Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2003, Page 175
A paper manuscript of Eyrbyggja saga
IB 180 8vo
Forrest S. Scott
The manuscript IB 180 8vo in the National Library, Reykjavlk, was ex-
amined and transcribed in connexion with my edition of Eyrbyggja
saga,1 but not included in the volume, which covers the vellum tradition
of the saga only. The manuscript is of both textual and linguistic inter-
est: it is closely related to but not derived from the lost vellum
Vatnshyrna, it contains what may possibly be interpreted as the oldest
known examples of the dialectal sound change known as “flåmæli”,
and it is also a source of information about seventeenth-century social
life in the BorgarfjorSur district. For these reasons, it seemed appropri-
ate to publish a presentation of it in Opuscula.2
I. Extemal appearance
IB 180 8vo is bound in leather-covered boards with two brass clasps. Its
110 leaves measure approximately 155 mm x 100 mm. Eyrbyggja saga
forms its only contents. In my edition, the text of IB 180 8vo has the
siglum Z, which is also used here.
The manuscript was given in 1860 to the Copenhagen branch of Hi5
Islenzka bokmenntafélag by Jon Åsgeirsson from KollafjarSames, later
of bingeyrar3. At the head of the first page is written in the hånd of Jon
Åmason “Jon Åsgeirsson frå KollafjarSamesi 9/12 [18J60”.4
'Eyrbyggja saga. The Vellum Tradition. Editiones Amamagnæanæ, ser. A, vol. 18,
Copenhagen 2003.
2 Images of the manuscript are currently available at http://sagnanet.is.
3 See Skyrsla um handritasafn Hins islenzka bdkmenntafélags, Copenhagen 1869, p. XII.
For Jon Åsgeirsson, see Sjslumannaæfir I, p. 633, II, p. 398.
4 The hånd was identified by Einar G. Pétursson and the identification later confirmed by
Ogmundur Helgason. In 1860 Jon Åmason (1819-88) was a member of the board of the
Reykjavlk branch of Hib Islenzka bokmenntafélag, and the manuscript was probably
sent to Copenhagen via Reykjavlk..