Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Blaðsíða 48
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from different people5. Parts of the book probably never reached Årni’s
hånds at all.
3. No. 180 d, fol. in the same collection, a paper MS written not long
before 1700: this is the MS called B by Unger. It is practically complete,
with only a few short lacunae. In addition to the branches preserved in A
and a, B contains branches IX-X and II, at the end of the MS6.
According to Årni Magnusson’s secretary, Jon Olafsson of Grunnavik,
vvho compiled a catalogue of the collection after Årni’s death in 1730,
180 d was written by Jon Arnorsson. In Årni’s catalogue, written before
the great fire of Copenhagen in 1728, several Kms MSS are listed. One
of them was bound, and is described as non admodum vetustus codex, and
Årni adds the note: “This is the one that Jon Arnorsson copied”, and later,
in another connection: “This is the Kms that Jon Arnorsson copied on my
behalf”7. This must be the vellum MS from which 180 d was copied, and
it was apparently lost in the fire. 180 d, fol. is a large volume, with two
columns on the page, but the text is written in the inner column only. It
is obviously a copy made for a scholar, not for the ordinary reader. Unger8
mentions certain spellings in B that, in his opinion, seemed to indicate
that the source was a Norwegian MS of the late 13th century, but Pro-
fessor Jon Helgason, who has examined 180 d without finding any of these
particular forms, thinks that Unger must have made a mistake. The
spelling of B is not that of the majority of Icelandic 17th century MSS;
the scribe has obviously tried to reproduce the spelling of his source, which,
again according to Jon Helgason, was probably an Icelandic MS of the
14th century9. Since the vellum from which B was copied is lost, it is
very fortunate that Jon Arnorsson seems to have been a careful scribe,
who is not likely to have altered or omitted anything.
4. The paper MS 531, 4to in the same collection, written by Sira Ketill
Jorundsson10, Årni’s maternal grandfather, who died in 1670. It contains
the whole saga, with only a few short lacunae. This is the MS called b
5 Arne Magnussons i AM 435 A-B indeholdte håndskriftfortegnelser, udg. af
Kommissionen for Det Arnamagnæanske Legat (Kbh. 1909), p. 44: pesse bok var
komin i marga parta nordur i lande og hefi eg hana feinged af ymsum, etc.
6 Unger’s ed., p. XL.
7 Arne Magnussons ... håndskriftfortegnelser, p. 44, cp. p. 50 and p. 61: petta er
su Karla Magnuss Saga sem Jån Arnorsson minna vegna uppskrifade.
8 Ed. p. xxxix.
9 Letter, May 1953.
50 Kålund, Katalog etc. p. 679.
J