Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.06.2003, Side 171
THE L RECENSION
129*
though generally less pronounced, in 10, nr 40A, written in 1369 for
the magnate Ormr Iggmaðr Snorrason at his home at Skarð on Skarðs-
strönd, Dalasýsla.* * * * 6 It may be that <e2> was a predominantly Northern
feature, but in view of its probable origin as a palaeographic nor-
wegianism7 and the comparatively few documents known to us from
other parts of Iceland it is hard to be certain. In any case we find
scribes in the northwest and west of the country using it in the same
couple of decades as it appears more commonly in the sources from
the Northern diocese. Discovery of a writer making confined use of
<e2> at Helgafell or perhaps anywhere outside the Northern diocese in
that same decade need not strain belief. Of course, his status as a resi-
dent or as a visitor does not affect the provenance of the codex.
Anglo-Saxon <í> is made with a <3>-like figure clinging to the stave,
the tail of the appended figure usually transecting the descender.
The lower loop of <g> frequently curls up to meet the upper bowl.
<k> is made with a <2>-like figure clinging to the lower part of the
stave, with the tail of the appended figure on the line.
The letter <r> may have a split shaft, with the right-hand arm start-
ing at or near the base of the shaft. Final <r> in ‘téénadar’ 48ral6-17,
‘maðr’ a33, ‘Haralldr’ a45, ‘aar’ a48, ‘er’ a50, ‘oalldar’ b24, and final
<j> in ‘siðughr’ a33, ‘heilaghr’ b32, ‘faghr’ b39, are furnished with a
flourished curl which resembles the usual abbreviation mark for er/ir
and r. This type of <r> occurs sporadically in charter hands more or
less contemporary with Hand A, from c. 1350 to c. 1380. Where the
root ends in r (as in many proper names) the final flourished letter is
usually transcribed ‘rr’ (sometimes questionably), but there are in-
stances enough where it cannot be taken as an abbreviation of any
kind: see 10 25 (1352, Hólar), line 4; 29 (1357, Einarsstaðir, Reykja-
dalur), passim (see 10, Tekst, 34, note); 33 (1360, Skálholt), line 13;
43 (1372, Hvammur, Vatnsnes), lines 1, 8, 9; 44 (1373, Þingeyrar),
The former seems to work from the left down to the base before completing the roun-
del with a hairstroke up to the right. The latter seems generally to begin at the top and
move down to the right, so up to the left and then more or less straight down to make
the bar which, as noted, not uncommonly transects the base of the roundel.
6 On Ormr see Einar Bjamason, ísl. ættstuðlar, I (1969), 185-91.
7 Note that Hægstad characterised the language of IO, nrs 32, 36 and 37, as Icelandic
Norwegian, that of 40A as Norwegian Icelandic, and that of 35 and 38 as pure Nor-
wegian. Cf. 10, Tekst, xxvi-xxvii.