Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1960, Blaðsíða 319
301
end and began writing on page 516. This theory seems to explain
the changes in the color of the ink, but not the differences in the
paleography. Kålund in general agrees with Larsson7. Harald
Spehr, in a rather detailed study of the origins of Icelandic paleo-
graphy, also feels that this section is the work of one scribe8. In a
work on the First Grammarian, Anne Holtsmark has occasion to
remark that one hånd is usually assumed for the oldest section of
1812, and she appears generally to agree9. However, she notes that
co-operation with another scribe is also possible.
1.3. A doser investigation of certain features of the paleography
is indicated, and it is this which I propose to undertake here.
Undoubtedly a thorough investigation of the whole manuscript
would be most desirable, but I believe that I can demonstrate
certain points from the material which was available to me or
which I was able to collect in the short time at my disposal. I will
first present the details of the differences in paleography and then
certain conclusions which I feel they justify.
1.4 For the convenience of the reader, copies of pages 50 and 51
are included in the article. Reference will be to manuscript page,
column, and line; e.g. 50:b:3 will refer to page 50, the second
column, line 3.
2.1 Perhaps the clearest difference between the script of the
section represented by page 50 and that represented by page 51 lies
in the letter g. The type found on page 50 I will call “type I”; that
on page 51 I will call “type II”. Clear examples of these two types
may be seen in 50:a:30 tgla and 51:a:2 Ipgmale. Both types seem
to use an o as the basis; the difference is to be found in the “tail”.
For type I the tail is a stroke running vertically along the right side
of the o and beginning at the top of the o; the stroke then curls under
the o. The exact type of the curl varies somewhat, but the curl
6 Larsson, op. cit., p. xxv.
7 Katalog over de oldnorsk-islandske Håndskrifter i det store kongelige Bibliotek
(Copenhagen, 1900), p. 41.
8 Harald Spehr, Der Ursprung der isldndischen Schrift und ihre Weiterbildung bis
zur Mitte des 13. Jahrhunderts (Halle, 1929), p. 125.
9 Anne Holtsmark, En islandsk scholasticus fra det 12. århundre. Skrifter utgitt
av det norske Videnskapsakademi i Oslo, II. historisk-filosofisk klasse, 1936, No.
3 (Oslo, 1936), p. 12.