Gripla - 01.01.1995, Page 170

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GRIPLA
genteus, Abibas est filius meus, de utero testimonii, id est iteratus
in lege, immaculatus ex utero matris suæ excessit e mundo, propte-
rea in similitudinem argenti mundissimi apparuit. (col. 811)
It is unlikely that the redactor of the source of Sth. 2 had „corrected“
an existing Icelandic translation (p. 155). It is more plausible that Sth.
2 (and AM 661) actually represents the original translation from Latin
into Icelandic, while Sth. 15 and AM 655 XIV, despite being older
manuscripts, transmit a text revealing intervention by an Icelandic re-
dactor who modified the contents and description of the gold caskets
and who furthermore deleted the second reference to the herbs. In the
case of AM 655, a further intervention occurred in an attempt to har-
monize the information given by Gamaliel and that conveyed symboli-
cally in the dream concerning the number of coffins/caskets involved.
According to Widding, „Holm 3 fol. omskriver denne Beretning
stærkt“ (1952, p. 155). It is true that the corresponding text below is
much longer, but it is not the result of scribal revision. The fuller text
already existed in Björn’s source, which transmitted a longer and de-
viating Latin redaction of the vision.
Sth. 3: Sidan synde hann honvm fiorar hirdzlvr edr kistla og vorv
þrir af þeim giorder med þat skirazta gvll. en einn þeirra var af
silfre. Og ein af þeim þrimvr gvll kistlvnvm er fyr greindizt var
fvllvr af ravdvm rosvm. en hiner tveir vorv fvller af hvitvm
rosvm. en hinn fiorde var fvllvr af þeirre jvrtt er safran heiter og
er vel jlmanda krydd. Lvcianvs svarar og seiger at sier lithezt vel
aa kistlana en seigezt þo ecki at helldr vitha hverrn kistilen at
hverr þeirra eigr. Gamaliel svarar. þann kistelin sem fvllr er af
ravdvm rosvm. Saa heyrer til heilogvm Stefane. og þydizt þær
ravdv rosenar vid hans pislar vætte og sv gvllega korona er hann
bar nv aa sinv havfde. Enn hiner tveir gvll kistlarner sem fvller
vorv af hvitvm rosvm þeir heyrdv til Nichodemvs felaga minvm
og mier. og teiknar vit þav .ij. skir hiorttv er vit hófdvm bader til
drottens vors Jesv Christo. en saa hinn fiorde silfvr kistelin er
fvllvr var med safran heyrer til syne minvm Abibas og merckis
vid hans hreinan og ofleckadan meydom amedan hann lifde og
þvi synezt hann silfre biarttare med godvm jlm. (229:11-28)
Like the other redactions, Sth. 3 also contains a discrepancy, but
here the contradiction exists between what Gamaliel tells Lucianus