Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1970, Qupperneq 330

The Reconstruction of Pseudo-Vatnshyrna.
By John McKinnell.
1.1. The version of Viga-Glums saga found in AM 564a, 4to,
which has since the time of Gu&brandur Vigfusson been thought
to be a part of Vatnshyrna, is not the same as that preserved in
full in the 14th century codex Mobruvallabék, but the remains
of a longer form of the saga, now generally thought to be more
original1. But there is one other fragment of a version similar to
the one in AM 564a—that now known as AM 445c,I, 4to, f.l,
which, like some of the leaves in AM 564a, was once a part of
Addit. Bibi. Univ. Hafn. 20, fol.2 Now that we know that AM 564a
is not a part of Vatnshyrna3, it is worth considering the possibility
that this fragment of Viga-Glums saga and the other four leaves of
AM 445c,I, 4to may originate from the same codex as AM 564a,
4to.
1.2. AM 445c,I could be contemporary with AM 564a (which was
probably copied late in the 14th century or early in the 15th)4 -
1 See Viga-Glums saga, ed. E. O. G. Turville-Petre, Oxford, 1940, 2nd ed. 1960,
Introduction, pp. xxii—xxxii. This view has won wide acceptance, but has been
challenged by A. C. Bouman: “Observations on Syntax and Style of Some Icelandic
Sagas”, Studia Islandica 15 (1956). His article, which relies heavily on statistieal
evidence, received no support from Jonas Kristjånsson in Skirnir, Vol. CXXXI,
1957, pp. 246-9, or from B. J. Timmer in The Saga-Book of the Viking Society,
15, 1957-61, pp. 138-9. The findings of the present article tend to undermine
part of Bouman’s statistieal argument, but the implications of his figures deserve
re-examination.
2 Katalog over Den Arnamagnæanske Håndskriftsamling, Copenhagen, 1889-
1894, Vol. 1, pp. 642, 717.
3 See the preceding article “Um Vatnshyrnu”, by Stefån Karlsson, section 1.2.
* The heading to Hardar saga in AM 564a, 4to is probably in the hånd of the
priest Hoskuldur Håkonarson, whose name appears in a number of doeuments