Gripla - 20.12.2004, Page 24

GRIPLA22
and B undoubtedly copied from Icelandic originals, they provide shaky
foundations for any conclusion as to the „nationality“ of their Stjórn exemplar.
In fact, their Norwegian-influenced spelling is not at all at odds with the
practice of many Icelandic scribes in the fourteenth century (Stefán Karlsson
1978:87–101), and by itself is no indication that they had a Norwegian source
in front of them.
The letter-forms of Hand B show various differences from those of Hand
A; and B is in some respects more careful and more refined, fonder of hair-
stroke adornment for instance. The chief differences between them are:
B always writes a two-storey „a“, while A has both this form and the
open-top kind resembling the „a“ of modern print.
A usually makes „›“ with a bar through the ascender, B with a loop to
the right of it.
B writes „©“ and „π“, A „∂“ and „ƒ“.
B does not close the upper and lower ends of „s“ as A does; he also
uses this letter a good deal more often than A, especially initially.
B most often writes „v“ with a curl up from the left limb, which is then
more or less closed over the top of the letter; the result resembles a „b“.
B writes „x“ with a bar through the middle; A has no bar.
B does not write a superscript dot over „y“; A regularly does so.
A good deal has been written on the orthography of Hand A in other manu-
scripts. The most detailed analysis is by Hugo Gering (1882:xi–xxiii) and
Alfred Jakobsen (1965:44–92) with reference to AM 657 a–b 4to and by
Finnur Jónsson with reference to Codex Wormianus (1880–1887:li–lxi). Jakob-
sen has also compared some of Hand A’s characteristic features as they appear
in many of the manuscripts attributed to him, including 227. Since this is not
the place to give a full account of the orthography of 227, I have done no more
than note a number of salient features which distinguish the practice of Hand
A from that of Hand B, along with some further characteristics of A observed
in other manuscripts.
Scholars have generally assigned the manuscripts written by Hand A to the
middle of the fourteenth century or a little later. As said earlier, however, we
must certainly credit this scribe with a fair span of professional activity. We
face the strong probability that his work was produced in the course of de-