Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.06.2003, Side 164
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INTRODUCTION
Almatkann Gud; 43/3 veðrs] vedr; 62/20 hvlit] alhulit. Readings pecu-
liar to C2 are e.g. (S readings first): 1/11 heima] after sinvm; 1/45
marka] merkia; 1/61 þaa] oc; 2/30 amvnni] at munni; 2/51 var (1)] +
inni; 3/13 faa] færa; 20/3-4 lærðir] after menn; 20/40 hinvm] + ; 30/15
i gegn] gegnn; 42/10 var] + Hann; 43/3 veðrs] vidri; 63/1 lvte] lutur.
As a further distinctive feature it may be noted that in C2 Árni Magn-
ússon’s marginal ‘corr: at’ at S 8/11 is unintelligibly incorporated in
the text: ‘med aullu skrudi sinu Corr. at ok leindum domi guds’. His
‘corr. m’ at 24/7, on the other hand, is not reproduced. As noted above,
both these entries are repeated as marginal notes in C'.
It seems most likely that the source of C1 and C2 was a copy of 391
made while it was in Iceland with Árni Magnússon from 1709 (or ear-
lier) to 1712, or with sr. Jón Halldórsson in Hítardalur from 1712 to
1724, and then most likely made by or for sr. Jón himself. Árni Magn-
ússon notes that sr. Jón made a copy of the Sverris saga (AM 327 4to)
which he borrowed from Árni in 1710 (AMKat. I, 571; Hándskrift-
fortegnelser, 21), and records (from sr. Jón’s son, Finnur) that he had
the Þorláks saga now in AM 387 4to copied by his brother-in-law, sr.
Helgi Jónsson of Staðarhraun, while it was on loan in Hítardalur be-
tween October 1711 and 1724 (Levned II, 160; AMKat. I, 600). The
ascription to sr. Jón is also favoured by the existence of the C' copy,
written by Þorkell Sigurðsson in 1771. He had known associations
with Hítardalur, no more than ten miles north of his home at Hamrar.
His copy of Laurentius saga in Lbs. 839 4to is related to or derived
from the copy in AM 405 4to, and sr. Jón used a text similar to this in
his episcopal histories (Laurentius saga, lxiii-lxiv). At the end of Vápn-
firðinga saga in AM 395 fol. Þorkell notes that he wrote it ‘effter
Manuscripto Sr Iöns Halldorssonar’, and he copied Hákonar saga
Hákonarsonar in Rask 8 a ‘effter manuscripto ... Sr Wigfwsar
Iönssonar’ (AMKat. I, 305, II, 511; cf. Slay, Mírmanns saga, lxvii-
lxviii). The marginal dates which 839 has in addition to those found in
391 and the signs of affected archaism in orthography in 839 and 1028
would be in keeping with an attribution of the exemplar to Jón
Halldórsson. It may also be noted that, while the C copies of Jóns saga
show none of the influence from an H text that can be detected in Jón
Halldórsson’s biskupasögur, they share with him the name ‘Þorvalldr’
for ‘Þorvarðr’ at S 19/23. As an independent misreading, perhaps a
misinterpretation of an abbreviated form, ‘Þorvalldr’ for ‘Þorvarðr’ is