Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2005, Page 34
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Jon Helgason
which an unknown source is used. W f. 54r begins at ch. 82,11
but the text in 458 (from f. [78]rl7) differs from W until ch.
82,38 (or 82,36?); after that 458 reverts to W and continues to
follow it until the end of W f. 54r (ch. 84,29). Because f. 54v in
W is well-nigh illegible, the copyist has avoided it and followed
another unknown source for ch. 84,29-44.
Part 5 (f. [79]r-v = ch. 83,8-84,2). Since W lacks the passage
about Iri and the ambush planned by Steinarr at Einkunnir, 458 -
copying W at this point - also did not have it in the first instance,
but it has subsequently been inserted on a separate leaf in small-
er format than the rest of the book. The colour of the ink is as in
Part 2, and the source is M.
Part 6 (ff. [80]vl5-[82]v = ch. 84,44-87,17). The conclusion of
the saga after M, in ink of the same colour as in Part 5.
The entire manuscript is in one and the same hånd, but it was not writ-
ten in sequence from cover to cover. It offers its own direct testimony to
the manner in which it came into being:
ns Parts 1 and 4 were written first. The exemplar was W [from f. 26 and as
far as it extended], but when W broke off [in Part 4], whether it did so in
the same place as now or at some later point, recourse was had to a
source no longer known. This source ended either at EgEA I, ch. 82,38
(or 82,36?), or at ch. 84,44 (see further § 10 below).
Where the first lacuna in W begins after f. 27v, a total of eight and a
half pages (the lower part of f. [4]v and the whole of ff. [5]-[8]) have at
first been left blank in 458. This gap has been filled in two separate sta-
ges:
(1) Ff. [6]-[8] were filled in and an additional leaf (f. [9]) was in-
serted. This made up what has been designated Part 3. The text
was copied from a lost source that commenced at EgEA I, ch.
8,17; this was not sufficient to fill the lacuna in W because the
beginning of the missing passage was not here either.