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Royal Library in Copenhagen. At the start of that manuscript (p. 1), the
scribe has written ‘Collecta Kvadam Ex Manuscr: antiqvo et Lacero num:
167 Biblioth: A: M:’ [A collection of poems from an ancient and damaged
manuscript, number 167 in Árni Magnússon’s collection], which provides
us with a clear statement of its provenance. for the sake of completeness,
it is worth mentioning that the Latin notes accompanying the riddles in
Papp. 4to nr. 34 at the Royal Library in stockholm also make use of Björn
jónsson’s commentary (see table 1).18
the text of Hervarar saga in all of the manuscripts containing the com-
mentary are, according to jón Helgason, descended primarily from Gks
2845 4to (R, fifteenth century), and more specifically from a hypothesised
descendant of r which contains additions from other branches and which
he designates r2.19 While it is certainly possible that the commentary could
have been transmitted independently and thus been copied into manu-
scripts with versions of Hervarar saga descending from other branches of
the stemma (for example H or U), such does not seem to have been the
case, and the commentary was either copied along with the corresponding
text of Hervarar saga text or not at all. jón Helgason speculates that r2 was
written by Bishop Brynjólfur Sveinsson and was a copy of another text r1,
18 Papp. 4to nr. 34 seems to be the only remaining manuscript based on Sveinn Jónssonʼs copy
of the riddles and commentary, which he sent to ole Worm (as mentioned in the formerʼs
letter to the latter, see above). on f. 14v ‘S.J. Islʼ [Sveinn Jónsson, the Icelander] appears,
apparently confirming the scribal source, and in the same year as jón Rugman made his
copy (1665), Peder Hansen Resen (1625–88) mentions having seen the manuscript, then
in the possession of ole Wormʼs son. See Jón Helgason, introduction to Heiðreks saga:
Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks konungs, ed. jón Helgason, samfund til udgivelse af gammel nor-
disk litteratur, vol. 48 (Copenhagen: J. Jørgensen & Co., 1924), xv–xvi. the notes are at
times verbatim copies of the Icelandic text (e.g. the commentary for riddle 5 states ‘patrem
diei vocat Edda delling, idem diei synonynum est dellings bur = filius dellingʼ, f. 9v, cf.
‘Dellingur hét Dags faðir. Les Eddu. Því heitir dagurinn Dellings burr eður sonurʼ), but at
other points there are omissions and alterations.
19 jón Helgason, introduction to Heiðreks saga, xii–xiii. His sigla are referred to throughout.
While Am 202 k II fol. and Am 203 fol. are initially discussed by jón Helgason under the
manuscripts descended from R, he later takes up the discussion of these manuscripts and
their descendants again in the section on ‘haandskrifter med blandet tekstʼ [manuscripts
with a mixed text] (xxix passim). this is because the sources of the text in these manuscripts
can be divided into roughly three parts: (1) the majority and main body of the text,
descended from r; (2) rʼs missing ending supplemented by that present in the u-text,
as well as the u-textʼs distinctive opening included prior to the r-textʼs version; (3)
modifications in the riddle section, apparently based on a non-extant H-branch text.
O E D I P U S I N D U S T R I U S A E N I G M A T U M I S L A N D I C O R U M
GRIPLA XXVI. - 12.12.B.indd 235 12/13/15 8:24:56 PM