Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2007, Page 216

i86
ReLATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TRANSCRIPTS
ep + abbreviation mark, and thought that ep ir was an old form and used
it in order to archaise.115
One good reason to believe that we are dealing with the same scribe
in 18(1) and 37(1) is that we also find the very unusual form ep ir for edr
in the former (fol. 9r 1. 9; fol. I9r 1. 4). The form ep ir does not occur
in the same places in the two manuscripts, and it also occurs in 37(1) in
both the prologue, which is from Jofraskinna, and the text from Kringla
(fol. lv and 3r, see above). This shows clearly that the form belongs to
the scribe and is not among the features he copied from the exemplar.
Now that we have come to the conclusion that 37(1) is a transcript
of 18(1) written by the same person, an interesting question presents
itself. It is noteworthy that the scribe lays weight on the calligraphic
imitation of his own exemplar, when he has only just transcribed this
from a vellum. It may be that he wished to give the transcript an au-
thentic look but that the vellum was no longer available. The reason
why the beginning of 18 was not written by Jon Eggertsson may be
that he was in Iceland from the spring of 1682 until the autumn of
1683, and that someone else was therefore employed. In this case 18(1)
must have been written after the spring of 1682 and 37(1) even later.
Jofraskinna and Kringla were sent to Norway in the autumn of 1682,
precisely during the relevant period. 18(1) would hardly have remained
in Copenhagen for many weeks before it was sent to Sweden. On this
115 Alongside the scribal errors this form gives grounds for asking whether the scribe
may have been a non-Icelander. There are, however, many features suggesting that
he must have been an Icelander. Despite everything he masters the language very
well, and it is difficult to imagine that a Norwegian or other Scandinavian at the
time would have been able to transcribe the text and expand the abbreviations with
so few errors. Besides, it is not difficult to find clear Icelandic features that are not
taken from the exemplar. Some examples of this are: that he has placed an accent
over a before ng in Idngfedga(r) (fol. ir 1. 9,21,26), that in 37 he writes Rwgnvalldur
(fol. ir 1.18-19) f°r Raugnvalldr, and that he writesy for i in Geyrstada Alfs (fol. ir
1.19).