Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1959, Page 106
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231, 246-74, 278-79, 324-28, 330, 310-18, 280-309add., 333-39, 345-
46, 347add.-48add., 359add.-64, 349-56, 368-69, 392, 396, 469-469add.,
474, 479-80, 509-509add., 517-19, 621, 630-632, 638, 640add., 716, 744
-47, 751-60, 786, 1061, 1107, 1124-1127, 1137-38, 1236, 1268, 1280,
1349-50, 1390-93add., 1579, 1590-92, 1602add., 1606, 1507, 1509, V4
vv. 1756 and 1760 (in additional laisse after v. 1679), 1684add., 1731,
1764, 1766, 1772, 1795, 1821-28, 1910add., 2068, 2076, 2083, 2086-87,
2091, 2141-44, 2181, 2208-09, 2244, 2260, 2319-20, 2483, in all about
250 verses 253.
A comparison with the Oxford text (and Stengel’s critical text as far
as the additional verses are concerned) will show that practically all the
omitted verses are unimportant from the point of view of a saga writer.
This applies to repetitions like vv. 129-33 and 183-86 (cp. vv. 30-33),
and also to the vivid, but to an impatient scribe somewhat protracted dis-
cussions of vv. 246-330. The editor of Bb has also left out or changed
some strange words (e.g. frjålslendingr) and obscure phrases (e.g. the
“Laws of chivalry” of v. 887).
But there are also some verses that have been preserved in Bb (and
sometimes S and D), but are lost in a: these verses are: Vv. 20-21 (=£)),
63-67, 105-105add., 108-09, 605add.-606, 803-13, add. laisse after v.
813, 835 (=5), 842-47 (=5), 912-13, 944-46, 962, 964, 985-87,
1144add. (=S), 1186-87?, 1265 (=5), 1278 (=5), 1298-99 (=5),
1416 (b only, = S), 1416add. (= S), 1538, V4 1524 (after O 1551), V4
1764 and 1769 (in the add. laisse after 1679, = S), 1892, 2014 (=5),
2059?, 2185add.-87 (=5), 2189 (=5), 2234?, 2305-16 (cp. above),
2332, 2414 (= S), 2420-21 (= S), 2455-56, 2487, 2511 (= S), 2551,
about 100 verses in all, although some of these omissions may in faet be
mere additions in Bb which accidentally resemble some unimportant verses
in the French poem.
It is accordingly possible to demonstrate the superiority of a over Bb
by simple arithmetic:
About 100 verses are preserved in Bb, but have been omitted in a; about
250 verses have been omitted in Bb but are preserved in a.
Of inferior variants, a has about 80, Bb at least 150.
The differences between B and b are slight, and of no practical im-
25a Kms has vv. 280-330, 349-365, 1467-1670 in the same order as V4 and the
version rimée.