Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.06.2003, Síða 208
166*
INTRODUCTION
6. Hand 4: Script. Hand 4 writes fols. 64v-68vb31, finishing Þor-
láks saga begun by Hand 3. References in the following are to page
and line (or where necessary to page, chapter and line) in the edition
of the saga in Bysk.s. The scribe makes free but haphazard use of a
punctuation point, slightly below mid-letter height; capitals at the start
of sentences are comparatively rare. He writes a two-storey <a), with
the upper element usually apical in shape. <ð) is rarely written and
then not always appropriately. There is variety in the lower element of
<g>, either closed or with a short descender which is continued with a
lightly curved stroke to the left, sometimes curling under back towards
the right (cf. <g2> and <g3>, EIM VII, 17). Like other tall-stave letters,
<h) is often made with a short horizontal stroke half-way up the stave
to the left; it is completed by a <j>-like figure to the right, barely joined
to the stave. <k> is made with a <2>-like right-hand element, with its
tail on the line. <r> is made in normal fashion, but the curved left-hand
stroke of the <2>-like <;> often continues as a hairstroke below the line
to the left (as in Hand 3 of the codex). This <*> is used after <a>, <b>,
<d>, <g>, <o> (and <o> modified), <p>, <y>, <þ>, and is found in ‘mc/'ui’.
Initial <r> occurs but not often. Round <s> with a small flourish top
right is common. <Q> is usual for æ, alongside <e>, <g>, <æ>, occasion-
ally <ð> or unmarked <o>. Prep. með, meðr (written out ‘med’, ‘medr’)
is abbreviated ‘md’ and ‘m;\ Both <o> and <u> appear as the neg. pre-
fix, with no obvious preference for either. <u> is generally written for
both u and v. <y> is a <y4> type with a straight descender, often curled
to the left at the bottom, and with a bent arm to the right - this may be
closed at the top, so the letter resembles <p>; it is normally dotted. The
<2>-like abbreviation sign for (u)r is also used above <f> for prep. fyri,
fyrir (both forms occur written out). hans and þess(-) are abbreviated
as <h> and <þ> with two short bars to the right, one at the top of the as-
cender, the other parallel to it lower down. The ok-nota has a vertical
shaft with a horizontal bar; the left-hand stroke at the top and the
right-hand stroke at the bottom are little more than serifs, so the shaft
resembles the letter <i>. Neg. adv. eigi (written out ‘eigi’) is abbreviat-
ed ‘æ1’ and ‘æl’, rarely ‘e‘\ The erlir abbreviation is a substantial curl,
like that found in Hand 2 of the codex.
7. Hand 4: Orthography. Vowels and sonants. (i) <a> is written for
short a; <a), <aa), <ai> and rarely <á> are written for long a. vá is written
in accordance with both its older and its developing form, e.g. ‘þuái’,