Gripla - 01.01.1993, Page 277

SAMTÍNINGUR
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dating of the MSS listed above is correct, it would seem probable that
fols. 70r-158r were written at a slightly earlier date than fols. l-61v,
possibly in the 1350s like 233a, that is before the scribe adopted the
symbol (5.
Kirsten Wolf
A NOTE ON ILLSKA IN GYÐINGA SAGA
In his study of the style of Alexanders saga and Gyðinga saga in “Það
finnur hver sem um er hugab,"{Skímir 134 [1960]: 61-73), Ole Widding
says about Gyðinga saga: “Stíllinn verður að teljast fáskrúðugur þrátt
fyrir mikla notkun mjög sérstæðra orða og orða í sérkennilegri merk-
ingu (t.d. illska)” (p. 69). Widding does not specify in which way the
meaning of the noun illska in Gyðinga saga distinguishes itself from
the ordinary meaning of the word. In his article, “Nágra sprákdrag i
Alexanders saga och Gyðinga saga - med en utblick pá Stjórn,” (Sjötíu
ritgerðir helgaðar Jakobi Benediktssyni 20. júlí 1977 I [Reykjavík,
1977]: 234-250), Peter Hallberg makes a smiliar observation, however,
and comments on the unusually frequent use of illska in Gyðinga saga:
“Ett starkt iögonfallande inslag i vokabularen i GS [Gyðinga xaga] ar
den ymniga förekomsten av substantivet illska ‘ondska’ ‘ondskefull
garning’” (p. 249).
Both as a simplex and in compound forms, illska is normally used in
the meaning ‘ill will,’ ‘wickedness,’ and ‘cruelty,’1 e. g., ‘hans illzka ok
vdaað hefir sva miok gengit or dæmum at með engu moti er þolanda,’2
and ‘ef cona drepr búanda sinn eða ræðr hann fyrer illzcu sacar þeirrar
at hon hefir legit með manni eða hyggr til.’3 This is confirmed by the
archives of the Arnamagnaean Dictionary: of the approximately 140
examples of illska, the vast majority is found in this meaning, often
1 Cf. Walter Baetke, Wörterbuch zitr altnordischen Prosaliteratur, 2nd. ed. (Berlin,
1976); Sigfús Blöndal, íslensk-dönsk orðabók (Reykjavík, 1920-24); Erik Jonsson, Old-
nordisk Ordbog (Copenhagen. 1863); Richard Cleasby and Gudbrand Vigfusson, An
lcelandic-English Dictionary (Oxford, 1874); Johan Fritzner, Ordbog over Det gamle
norske Sprog (Kristiania [Oslo], 1891); Leiv Heggstad, Gamalnorsk Ordbog (Oslo,
1963); Jan de Vries, Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (Leiden, 1961).
2 Ólafur Halldórsson, ed. Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta. Editiones Arnamag-
næanæ A;1 (Copenhagen, 1958), p. 234.
3 R. Keyser and P. A. Munch, eds. Norges gamle love 1 (Christiania, 1846), p. 168, 29.