Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1985, Page 245

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tained both Chronica Carionis and Odda-Annålar, descended British
Library Add. 11153.
The Chronica Carionis in 11153 is the fullest version of Carion in
Icelandic and is admirably persistent in condensing the entire Danish
book of 191 quarto leaves into 94 quarto leaves. It omits introductory
matter, Peucer’s preface to the fourth book, concluding remarks, and
a few sections of the history proper - the longest omission, covering ff.
57v-63r of the Danish, deals with Jewish history - but otherwise sticks
doggedly to its source, especially in the latter half where it treats every
one of the seventy-one Roman and forty German emperors. There are
also additions from other sources, which will be discussed below.
The translation fluctuates between literal reproduction and free,
even imaginative, paraphrase. Countless Danish words are simply car-
ried over into the Icelandic, and in a few cases whole clauses are
borrowed, producing such hybrids as:
Effter bad strijd komu Bulgares huorier suo nefndust af buj flode Bolga hiå
huoriu fliote beir biuggu, huorz vp tok eru ecki langt frå Lyflande, oc denn er
so vidt begreben i mod østen at den hafuer femm og tiuffe jnd seglingz gaffue
(osa) som flydi wti haffvet. enn Constantinus giorde frid met dennem oc gaff
dem ein stad jnd som kaldediz Mysiæ, og nu paa denn dag kaldest Bulga-
res. (f. 62v; cp. 1595, f. 122r)
Persar plogudu eirninn ad node alle røgeløser companer til at bere en nøgen
skøgi vp påa sijn rygg om kring j byen. (f. 77v; cp. 1595, f. 155v)
J Rom kom suo miked watz hlaup å beim tijma ad margar fagrar byggingar
nidur brotnudu, og bad stod yfer 24. tijma, so denn gick over Campefloer en
lang spedse hoy huad ed hafde ad bijda ad nockut nijtt munde ganga yfer
Romaborg. (f. 93v; cp. 1595, f. 190r)
Despite these instances, which give the impression of slavish imita-
tion, the Icelandic translator takes frequent liberties with his Danish
source. He adds many little details, both to be more precise and to
make the text more vivid. The story in which Martin, the future 47th
Roman emperor, is picked out from a group of prisoners has this
element in the Danish,
da bliffuer hånd var huor en Ørn haffuer sat sig paa Martiani Hoffuet / oc
vdbred sine Vinger offuer hannem der hånd soff: (f. 104v)
which is amplified in the Icelandic to