Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.06.1997, Síða 366
Appendix C: The name Mírmann.
The original form of the name of the hero of Mírmanns saga (also called Mír-
mans saga and Mírmants saga) is difficult to determine. In the medieval
manuscripts the name is usually abbreviated by suspension to Mir’ or M’ or
M, usually with a following dot. The evidence of forms more fully written out
is as follows.
1. S6
In the text:
Nominative.
(1) Mirmann (i.e. written with ‘n’ with a horizontal stroke over it), three
times, f. 62v lines 12, 17, 23 (= A 219-26-34).
(2) Mirmant, once, f. 68vl6 (= A ll2).
Oblique cases.
Always suspended.
In the headings:
Nominative.
(1) Mirmann, three times, ff. 63vl3, 65v4, 66r21 (= A41, 7', 8').
(2) Mirman, once, f. 66v27 (= A 9‘).
(3) Mirman/zt, once, f. 62r27 (= A 2').
Genitive.
Mirmanz, twice (the second actually ‘Mirnanz’), ff. 62rl, 65rl2 (= A 1
6').
Other oblique cases.
Suspended.
The headings were written by the same scribe as the text, but afterwards.
Variation between ‘nn’ and ‘n’ in any form is not surprising, as single con-
sonants are not infrequently written double, and double written single,
throughout the manuscript (and ‘n’ is the letter most often affected).
The numbers are small, but such as they are they suggest ‘Mirmann’ for the
nominative rather than ‘Mirmant’, and ‘Mirmanns’ or ‘Mirmans’ for the geni-
tive.
In the genitive forms, the ‘z’ is probably the equivalent of ‘s’, since it is
used in this way at times, e.g. in ‘manz’ f. 68r22 (= A 104). It is less likely that
it represents ‘ts’, although it has that value in other positions occasionally,
e.g. ‘vizku’ A 247, and even, on rare occasions, in the genitive of words ending
in ‘t’ after a vowel, e.g. ‘yfirliz’ A 115.