Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1964, Qupperneq 153

TVO HANDRITSBROT
149
SUMMARY
No. 655 4to in the Arna-Magnæan Collection in Copenhagen is a collection,
with the nos. I—XXXIII, of old fragments, most of which are very short, viz.
only one to four leaves, while two consist of 14 leaves each. Among them is the
supposedly earliest extant Norwegian document, no. IX (section I).
The fragment no. X consists of two leaves and contains parts of the Lives of
SS. Maurice and Placid. As has been shown earlier (see reference in footnote
5), this fragment is in two different hands, A and B (see facsimile of fol. lr).
The two hands are distinguished by a number of paleographic and orthographic
features (section II).
The fragment no. XXXIII consists of two leaves and contains parts of the
‘Passio quadraginta militum’ and of the Life of St. Mary of Egypt. The hand-
writing is the same throughout and is identical with hand B in no. X (see fac-
simile of fol. lr). This appears from a number of paleographic as well as ortho-
graphic features which it has in common with X B. But there is also at least
one orthographic difference between them, which, it is suggested, may be due
to their being copies of two different originals with different orthographical
patterns (section III).
Finally, in section IV, it is pointed out — though the evidence is inconclusive,
since none of the four leaves is preserved intact — that the two fragments may
be parts of one and the same codex. This is supported hy the color of the ink,
especially the red ink of the initials on fol. lv of each fragment, which is
identical in both fragments. And the estimated original format permits this
assumption. The codex, which dates from the second half of the 13th century,
contained Lives of Saints.