Gripla - 20.12.2015, Blaðsíða 230

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one piece of the puzzle which remains to be put in place, however,
harks back to that previous period of intense interest in the saga, namely
the seventeenth century. Hannah Burrows mentions the ‘intriguing re-
ception history’ of the riddles, one aspect of which is a ‘little-known
seventeenth-century commentary’.4 the commentary referred to was pro-
duced by Björn jónsson á skarðsá (1574–1655), an important figure on the
Icelandic intellectual scene of his day, in the second quarter of the seven-
teenth century. With reference to the different witnesses of that work,
Love, too, opines that ‘a future edition of Björn’s commentary would help
facilitate a more detailed study’.5 the present article is a direct response
to this stated absence. moreover, by making Björn’s commentary more
accessible it is hoped that it will be easier to juxtapose it with the various
other seventeenth-century musings on medieval scandinavian poetry and
language, as part of the ongoing attempt to understand the noteworthy
developments of that period.
In what follows, I present a text and translation of Björn Jónsson á
skarðsá’s riddle commentary. the introduction to this edition comprises
a consideration of Björn’s life and works and the conditions under which
he produced his commentary, a discussion of the various manuscript wit-
nesses of the commentary and how they relate to each other and, finally, a
delineation of the techniques and approaches which are made use of within
the commentary.6
Hervarar saga’s Wave-Riddles and supernatural Women in Old Norse Poetic tradition,”
Journal of English and Germanic Philology 112 (2013); Hannah Burrows, “Wit and Wisdom:
the Worldview of the old norse-Icelandic riddles and their relationship to Eddic
Poetry,” in Eddic, Skaldic and Beyond: Poetic Variety in Medieval Iceland and Norway, ed.
Martin Chase (new York: fordham university Press, 2014); and Aurelijus Vijūnas,
“On the Old Icelandic Riddle Collection Heiðreksgátur,” in Fun and Puzzles in Modern
Scandinavian Studies, ed. Ērika Sausverde and Ieva Steponavičiūė (Vilnius: Vilnius
University, 2014).
4 Burrows, “Wit and Wisdom,” 114.
5 Love, The Reception of Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, 234.
6 the introduction is brief, containing only as much information as is deemed relevant to
orientate the reader with regard to a reading of the commentary. Much more could be
said of Björnʼs works and the role they played in the cultural and intellectual circles of the
seventeenth century, but that must wait until another occasion.
GRIPLA XXVI. - 12.12.B.indd 230 12/13/15 8:24:56 PM