Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2007, Page 215

7-1 Jon Eggertsson group
185
In 18 the first hånd has written somewhat more text than in 37.
Among the differences between the two transcripts we may note that
most of the abbreviations are expanded in37(1). Otherwise, 18(1) is not
quite as carefully made as 37(1). In the latter the scribe uses an even
and clear fraktur script throughout. 18(1) begins with fraktur script
but gradually becomes more influenced by cursive, especially after the
beginning of the second gathering (fol. <)r) where the ink also has a
slightly different, greyer, appearance. However, the first words in each
chapter, as well as the verses, are still written in fraktur script, so there
is no doubt that it is the same scribe throughout. The text in 37(1) ends
before the cursive style becomes dominant in 18(1). The palaeograph-
ical likeness between the two transcripts can therefore be seen clearly
throughout the whole of 37(4).
The handwriting in 18(1) is small and the lines are closely spaced.
The scribe has clearly been more economical with Space on the paper
in these quartos than is the case on the folios in 37(1). We find, how-
ever, the same forms of letters throughout the two texts. They also
have in common the sporadic marking of vowel length with a short,
straight diacritic that slants only slightly towards the right. The duet
and the relatively close spacing between letters are the same, and the
handwriting in both slants towards the right. In 37(1) there is more
space in the margins and also between the lines, but the dimensions
of the written space here are clearly determined by the rest of the ma-
nuscript, which had been written by Jens Nilssøn. The handwriting
in 18(1) is very compressed. Samples of the two scripts are shown in
figures 7.5 and 7.6.
It is especially remarkable that the scribe in many places in both texts
uses i as a svarabhakti vowel. A form that occurs several times in 37(1)
is ep ir for the conjunction “e3r” (some examples from 37 are: fol. lv
1. 21, 23; fol. 3r 1. 24), but the i is also found in other words like madir
and sydir (for “si3r”, prologue,37). It is possible that the scribe, perhaps
in an Old Norwegian text, saw the conjunction written with i (or e) or