Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.06.1997, Blaðsíða 145
CXLIII
31.69
31.99-100
31.101
32.21
32.36
32.38
trúlofast] For trölofad mier?
medur þi'num konstrikum uppáfinningum] The phrase looks superfluous,
an addition to the sentence; uppáfinningum is not known to occur in a
medieval manuscript; konstri'kum is also suspect.
dð þar einum h0rmúngars0mum og herfilegum dauda] Perhaps an expan-
sion. Note the use o/einum as an indefinite article. h0rmúngars0mum as a
compound is not knownfrom existing medieval sources.
alleinasta] Not known to occur earlier than the sixteenth century.
yfirfallid] Not known from a medieval source. The whole phrase looks
superfluous.
yfirvega] Not known from a medieval source. The whole clause looks
superfluous.
However, detecting JV’s alterations in a copy where the exemplar no longer
exists, is obviously hazardous.
By contrast with the manuscripts JV used for the beginning and end of the
saga, the manuscript he copied for the middle of it has disappeared without
other trace. His text here contains many apparently late expressions, but
whether they show his exemplar was not an early manuscript, or whether they
have all been introduced by him, it would be difficult to say.
The text is of considerable interest. Firstly, it is often different from the
other primary texts, and contributes to the variety of forms the saga has as-
sumed in the course of its existence. Secondly, within the range of primary
texts, it seems to have some connection with the late text F. Although they are
often different from each other and from the other primary texts, D and F
agree with each other against the rest in about twenty instances (Slay 1985a,
960-2, and below, Appendix B).
The beginning of this middle section in S47 is at the top of p. 69, as de-
scribed above. The end of it cannot be so precisely defined, but is somewhere
between p. 161 and p. 165 (or 166 at the latest), i.e. after D 2637 and before
2724 (or 2734 at the latest).
As with other texts, capital letters and full stops have been supplied in the
transcription to mark the beginnings and ends of sentences if they are wanting
in the manuscript. Capital letters are common in the manuscript, but are used
in the transcription only at the beginning of a sentence, in proper names, and
at the beginning of direct speech if the preceding introductory expression is
complete and ends with a full stop.
Punctuation is frequently lacking where it is required, and present where it
is otiose. Full stops, commas, colons and semi-colons (the last not common)
are usually distinct in form but widely confused in function. In these matters
some modifications have been made in the transcription. Double commas and
other unusual combinations have been simplified. A horizontal dash, which is