Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1970, Side 354

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9.5. eng/eing.
eing is usual in all three hånds, though there are a few eng spellings in
eaoh. Hånd 1 has fengu (3rb28, 4ra9), Gengu (6va36), also fiengu (6va2),
cf. 9.6, below; Hånd 2 has engu (7va4), fengu (llral8), engan (llral9);
Hånd 3 shows fengu (9va5), lengi (8vh30), torfengir (8vb33) and a number
of spellings with i, e.g. gingu (9va44).
9.6. é/fe.
ie for é is fairly oommon in Hånd 1, and is usual in the words hiet (e.g.
2ral4), rieduz and related forms (e.g. 5val8), liet (e.g. 7ra26), and frequent
in the pronoun forms mier (e.g. 3vbl4), sier (e.g. 5val7), vier (e.g. 3vb5).
It oeeurs 6 times in Hånd 2, all in the pronoun form pier (e.g. lIrblO) and
all on f.llrb, hut not at all in Hånd 3.
9.7. Graphs for r.
Hånd 1 illustrates both the gradual extension of 2 and the confusion
which often accompanied it. 2 is normal throughout after 6, d, o (and o), p;
r remains almost eonstant after e, i, k, l, m, n, t, æ, m; p, y hegin confusedly,
but they have eonsistent 2 after them towards the end of Hånd 1 ;g,h,u chan-
ge over from eonsistent r to eonsistent 2; a,/have eonsistent r after them until
f.5, but thereafter show a fairly large number of examples of 2, and there
are generally more exeeptions in both directions as this scribe prooeeds.
The graph n is gradually adopted in initial positions, where it is used almost
consistently after f.3, but does not appear elsewhere.
Hånd 3 is similar to the final stage of Hånd 1, except that r is eonsistent
after p, a, and appears occasionally after u, though this beeomes rarer as
the scribe goes on. Hånd 3 does not use the graph n.
Hånd 2 hardly shows 2 at all—it oeeurs 3 times after o, twice after p,
onee after a, and twice in the interlinear position with the meaning -ur.
It seems probable that this scribe intended to eradieate 2 altogether, and
that the few oeeurrences of it are unconscious copying of the exemplar.
This would be a reasonable reaction to sueh confusion as is found in Hånd 1,
partieularly, as here, in a hånd where 2 might be confused with z. The same
practice can be found in some doeuments from cl420.42
9.8. o/k, chiefly in medial and final positions.
k is usual in medial and final positions in all three hånds; in Hånd 1
42 See, for example, EAA7 and Supp. I, nos. 172 (scribe unknown, EyjafjorSur,
1420—here there are only 5 cases of 2, three after o and two after 6), 202 (scribe
(3lafur Loptsson, Skagafjordur, 1426—here 2 does not appear at all—however,
(5lafur’s later letters abandon the attempt to remove it, see nos. 241, 320, 330).
There are also some letters written in Iceland by foreigners at this period in which
2 does not appear, e.g. no. 174, which concems a group of Englishmen but was
written on Vestmannaeyjar by a Norwegian, and no. 179, which is in Low German.
The alternative course of extending the use of n to all positions appears in the
letters of horkell Guftbjartsson (nos. 210, 251, 260, 262, all written in Idngeyjar-
sysla between 1428 and 1437).