Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1964, Síða 53

THE SOURCES Oí' specimen lexici runici
51
Magnússon found a copy of the poem among his predecessor’s papers,
and sent it to Worm, thinking he might be interested. The second ver-
sion, obviously an oral variant, may also have been collected by
Magnús.25b In view of the description given above, the poem is pro-
bably at least as old as the end of the 16th century, and possibly older,
and it is probably due to Magnús that it was ever written down at all.
The version in DG 54, the oldest after SLR, has some variants. It
has lund for Lónd (1. 3), vogs sund for vogsund (1. 5), hryllir villir
hríð göll for hriller illa hrijdgóll (1. 7), and hreppum vér greppum
oj sleppum for lireppum vier sleppum aj greppum (1. 8). These dif-
ferences are not, however, so great for it to be impossible that both
versions derive from a single manuscript written by Magnús. Some
otlier versions add the lines:
Fimtíu í flokki saman
Frömtlu þetta gaman.
The poem is sometimes called Litli Trollaslagur; see Grímur
Ihomsen, ísa/old VI (1897) , no. 1.
The phrase Ad sœkia greppin i kreppin which in SLR is given in
illustration of the line from the poem Hreppum vier sleppum af
greppum is not in DG 55, and if it was not an accidental omission, it
may have been added later, perhaps by Guðmundur Andrésson (see
below p. 128). Guðmundur quotes a line from Trollaslagur in LI p.
245, s. v. Vaukve, and he probably took this from SLR.
not included in Magnús’ glossary, it still derives from a version written down
hy him. The version in DG 54 may also be derived from Jón Magnússon’s
letter.
2r’b But since it is not in DG 55, there is also the possibility that it tvas added
hy Gu'Ömundur. The fact that those lines which are common to hoth versions are
translated differently (e. g. grcppum is translated homunculis in the first ver-
8>on, but pisciculis in the second), the translation of the sccond version heing
tn many respects less accurate, perhaps supports this. The line quoted from the
Poem in LI p. 245 could have been taken from either version. — See also Stefán
Ólafsson, Kvœði I (1885), 323—324, and Jón Þorkelsson Om Digtningen pá
Island, 199.