[2.] Instead of ältere, for the sake of the alliteration.
[3.] The translator here assumes (unnecessarily) that there is a gap in the text, with loss of a speech by Hildebrand.
[4.] ‘Friendless,’ i.e. separated from his kin. Hadubrand is giving reasons for thinking that his father is dead.
[5.] ‘Imperial gold’ from Constantinople.
[6.] Hadubrand suspects treachery and poises his spear.
[7.] Inserted by the translator for the alliteration’s sake.
[8.] The earth-encircling sea—oceanus; here the Mediterranean.
[9.] The supposition is that Hildebrand’s speech is missing, and that lines 47-50 form part of a reply by Hadubrand, ending with a taunt so bitter that the old warrior could not brook it even from his own son. He sees that he must fight.
[10.] East Goths.
[11.] A guess of the translator; the meaning of the original being quite uncertain.