Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.06.2003, Side 174
132*
INTRODUCTION
are with <y): ‘myckils’ 2/15, ‘myckla’ 2/26, ‘myckit’ 3/4, ‘mycki-
ligha’ 3/7.
7. With one minor exception the same set of characters is used, with
no obvious discrimination, for both æ and older œ: ‘lære-’ 1/7, ‘ættlat’
1/10, ‘aagæte’ 1/11, ‘audsæ’ 3/19; ‘mædr’ (dat.) 2/13, ‘æskiligha’
3/15, ‘hæferskligri’ 3/17; ‘aagpta’ 1/22, ‘hrgddum’ 2/5, ‘ngsta’ 2/24,
25, ‘sgli’ 3/3; ‘tiltgcki’ 1/29, ‘wmbgte’ 1/30, ‘fgddr’ 2/5, ‘bg’ 2/6,
‘bgn’ 2/17; ‘aagðta’ 3/5, ‘sðmiligha’ 3/16. The exception is in nær-
spelt ‘n$r’ 1/13.
8. There is no instance of older 0 in Hand A’s contribution. q is usu-
ally represented by <o>, but once by <au), ‘fauðr’ 1/7, twice by <ó>,
‘læreföðr’ 1/7-8, ‘frasðghn’ 1/11, and by <g) in ‘frasgghn’ 2/2. Dat. pl.
mQnnum is abbreviated ‘mgm’ 2/5, 3/19. The name-form is ‘Ogh-
mundr’ 2/7; cf. Hand B, VI 8 (i).
9. The diphthongs au, ei, ey are written <au), <ei), <ey> respectively;
the breaking and umlaut product appears as <io). The neg. adv. is writ-
ten ‘eighi’ 1/13, but abbreviated ‘æ1’.
10. <i> and <e> are written in about equal proportions in open end-
ings, but <e> is preponderant after r and regular after t. <i> is regular in
-lig- suffixes, with ‘Rettleghre’ 1/10-11 a solitary exception. The
scribe writes ‘tidinde’ 2/14.
III. Jóns saga Hand A: Orthography. Consonants.
1. The scribe writes a plain <ö> and a decorated type (the latter here re-
produced as ‘ð’). There appears to be no systematic discrimination be-
tween them. Past part. endings are in <t> (8 exx. including ‘plantat’
and ‘dicktat’ with stems in -f) except in ‘grunduallað’ 1/4, ‘setid’ 2/22,
‘-spaad’ 3/2. A back spelling is ‘Breida bólstat’ 2/12. Particle at and n.
article hit are written ‘at’ and ‘hit’.
2. Intervocalic / and rf are usually written <fu>, <rfu>, e.g. ‘hefuir’
1/3, 24, ‘hafua’ 3/6, ‘yfuir-’ 3/5, ‘-diarfui’ 1/29, ‘þurfua’ 1/31; but e.g.
‘hefir’ 1/12, 17, ‘hafa’ 2/21, ‘yfir-’ 3/10, ‘hæferskligri’ 3/17. The <fu>
spelling in ‘Ohufus’ 2/4 is there to fill the line.
3. Long g is written <gg> or as <g> with a geminating dot above it.
Short g is written <gh> some three times as often as <g>. <gh> is found
for intervocalic g in e.g. ‘eighi’, ‘-ligha’, ‘-lagha’; before ð in ‘vighdr’,
‘wighðir’, ‘laghdi’, ‘braghde’; before r or (u)r in ‘-lighrar’, ‘hyrlighr’,