Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1985, Page 257

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oculus, and there is no such verb as ponare (“ponare”).29 It may well
be the composition of the Icelandic translator, on the model of the
others in his source, in which case this would have to be considered as
an example of his learning rather than an indication of a source.
The conclusion which emerges from this study of the sources of the
Icelandic Carion in Add. 11153 is that it is based for the most part on
the Danish Carion of 1595, but that in the first third it also used other
material, probably all of it from a version of Odda-Annålar which
contained more than was taken over into Oddverja-Annåll, as well as,
of course, more than is present in the extant abridgement of Odda-
Annålar. A stemma will describe the various relations discussed in this
section:
Danish Carion (1595) *Odda-Annålar (full version)
Icelandic Carion Odda-Annålar Oddverja-Annåll
(abridged)
IV. Einvaldsodur
This poem of 307 stanzas is a world history written by Gubmundur
Erlendsson (c. 1595-1670), parson at Feli in Sléttahh'5, in the year
1658. GE’s main source was a Danish book, Dialogus, eller En Samta-
le Imellem Forfarenhed oc en Hofftienere om Verdens elendige væsen,
published in Copenhagen in 1591. This book in turn is a close transla-
tion of Monarchie or Ane Dialog betuix Experience and ane Courteour
by the Scottish poet Sir David Lindsay, first published in 1554.30
29 The meaning of the verse is not quite clear, but if we assume that “ponare” is a
corruption of parare (I owe this suggestion to Jonna Louis-Jensen), the couplet could
perhaps be translated as follows: “Let the scribes save their eyes and their hånds; cannot
(this) invention make books for a modest price?”.
30 Though it enjoyed wide circulation (sixty-odd manuscripts have survived), Ein-
valdsodur was never printed. The verses cited here are normalized from Lbs. 121 8vo.
In 182 “Cassius” has been substituted for the obvious misreading “Crassus.” The Danish
Lindsay of 1591 was never reprinted; there is a copy in the Royal Library, Copenhagen.
The Scottish poem can be found in the first volume of the Scottish Text Society edition
of The Works of David Lindsay, ed. by Douglas Hamer, 4 vols. (Edinburgh and London
1931-36).