Gripla - 01.01.1979, Side 104

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buted to Adeldahl by both Kálund and an unidentified hand, too dis-
tinct to necessarily be Suhm’s.13 This would make the work the only
one by Adeldahl in the Arnamagnæan collection. What is most inter-
esting is that the manuscript appears in place of the original, which
must have been removed almost coevally with the transcription. Ká-
lund states that a later hand has added to the manuscript description in
the old catalogue: “is a copy recently turned in for a number, since lost,
from which it is written.”14 The most plausible explanation is that the
copyist lost or sold the original immediately after copying it (otherwise
there would have been more information about the source), and had
to supply a replacement. Although there is neither source designation
nor original signature on the copy, the later addition of Adeldahl’s
signature by someone else would indicate that Adeldahl might have
been blamed for the loss of the original. He had evidently used the lost
manuscript, for a different transcription in his hand, Chronica, now
Nks. 875, 4to, is stated by Adeldahl to be a copy of “a paper original,
No. 839 in quarto from the Arnamagnæan library.” This transcription
by Adeldahl once belonged to P. F. Suhm, numbered 37, 4to in his
collection.15 It would appear that Suhm received the copy he had
contracted for and that the current AM 839, 4to is the replacement
Adeldahl had to supply. However, the hand on the replacement, con-
trary to the opinions of the unknown person who attributed it to Adel-
dahl and of Kálund as well, appears to me to be the work again of M.
Magnusen. It is possible that Magnusen lost the original after making
his own copy, but if Adeldahl bore the blame for the loss, as the later
ascription makes appear likely, Magnusen’s work must have very soon
followed Adeldahl’s. The previously discussed Nks. 1585, 4to, signed
by Magnusen but written chiefly by Adeldahl, shows that the two men
worked closely together, and the possibility exists that Magnusen’s re-
placement was made from Adeldahl’s copy.
The single signature on Nks. 1585, 4to could mean that Adeldahl
13 Kálund’s Arnamagnæan catalog, II, 229.
14 In this case the old catalog meant is neither AM 456, fol. nor AM 384, fol.,
but AM 477, fol. It was not written by lón Olafsson as Kálund states, but rather
by Jón Þorkelsson, íslenzkar œviskrár, III, 289-290 (personal communication from
Jón Helgason).
15 Kálund’s Royal Library catalogue, p. 411.