Íslenskt mál og almenn málfræði - 2020, Síða 310

Part I. The text
The text on leaf 99v was read and published in the 19th century by Finnur Jóns -
son.1 Editors of the poem have taken Finnur’s reading to be the best available
direct reading of the poem. Leaf 99v was in all likelihood in a more readable con-
dition 150 years ago. Many attempts to read it have taken their toll and probably
contributed to its present condition.2
Finnur Jónsson’s transcription is sober and normal-looking, but Finnur did
not reproduce some characteristic and odd features of the text that now are dis-
cernable on multispectral images. This includes a ‘dot comma’ for stanza separa-
tion and some acute marks on the letter ⟨i⟩. Guðbrandur Vigfússon published a
reading of leaf 99v a few years before Finnur in 1883. He used ampersands as a
general abbreviation mark, thus hiding one of the peculiarities of the text, which
is an abnormal use of the tittle, which normally is an abbreviation for ‘ir’. Finnur,
on the other hand, replaced the ‘ir’ abbreviation, where he could see it, with a ‘ur’
abbreviation. Guðbrandur could read some words and letters in the last quarter
of the poem. Until now, it has not been possible to verify any of these readings.
He accidentally lost half of his diplomatic reading, but he published the remain-
der, which included these words and letters.
Jón Helgason attempted to use ultraviolet (UV) light to improve the reading
of leaf 99v. He could correct some errors in Finnur Jónsson’s diplomatic reading,
and Michael Chesnutt published his results in the 2001 edition of Egils saga.
Most of his corrections were also in Guðbrandur’s reading, but Jón reproduced
the tittle instead of using an ampersand.
The text on leaf 99v is in two columns. The lower half of the second column
(the last quarter) does not seem to have any text (readable or not) in normal light
or UV light. However, multispectral images of the leaf reveal text in both
columns. Most of it is barely readable, however, and the text in the lower half of
the right column is illegible, except for a few words, some of which were previ-
ously read by Guðbrandur Vigfússon. With these textual remains, it is neverthe-
less possible to build a case for the poem having been fully recorded on the leaf,
or at least that this is possible. For details, I refer to the thesis.
The upper half of leaf 99v is easier to read than the lower part. The poem
begins with a similar initial E as in headings of chapters in Möðruvallabók having
a similar flourish in two colors. The presence of this initial letter indicates that
the poem was an integral part of Möðruvallabók. The readable text on the
processed images covers the same part of the poem as the text read by Finnur
Jónsson. In the first instance, the text is a disappointment, because it mostly cor-
Þorgeir Sigurðsson310
1 The references I give here are found in the Bibliography of my dissertation, pp. 259ff.
2 For a photo of M 99v in normal light, see my dissertation, fig. 11-7, p. 256, and
⟨https://handrit.is/is/manuscript/view/AM02-0132⟩.