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k 4to could be (loosely) based on AM 202 k II fol.: in riddle 6 both have
‘fyrir Dellings dyrum’, in riddle 9 both state ‘hann kallar brúðir’ in place of
‘er hann kallar svanbrúðir’, and both shift the etymological commentary on
the word ‘vættur’ in riddle 26 to the end of the note.23 Am 167 b III 8vo,
written by an unknown scribe in the late seventeenth century, is stated to
descend either directly or indirectly from Am 203 fol. (hence Am 192 fol.
or a lost manuscript could also be the direct source).24 In this case, after
comparison of the texts, there seems to be good reason to affirm that what
we are dealing with is a direct copy of AM 203 fol.: the commentary for
riddle 11 cuts out in AM 167 b III 8vo at the precise point where it crosses
from the recto to the verso of a leaf in Am 203 fol. (the text break is dif-
ferent in AM 192 fol.); in riddle 30 an error where ‘kóngur Heiðrekur’ is
written as ‘kóngur Viðrekur’ in AM 167 b III 8vo could be the result of an
eyeskip when copying from AM 203 fol. (on the same page ‘kóngur verið’
appears lower down but with an abbreviation of ‘verið’ to ‘við’ with a small
diacritic over the ‘v’; the same words appear unambiguously as ‘kóngur
vered’ in AM 192 fol.). With such matters considered we are as close to a
complete and accurate stemma as we are likely to get.
Content of the Commentary
Björn jónsson’s commentary on individual riddles can perhaps be broken
down into three main component parts. firstly, there are a number of
value judgements regarding the construction of the riddles. In addition to
this, we find some description of the participants in the riddle contest and
analysis of the contest’s dynamics in the context of the narrative frame.
Finally, the primary content is explanations of material from the riddles
(this can be subdivided into explanations of general poetic theory, of heiti,
of kennings, of etymology and sound symbolism, and of historical/tradi-
tional/mythological content).
taking these three aspects in the order mentioned, the subjective judge-
ments tend to be on skill of composition, rather than revealing direct pleas-
23 translations of phrases cited here and below can be found in below in the edition.
24 jón Helgason, introduction to Heiðreks saga, xlvi.
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
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