Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1985, Page 161
Elis saga ok Rosamundu: Holm 7 - AM 119 - Holm 17 -
Holm 46
By Foster W. Blaisdell
For Elis saga there is a complex of manuscripts which includes the
vellum Holm 7 fol. and the paper copies AM 119a 8vo, Holm 17 4to,
and Holm 46 fol. Eugen Kolbing, following Arwidsson, considers
Holm 46 a copy of the vellum De la Gardie 4-7 fol., but this can not be
the case.1 Holm 46 shows too many of the features peculiar to Holm 7.
The latter is also a primary MS for Viktors saga ok Blåvus, where
there is a similar complex with AM 118a 8vo (part of the same original
codex as AM 119a), Holm 17, and Holm 46. Jonas Kristjånsson de-
rives AM 118a from Holm 7, while Holm 17 “mun vera uppskrift eftir
ÅM 118a” and Holm 46 “er synilega ger5 eftir Stockh. 17.”2 Evidence
from the Elis saga MSS indicates that the Holm 46 text does indeed
derive from Holm 17, at least for the most part.3 However, the evi-
dence also makes it clear that Holm 17 is independent of AM 119, al-
though they are closely related. Thus their many common readings
which deviate from Holm 7 indicate that they can not be direct copies
of Holm 7, but there must be at least one common intermediary.
In the following I shall first present the evidence (briefly) that AM
119 (hereafter 119) and Holm 17 (H17) derive from Holm 7 (H7), then
common deviations from the latter, and finally the evidence that 119
and H17 are mutually independent of each other. References are to
1 Elis Saga ok Rosamundu, Heilbronn, 1881, p. XV.
2 Viktors saga ok Blåvus, Reykjavfk, 1964, pp. LVII, LXII.
3 It is known that J6n Vigfusson sometimes worked from more than one MS; see, for
example, Blaisdell, Ivens saga, Editiones Arnamagnæanæ, Series B, Vol. 18, Copenha-
gen, 1979, esp. p. XCII.