Íslenzk tunga - 01.01.1964, Page 34

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ANTHONY FAULKES
PART I
THE HISTORY OF THE GLOSSARY
The Origin of the Glossary. Specimen Lexici Runici (= SLR)
was published in Copenhagen in 1650 by Ole Worm. It was
based on a glossary of the Old Icelandic language compiled by Magn-
ús Ólafsson, priest at Laufás in Eyjafjörður in the north of Iceland.
Magnús was requested to undertake this work by Worm, who was
seriously handicapped in his studies of northern antiquities by his
lack of knowledge of Old Norse. Worm, however, had particularly
asked for a dictionary of the poetic language, and the fact that com-
paratively few poems are used as sources for the glossary perhaps
suggests that Magnús had already assembled a large part of his mate-
rial before Worm made his special request to him.
The surviving correspondence between Worm and Magnús was
published by Jakob Benediktsson, Ole Worm’s Correspondence with
Icelanders (1948). The first mention of the proposed glossary in
these letters is in no. 125, dated May 24th, 1635. Magnús’ reply to
this is his last letter before his death in 1636. It is doubtful whether
he would have had time to compile that part of the glossary of which
he was the author in the short period between Worm’s request and
his own death, and this is additional confirmation that he had begun
the work heforehand on his own initiative (ibid., 467).
The Author. Magnús Ólafsson was born posthumously at Hofsá
in Svarfaðardalur ab. 1573, and his mother died in giving birth to
him. There is some doubt as to who his foster-father was, but it seems
most probable that it was Benedikt ríki Halldórsson, sýslumaður,
who lived at Möðruvellir.1
Magnús was educated at the school at Hólar, where Arngrímur
Jónsson was at this time headmaster, and afterwards at the univer-
1 This is supported by the fact that Magnús’ son was named Benedikt, pro-
bably after his father’s foster-father.