Gripla - 01.01.1995, Blaðsíða 162

160
GRIPLA
the onlookers to his appearance. Yet the following also contains an
element lacking in Sth. 3, the explanation for the sequence followed by
St. Stephen in his defending speech:
ollv/7z þc/m er a þinginu vorv ok sa en/7 helga stephanvm syndiz
andlit huns fagrt sem eingils asiona. hófdingi kenmmanna spvrdi
þa hvort þeíxir lut/'r \œri svo sem þa voro flvtt/> honvm j mot. hin
helgi stephanvs dvaldi þaa ecki andsvor merkilig at veita en// þvi
at ha/in \ar avitadr ok rægdr af gvdlostvn j gegn gvdi ok moyses
logvm veik hann j vpphafi sin/zar tolv lofsamligvm ordvm til sialfs
gvds (44vb39-45ra4; Hms 293:17-23)
The texts above represent variant redactions of the trial scene. The
material in Sth. 3 derives from a text that contained a passage re-
sembling the following excerpt from the Passionael:
Do sprack de biscop to sunte Steffen. Du hefft de sake wol ge-
hoert dar du vmme angheklaget werst. antwerde vns. Do dede
god eyn teken in sunte Steffen dat syn antlath so lycht vnde
klaer waert als der sonnen schyn. wente de hylgheghest was mit
em vnde halp em dat he gans wol vnde wijsliken sprak. vnde
vthlede de hylghen scryfft. (CCCvii, c-d).
The loan words klar and vt leidade in Sth. 3 suggest that the source of
the above was Low German, for the word útleiða had only the literal,
not the metaphorical meaning in Icelandic. Björn’s source presumably
contained the word vthlede, as does the corresponding passage in the
Passionael, and the Low German word was transmitted as a calque in
Sth. 3. Such transference of meaning from Low German into Icelandic
is not an isolated occurrence in Reykjahólabók; indeed, a similar
transference, but with a resultant error occurs in the second Translatio
account in Stefanus saga (cf. IV below). The source of the above ap-
pears to have been a Low German redaction that was more verbose
than the one found in the Passionael, which is itself a compilation of
condensed versions of originally longer texts.
That the compiler was working with more than one text when he
produced the Passio section of the legend is attested by the cross refer-
ences discussed above, the excision of the Veronica legend, the com-
mentary on the variant name Volusianus, and the inclusion of the bib-
lical matter at the end of the Passio. Furthermore, there is a transition