Gripla - 20.12.2014, Side 225

225An ICELAnDIC CHrIStMAS HYMn
Lbs 238 b 8vo version, in either the text or the footnotes or glosses. this
is a group that was identified in the course of this work and consists of the
manuscripts ÍB 380 8vo, JS 138 8vo, JS 509 8vo and MS Boreal 113. these
manuscripts seem to be quite closely related to each other and to Lbs 238
b 8vo. there is no evidence, however, that Páll Pálsson consulted the
manuscripts of this group at any time, except íB 380 8vo, the Sálmareykelsi
which he refers to in the heading of Lbs 238 b 8vo.77 thus, there is no
certain knowledge of which manuscripts Páll Pálsson used as exemplars
when working on Lbs 238 b 8vo, besides those that he himself mentions.
Lbs 238 b 8vo is the second latest of the manuscripts containing Hljómi
raustin barna best, so there were several versions of it already in existence
when Páll Pálsson copied the manuscript.
7. Conclusion
this article seeks to make a contribution to manuscript studies by using
the Icelandic Christmas hymn Hljómi raustin barna best as a case study.
this Icelandic hymn has its roots in the short Latin hymn Personent Hodie,
which was copied in at least one extant Icelandic manuscript, ÍB 525 8vo.
Around the same time, Personent Hodie was translated into Icelandic by
Bjarni Gissurarson (1621–1712) as Hljómi raustin barna best, and the transla-
tion was augmented with thirteen original stanzas ascribed to the Icelandic
poet Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614–1647). While the Icelandic translation
of the hymn Hljómi raustin barna best closely follows the Latin original
Personent Hodie, the extra stanzas of the longer Icelandic version extend
the hymn’s scope from the Nativity of jesus to the Resurrection, the Last
Judgment and the Afterlife. However, these additions do not add any spe-
cific Lutheran views. this article presents an edition of the Latin Personent
Hodie (ÍB 525 8vo), and of the Icelandic Hljómi raustin barna best, both the
short version (js 386 8vo) and the long version (Lbs 238 b 8vo).
In the course of our work, we were able to refine the initial division
into two groups based on length of the hymn. A comparison of the twenty-
six manuscripts with the Icelandic translation Hljómi raustin barna best
shows that they fall into four groups according to date and location of
77 We can only state for certain that Páll Pálsson used íB 380 8vo, though he must have had
more manuscripts at his disposal while he was working at Landsbókasafn. See also fn 76.