Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1981, Side 78

Kolbing was concerned24 - also causes us to revise somewhat our estimate
of the style of the translation.
The vellum manuscripts of Ivens saga contain a reduced version of
Yvain. In his 1898 edition of the saga, Eugen Kolbing expressed the
conviction that the two vellums derive from a common exemplar that
represented “schon eine stark zusammengestrichene fassung des ur-
spriinglichen norwegischen textes” (p. XIII). This hypothesis was based
on the absence of certain narrative details in the saga that Kolbing consid-
ered indispensable for a reasonable development of the plot. In a recent
article Geraldine Barnes rejected Kolbing’s thesis for what she consid-
ered want of conclusive evidence, and proceeded to compare the passages
in question with the French text.25 Miss Barnes argued on the basis of
evidence from the vellums alone; the Stockholm 46 manuscript was disre-
garded. Consequently, a minute albeit telling instance of textual corrup-
tion in the vellums - evident only upon comparison with H46 - was not
considered.
The French couplet Et d’autre part une chapelelPetite, mes ele est mout
bele (w. 393-94 ‘and on the other side a small chapel, but it is very
beautiful’) is transmitted in the vellums as ok par hjå ein kapella fogr
(‘and beside it a beautiful chapel’). One would deduce that the translator
had overlooked or chosen to ignore the faet that the chapel is small, a
seemingly irrelevant detail. A variant in Stockholm 46 - ok par hjå ein
Iltil kapella (‘and beside it a little chapel’) - suggests, however, that the
Norwegian translation had contained both attributes. Were this the only
instance of agreement between the Stockholm 46 redaction and the
French text, one would dismiss it as insignificant and presumably coinci-
dental. Other correspondences can be adduced, however. Stockholm 46
transmits the prepositional phrase in v. 3016 - Derriere un grant chasne
s’areste (‘she stopped underneath a great oak’) - albeit imperfeetly: ok
nam stadar å einum velli undir einu tré (92:20: ‘and she stopped on a
plain under a tree’). The phrase is lacking in both vellums. Now and then
Stockholm 46 also preserves a reading that approximates the French text
more nearly than the vellums. A translation of v. 2032 - Que por vos vuel
morir et vivre (‘Since for you I want to die and live’) - is transmitted in the
three manuscripts. The vellum H6 reads: med pér Ilkar mér at lifa ok
24 Eugen Kolbing, Ivens Saga (Halle a.S.: Max Niemeyer, 1898), p. XIII.
25 Geraldine Barnes, “The riddarasogur: A Medieval Exercise in Translation,” pp. 432-37.
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