Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1964, Page 35

THE SOURCES OF SPECIMEN LEXICI RUNICI
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sity in Copenhagen. From there he returned to Iceland in 1599. He
hecame priest at the monastery at Möðruvellir, but was dismissed
from this post under rather obscure circumstances in 1607. He then
became assistant priest at Vellir in Svarfaðardalur, and was after-
wards vice-headmaster at the school at Hólar during the years 1620—
21. Finally he became priest at Laufás in 1622, where he remained
until his death on 22nd July, 1636. He was succeeded in this post by
his foster-son Jón Magnússon (1601—75).2
Magnús’ literary activities were many and varied. Apart from com-
piling the glossary which was to form the basis of SLR, his most im-
portant work was the compilation of the book known as Laufás Edda.
This was a version of Snorra Edda compiled from several MSS, and
rearranged according to subject matter. This work, together with the
Latin translation which he made of it, later became the basis of the
edition of the Edda of P. H. Resen (Copenhagen 1665), an edition
of great importance, as it was from this that the Edda first became
widely known outside Iceland. Magnús apparently made this com-
pilation in the years 1608—09 at the instigation of Arngrímur Jóns-
son, lo whom he afterwards sent a manuscript of it. The translation
he wrote for Chancellor Christian Friis in 1629.
Apart from other compilations of Old Norse poetry (some of which
he sent to Worm; the manuscripts are preserved in AM 762 4to and
R. 702) and various Latin translations, he also composed the original
poem Flateyjarrímur, printed in Stakar rímur (1960).
His first letter to Worm is dated August 20th, 1626, and from then
on he held a continuous correspondence with him until his last letter
of 28th August, 1635 (see Ole Worm’s Correspondence, 210—238).
2 The best accounts of Magnús’ life are found in Páll Eggert Olason, Islenzlc-
ar æviskrár III (1950), 447, and Menn og menntir siðskiptaaldarinnar á Islandi
IV (1926), 259—276 and 664—669. See also idem, Saga íslendinga V (1942),
280—282.
There is a contemporary portrait of him in the National Museum in Reykja-
vík. Short accounts of the lives of most of the people mentioned in Part I of the
present work will be found in the introduction and notes to Ole JForm’s Corre-
spondence.
ÍSLENZK TUNGA 3