Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2007, Page 189

7-1 Jon Eggertsson group
159
menn ... (fol. 75r, HkrFJ II: 65-66), about landv&ttir (fol. 40V—4ir,
HkrFJ1:316-317), OlaffurtilkongJJ' tekinn (fol. 739 HkrFJ II: 55). On
fol. 791—82V (ch. 61—65 in HkrFJ II) there are densely written com-
ments of various kinds, some of which summarise the content while
others refer to well-known people. These chapters tell how Olåff Har-
aldsson won control over the Vik area.
Jon Eggertsson also adds information derived from the text itself.
On fol. 281V (HkrFJIII: 236) he writes: Hacon konungr deydi rardjo
ara. jo was later corrected to 25 by the same hånd that numbered the
verses (hånd 3, i. e. Gudmundur Olafsson).
Jon had a particular liking for proverbs and traditional expressions
in line with the scholarly taste of his time: for example, farit heyler
Berfi! (fol. 769 HkrFJ II: 73), continued on the next page: Veridheilir
konongr. Proverbs and traditional expressions are marked ordzqvidr at
fol. 85V, 86r, 90V, 9ir (ordz hdttur), 92r-v, 93V, 95V, nor, niv, H2v,
H4r, 117V, 1219 14IV (x 2), 1509 154V, 159V, 2381 (x 4), 310V, 3489
361V (this collection of examples is not intended to be exhaustive). It
looks as if at least one of these proverbs may have been marked by
Gudmundur Olafsson, viz. that on fol. 9ir (marked ordzhattm)-, when
Jon uses his cursive style his hånd can become quite similar to Gud-
mundur’s and there is danger of confusing the two. It is interesting
to note that there is also a marginal annotation on the extant leaf of
Kringla in Laurents Hanssøn’s hånd that seems to concern a proverb,
gott er heilum vagni heim ad aka. This interest in proverbs should be
seen in the context of their habitual use in Latin schools in prose com-
position. Erasmus of Rotterdam’s collection of proverbs Adagia was
used in schools throughout Europe. In Denmark, Feder Laales Ord-
sprog were published for the first time in 1507 and afterwards in several
editions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Låle 1929:10—11).
Gudmundur Olafsson himself excerpted the sagas, including Heims-
kringla, for his own collection of proverbs.100
10° Gudmundi Olaui Thesaurus adagiorum linguae septentrionalis antiquae et modemae
is preserved in the Stockholm manuscripts Holm.papp. 44 4to (fair copy) and