Herrauðr turned now towards Siggeirr and thrusts towards
> him with a halberd, so that (it) went through the-shield,
> but (and) Siggeirr twisted the-shield so hard, that
> the-halberd (nominative) became free from Herrauðr (ie he
> lost hold of it), but (and) he hewed at Herrauðr, and (the
> blow) came onto the-helmet and took off the
> the-fourth-part, and the-right ear accompanied (it) there.

Herrauð turned now against Siggeir and thrusts at him with a
halberd, so that [it] went through his shield, but Siggeir
twisted the shield so hard that the halberd came loose from
Herrauð, and he struck at Herrauð, and [the blow] came on
his helm and took off the fourth part, and his right ear
accompanied it there.

> En Herrauðr greip upp eina stóra ruddu af þiljunum ok
> laust á nasir honum, svá at hjálmblikit gekk at andlitinu,
> ok brotnaði í honum nefit ok ór honum allar tennrnar, ok
> stökk hann öfugr aftr á skip sitt ok fell þá í óvit ok lá
> mjök lengi.

> But Herraudr caught up a large plank (for a) club and
> struck at his nose, so that the helmet visor went into his
> face and broke his nose and all his teeth out of him, and
> he fled back backward (?) to his ship, and he fell
> unconscious and lay very long.

> But Herraudr grabbed up a certain great club from the
> planking and loosed (it) at his nose so that the helmet
> visor went into the face and broke his nose and all his
> teeth out and he fled backwards back on his ship and fell
> then in unconsciousness and lay for a long time.

> But Herrauðr grasped up one large crude-club (probably one
> of the deck planks) from the-deck (gramm. pl, lit: planks)
> and struck on his (ie Siggeirr’s) nose (lit: nostrils), so
> that the helmet-visor went into the-face, and his nose
> (nominiative) was-broken, and all the-teeth (knocked)
> out-of him, and he sprang backwards back to his ship and
> fell then into insensibility and lay a very long time.

But Herrauð caught up a certain large crude club from the
deck and struck [him] on his nostrils so that his helm’s
visor went into his face, and his nose was broken and all of
his teeth [broken] from him, and he leaped backwards back
onto his ship and then fell unconscious and lay [there] for
a very long time.

> Smiðr barðist drengiliga.

> Smidr fought nobley.

> Smidr battled bravely.

> Smiðr fought bravely.

Smið fought bravely.

> Hárekr konungr komst upp á skip hans við tólfta mann ok
> ryðst um fast.

> King Harekr arrived up at his ship with 11 men and quickly
> cleared his way.

> King Harekr reaches up on his ship as the twelfth man and
> became red with blood quickly.

> King Hárekr made-his-way up to his ship with (the) twelfth
> man (person) (ie eleven others) and clears-the-way (“cut a
> swath of destruction”, ryðja, Z5) around him firmly

King Hárek made it up onto his ship with eleven men and
clears the way vigorously.

> Smiðr snýr nú á mót honum ok hjó til hans með saxi því,
> sem Busla kerling hafði gefit honum, því at hann bitu eigi
> atkvæðalaus vápn.

> Smidr now turns against him and hacked at him with the the
> ax, which the old woman Busla had given him, because
> weapons of no consequence did not cut him.

> Smidr turns now towards him and hewed at him with that
> seaxe that Old Busla had given him because an unimportant
> weapon did not bite?

> Smiðr turns now towards (lit: to a meeting with) him and
> hewed at him with that short-single-edged-sword (note: no
> ordinary weapon), that old-woman Busla had given him,
> because weapons of-no-importance (ie ordinary weapons,
> plural) bit (cut) him (ie the king) not.

Smið turns now against him and struck at him with the sax
that old lady Busla had given him, because unspelled weapons
did not cut him.

Here <atkvæðlauss> must mean ‘unspelled’, from <atkvæði>
‘spell, charm’ (Z5). I used <sax> because English has no
specific term for that kind of knife/sword, though Old
English <seax> is cognate, referred to a similar weapon, and
is sometimes seen.

> Höggit kom framan um þverar tennrnar, ok brotnuðu þær ór
> honum allar, gómbeinit brotnaði ok varrirnar sprungu
> báðar, ok hljóp þar ór blóð mikit.

> The blow landed on the front across his teeth, and they
> all broke out of him, his jawbone (literally "bone of the
> floor of his mouth") broke and both his lips burst, and
> much blood ran out of there.

> The blow came forward across the teeth and broke them all
> out of him, the roof of the mouth broke and both lips
> burst and much blood ran out of there.

> The-blow came on the front across the-teeth, and they all
> were-broken out-of him, the-mouth-roof  bone (palate bone,
> os paliti, CV) was-broken and both the-lips (vörr) split,
> and much blood ran (gushed) out-of-there.

The blow came on the front athwart the teeth, and they all
were broken from him, the hard palate was broken and both of
his lips split, and much blood poured therefrom.

It was actually the palatine bone, but ‘hard palate’ is
close enough and much more understandable for most of us.

> En við þetta högg brá honum svá, at hann varð at flugdreka
> ok spjó eitri yfir skipit, ok fengu margir menn bana.

> But with this blow it so altered him, that he became a
> flying dragon, and he spewed poison over the ships, and
> many men suffered death. (I am assuming that the reason we
> don't hear about ax blows causing people to be turned into
> poison-spewing flying dragons these days is that ax fights
> have all but disappeared.)

> And with that blow he was so changed that he became a
> flying dragon and spewed venom over the ship and many men
> got (their) bane.

> But (And) with this blow (it) changed (transformed?) him
> so, that he became (verða at e-u, Z8) a flying-dragon, and
> spewed poison over the-ship (sg), and many men (persons)
> received death.

And he was so deeply affected by this blow that he turned
into a flying dragon and spewed venom over the ship, and
many men died.

Baetke has <bregðr e-m við (e-t)> ‘someone is excited by
something, someone is upset by something, something makes an
impression on someone, someone is deeply affected by
something’, and the yellow glossary has <brá mǫnnum mjǫk
við> ‘people were very taken aback by’.

> Hann steypti sér niðr at Smið ok gleypti hann ok svelgir
> honum niðr í sik.

> He threw himself down at Smid and swallowed him and
> swallowed him down inside him.

> He hurled himself now to Smidr and he gulped and swallowed
> him down in himself.

> He hurls-himself down at Smiðr and swallowed him and
> swallows him down into himself.

He hurled himself down at Smið and devoured him and
swallows him down into himself.

Brian