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used indiscriminately to represent either r or rr (e.g. sitn, 4vb24,/eR, 5rbl2),
but rr is often represented by r (e.g. dyr, 4vb31), and n appears once with
a dot above it where rr seems to be intended (fina, 5va33).
In AM 564a, Hånd 2 is close to the usage of f.l of AM 445c,I. It has r
always after a, i, n, usually after u, sporadically after k, l, m, but always
2 after other letters. Its use of n is the same as that in f.l of AM 445c,I.
In Hånd 1, 2 is usual after all letters except a, i, though there are a few
isolated r spellings after d, m, n, o, u, p. But 2 graphs are common even
after a, i, and in the former case form a narrow majority. n is used as in
Hånd 2, but is less common in initial positions. Hånd 3 is slightly more
conservative than Hånd 2, showing r consistently after a, i, m (the letter
does not appear after n) and u, usually after e, l, t, and sporadically after p.
Other letters are followed by 2. n does not appear in Hånd 3.
If these tests were taken by themselves, the fragments would probably
be dated to about 1450; thus on similar criteria Hast arrives at a date ca.
1475 for the more advanced AM 556a, 4to. But in view of the attribution
of the heading to Hardar saga to Hoskuldur Håkonarson, we must assume
that the extensive use of 2 here is partly due to an advanced scribal school.12
2.8. c/k, chiefly in medial and final positions.
Medial k is usual throughout AM 445c,I, apart from clc spellings for kk,
but c occurs once (teer, 5ra37), heavily outnumbered by k forms in the same
word.13 In AM 564a, Hånds 1 and 2 have usual k, but interlinear medial c
is fairly frequent; Hånd 1 has mili 13 times (e.g. 3vb24) against mikill
6 times, and there are two cases of interlinear c in parts of the verb taka
(3va6, at a line-ending, and 3va40); Hånd 2 has mili 5 times, mikill 8 times;
in Hånd 3, interlinear c is the majority form.
Final c is usual throughout AM 445e,I, though a few k spellings oecur
—f.l shows 6 (e.g. fraleik lrbl6), and there are 23 spread through the
remainder of AM 445c,I. This preponderance of final c is an old-fashioned
trait, and the “conservative” passages, which have 65 cases of final c,
show only three of final k (uorumk, 4vb9, mik, 5ra8,16). In AM 564a, Hånd 1,
final k is usual, but toc appears at a line-ending (3vbl), and ec three times
(lval5, 4rb37, both in verses, and 3rb 11), against ek 48 times (e.g. 4rb38) and
mik, pik, sik spelt only with k. In Hånd 2, c is consistent in the pronoun forms
ec (e.g. 5ra9), pie (e.g. 5rall), sic (e.g. 5ra31), and in the graph mc for mic
(e.g. 7ra9) and also in oc (e.g. 6ral7), mide (e.g. 6ral5), but does not appear
elsewhere. In Hånd 3, c appears in mioc (7rb4, 7va42), ec (7rb30, 7va24,25)
and toc (7vb22)—but cf. ek (7rb32, 7vb42), pik (7rb21), tok (7va9, 7vb29,
34,38).
12 See Hast, op. cit., Inledning, pp. 37, 86; and further on the use of 2 in AM
564a, 4to, St efan Karlsson’s article above, seetion 3.1, where comparison is made
with letters of this period.
13 One might add to this the form pic(ia) (lvb2,9), but since the seeond half
of the word is lost in these cases, the spelling pic(kia) is also possible in both of
them.