Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.06.2003, Side 179
THE L RECENSION
137*
54ra38.14 The letter <z> and the nota for ok are written in the same way
and almost without exception barred (cf. on Hand A, p. 127*, n. 2).
Hairstroke accents, some doubled in circumflex form, and hooks
above and below a vowel are commonly used; it is likely that some
hairstroke diacritics have disappeared in the course of time.
Latin texts at 25/7-8, 25/23-24, 40/9-10 and elsewhere are written in
a slightly larger script than the rest of the work. Latin abbreviation is
used (see VIII 12 below), along with Roman <f>, and u/v is represent-
ed throughout by <u) only; <ct>, <de) and <do) are usually ligatured;
and the letter <x> is of a type different from the form used in the Ice-
landic text, though also found in numerals. Roman <f) is likewise used
in ‘Herefordensi’ 6/26, ‘Effesus’ 59va36-37.
The only punctuation mark is a point usually a little above the line
or about mid-letter height. It marks clause and chapter ends, though
not invariably, and divides names in the lists at 6/25-26, 36/6-7, and
those in Misc. 58vb-59va. It is often followed by a small capital letter.
Letters omitted are on occasion supplied above the word with a short
vertical insertion mark below, see e.g. t.n. 22/5, 31/40. A dot below a
letter indicates deletion, e.g. 18/4. At 15/40 (see t.n.) strokes over ad-
jacent words indicate transposition; at 16/1 strokes before, between
and after two words do the same.
The scribe commands a full and varied inventory of abbreviations;
generally standard but some used with noteworthy freedom. The left-
hand stroke of the superscript er/ir curl usually has an angle-bend in it
so the figure resembles a hafted left-handed sickle. It is widely used
for er, ir, ör (in Danmörk), jör (in forms of gjöra), ær (in væri), eir (in
meira), and for r alone in er, eru, and occasionally finally after a con-
sonant, in e.g. ‘klerkr’ 54vb28, ‘aptr’ 56rb20, ‘silfr’ 60ra2, ‘vetr’
62rb35, 40, ‘siaalfr’ 62va28. It can further stand for ri, cf. e.g. with
repetition of the same abbreviation mark ‘sknpt/r’ 26/5, 31/25,
‘uerckr/n’ 45/11. The superscript p/-like symbol is commonly used for
ra, occasionally for ar (alongside usual <r», and for vá in the word svá.
It is almost everywhere used superscript over <fp) in the abbreviation
for páfi,páfa (Latin papa). The superscript sign for ur, a lateral <8>-like
figure, is found, but within a word <t> can occasionally also stand for it,
14 In Messuskýringar Kolsrud prints this form of (s> as ‘s’.