Studia Islandica - 01.06.1962, Qupperneq 189

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result. Then it has been proved that the proximity in time does not
play any conceivable rðle for the unique conformity between Egla
and the Snorri-texts.
First the new sagas are confronted with the Snorri /1-series (App.
I—IV). The numbers of Tahle I are reduced with regard to the pair
words which have been eliminated through this confrontation, and we
have the figures presented in Table IV. A comparison between the
tables shows that of Egla's original 193 pair words (the sum for all
four categories) 17 or 9.0% have been eliminated by the confrontation
with the new text material. The other sagas, with a sum of 285
(83-f-49-J-74—(—79) pair words, lose 43 or 15.0%. The relation may also
be expressed thus, that whereas Egla in Table I takes 39.5% of all
pair words with Snorri A, its share has been raised in Table IV to
41.0% That is to say, the affinity between Egla and Snorri A stands
out still more sharply. (Pp. 32—33).
The corresponding confrontation with the Snorri B-series and the
latter Snorri /1-series, i.e. that where Egla has been replaced by Snorri
B, appears on pp. 33—34 and 35—36, and the resulting new pair word
numbers are listed in the Tables V and VI respectively. It appears
among other things that Egla and Snorri B in their series with
Snorri A react on the test in exactly the same way: in both cases 9.0%
of the pair words are eliminated, and the share of the total sum of
pair words is increased by 1.5%.
The conclusion may be stated thus. If HeiSarvíga saga, HallfréSar
saga and Fóstbrœðra saga may be regarded as representing compara-
tively early saga writing, about or soon after 1200, then the comple-
menting tests show decisively that vicinity in time has not been con-
clusive for the affinity in language between Snorri and Egla. On the
contrary, the impression has been strongly confirmed that their simi-
larity depends on more deep-laying, fundamental causes.
5. The result checked with the aid of Oddr Snorrason’s Saga
Ólafs Tryggvasonar. (Pp. 36—41). It has sometimes been emphasized
that Egla, more than any other family saga, deals with Norwegian
national history, and so comes nearer to such a work as Heimskringla.
This observation is indisputably correct, and its implications should not
be neglected in the present investigation. Could it be that the kinship
between Egla and Snorri, as it reveals itself in the pair word series,
depends more on certain similar topics than on common authorship?
However, that possibility can be tested too. For that purpose a choice
was made of one of Snorri’s historical sources, Saga Ólafs Tryggva-
sonar by the Icelandic monk Oddr Snorrason. (Cf. the discussion and
facts on p. 37.) The text comprises 28 000 words.