Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1979, Side 125

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includes saints’ lives, specifically fragments of the Quadraginta Militum
Passio (HMS II, 219-21) and the Marin saga egypzku (HMS I, 495-507
var.).
Although this evidence is fairly convincing, the connection between
fragments X and XXXIII of AM 655 4to cannot definitely be established.
Nevertheless, the likelihood that the same scribe was responsible both for
XB and XXXIII is sufficiently high that 1 have referred to fragment
XXXIII occasionally in order to clarify questions which might remain in
doubt owing to the shortness of the sample provided by XB.
The discussion of each of the hånds which follows is divided into three
parts: 1. a description of the paleographic features, 2. an analysis of the
phonemic implications of the orthography, and 3. a brief treatment of the
orthography of certain bound morphemes and also the preposition or.
The structure of this discussion and my general approach derive, it will
be observed, from the work of Hreinn Benediktsson, especially his study
of the MS. fragments of The Life ofSt. Gregory,3 Thus, if my conclusions
regarding the number of scribes who have contributed to AM 655 4to X
differ from those of Dr Benediktsson, the procedures by which I have
come to these conclusions are modelled on his own.
Hånd A:
1. The old (open) a is used throughout. High-necked a appears as a
Capital, A morgen 2rl2, but also finally in segia 2r6 and a/ca lr40.
Insular a occurs only as a superscript letter in abbreviations, for example,
in manna 2rl4.
Round d is normal; straight d appears in Latin words (e.g. placido
1 v31, paradisom 2r21, although placide lv39 is written with a round d),
but also in drottenn 2r6, molldo 2r2, gujrdom 2r26, do 2v5, stundo 2v5,
dogum 2v7 etc.
Insular fis the rule. The slight hook to the left at the bottom of the
descender is characteristic of all descenders in this hånd and presents one
of the obvious divergences from hånd B. Also the two cross strokes are
more firmly attached to the main stem in this hånd than in hånd B.
Round r occurs regularly after o, d,p, and g: cf. for 2r9, by6r 1 r 13, sa{5r
2rll, )regr lv27, but also, for example, grimum lr38 with minuscule r.
3 The Life ofSt. Gregory and his Dialogues. Fragments of an Icelandic M anuscript from the
\3th Century: Editiones Arnamagnaame B, IV (Copenhagen, 1963).