Gripla - 2020, Qupperneq 89

GRIPLA88
The number is still relatively high, but it is doubtful that it would be
higher than in most other sagas if it were not for the concentration of oc-
currences in the Greenland episode: 13 occurrences on 32 pages versus 9
occurrences on the remaining 184 pages.59 R lacks many occurrences, in
the Greenland episode and elsewhere, but since these are generally found
in the other manuscripts, their absence seems to be due to scribal prefer-
ence rather than to the archetype.60 Their concentration in the Greenland
episode may at least partly be due to the nature of the action there, since it
contains many encounters between people who are previously unknown to
each other or who say that they are someone who they are not.
As Jónas notes, indefinite einn is also used in the IHB.61 This point
calls for some elaboration. In fact, the number of occurrences in the IHB is
very low, but in this instance, numbers are deceptive. The indefinite article
generally occurs in ‘down-to-earth’ narrative sequences where a person or
entity not previously mentioned is introduced. While this is a common
state of affairs in the sagas, it is rare in the IHB, but when these criteria
are met, we get some examples of the indefinite article.62 Furthermore, the
very uneven distribution within Fóstbrœðra saga should warn us against
using the indefinite article as a dating criterion for this saga; the numbers
outside of the Greenland episode are roughly compatible with those that
Jónas gives for óláfs saga tryggvasonar in Heimskringla (9 in Fóstbrœðra
saga, 12 in óláfs saga, but given the length of óláfs saga, the ratio in
Fóstbrœðra saga is slightly higher).63
(Fóstbrœðra saga, ed. Björn K. Þórólfsson, 18.1) and ‘einn útlendr maðr’ (a foreigner) (Fóst-
brœðra saga, ed. Björn K. Þórólfsson, 166.14), could be taken as indefinite articles, but einn
in these cases underlines the point that protagonist has singlehandedly performed a feat.
59 Fóstbrœðra saga, ed. Björn K. Þórólfsson, pp. 169.3 and 9, 174.2 (not R), 181.8, 126.9 (not
R and F) and 15 (not R), 188.12 (not R), 190.6 (not R), 193.3 (not R), 195.2, 197.8, 198.3
(not F), 200.7 (not R). Occurrences not related to the Greenland episode are: 19.1 (not R),
21.9 (not R), 33.16, 35.1 (not R), 55.2, 88.6, 101.16 (not R), 152.10 (not F), 213.14. Doubtful
instances are: 18.1, 63.14, 166.14 (in these cases it is relevant that the person is alone).
60 See previous note.
61 Jónas Kristjánsson, Um ‘Fóstbræðrasögu’, 283.
62 78r–80v are narrative and ‘saga-like’, and contain three occurrences of the indefinite article:
78r l. 22, 78v l. 4 (unus rather than einn), 80v l. 14. See ‘The Manuscript Sthm. Perg. 15 4º.
A Diplomatic Edition and Introduction’, ed. by Andrea van Arkel-de Leeuw van Weenen
(PhD Diss., Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, 1977). Similar characteristics are found on 94r–
97r, but only nǫkkurr (some) is used there.
63 Jónas Kristjánsson, Um ‘Fóstbræðrasögu’, 285.