Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.2007, Page 239

7-2 Asgeir Jonsson group
209
book was published in 1689, one year before Bartholin died and the
same year that Årni visited Torfæus. Heimskringla is among the sources
cited, and there are about 50 quotations with reference to Snorri’s his-
tory of Norway. Two thirds are from Ynglinga saga and (apart from two
examples from Hkr III, from Haraids saga hardrada and Haraldssona
saga respectively) the rest are from the Prologue and Hkr I.
While Årni and Bartholin were working on this book, Torfæus
had with him in Norway the manuscripts of Heimskringla from the
University Library and the Royal Library. Two vellums were in pri-
vate ownership in Denmark — Eirspennill, which did not contain
Hkr I, and Codex Frisianus — in addition to the transcript AM 37 fol,
which Willum Worm owned. A comparison shows clearly that Codex
Frisianus was Årni’s exemplar, but it is possible that in addition he used
Eirspennill for the two examples from Hkr III.140
Beginning on p. 320 in AD we find one of the longer quotations
from Ynglinga saga. A collation against the exemplar141 shows that the
transcript is relatively accurate, but not at all free from error and far
from diplomatic. Årni makes a number of changes in which he con-
sciously aims at consistency: he expands abbreviations and ligatures,
writes double consonants for small capitals, writes d for d and non-
initial p (apart from Svipiod), corrects f to u when it represents a vowel
and u to v when it represents a consonant, writes <z for p (e. g. “vinfæll”
in 1. 2), introduces capitalisation in proper names and leaves out all ac-
140 Features from Eirspennill are present in the quotation from Ha raids saga hardrada,
AD p. 176, corresponding to HkrFJ III: 203.7—12. AD and E, together with 38,
have fyrir innan hringinn, while the others have fyrir titan hringinn (HkrFJ III:
203.10—11). The excerpt also has features from F: Fylkingina (HkrFJ III: 203.7—8)
is in the definite form in AD and F, while E and 38 have the indefinite form. For
fyrir ofan (HkrFJ III: 203.11) AD hasyfir ofan. Finnur Jonsson noted that 3$ has
this variant, but it also occurs in both F and E.
141 Flere the facsimile edition of Codex Frisianus has been used (ed. Halldor Hermanns-
son 1932; the text cited begins at the bottom of fol. 2va).