Editiones Arnamagnæanæ. Series A - 01.10.2003, Blaðsíða 59

Date and relation to other manuscripts
41*
Hreinn Benediktsson: “Written probably towards the middle of the second
half of the 13th century”.19) Finnur Jónsson in his edition of Egils saga,
however, writes “Alle disse hándskrifter er ikke ældre end ca. 1300, og det
gár aldeles ikke an med Unger at give Morkinskinna en höjere alder.”20
Unger makes no mention, however, of AM 162 E fol., almost certainly
because he had not examined it.
Jón Helgason, too, writes in favour of keeping separate the scribe(s) of
Morkinskinna from those of the other manuscripts under discussion: “In
this matter I must declare myself entirely in accordance with Unger . . . It
must be noted that even if Finnur Jónsson’s view should prove correct, the
problem as to the place and date of origin of the Morkinskinna manuscript
would by no means be nearer its solution; for the history of all the above-
named manuscripts [t e including AM 162 E fol.] is almost as obscure as
that of the Morkinskinna.”21
The present editor would readily concur with Jón Helgason’s statement
that Kálund’s addition of the fragments of Maríu saga in AM 655 XXXII
4to to the work of our scribe is hardly to be accepted.22 Though the hand
has many similarities, there are also divergences, most significantly the
frequent use of the round (s) graph.
Jón Helgason points out that Stockholm Perg. 4to no. 2 was written by
two not very different hands, but decides that, despite their numerous
similarities to Morkinskinna’s main scribe, neither of the hands was his.23
Among the “obvious analogies . . . in the spelling” is the use of (þ) to
signify þeir; this feature occurs in E.
It should be observed, however, that the present writer does not find the
reasons given by Jón Helgason sufficient proof in themselves that
Morkinskinna is not in the same hand as the others in the group. Jón
Helgason says: “There are in the above-mentioned manuscripts ... certain
forms of letters, especially the g, which strongly resemble those of the
Morkinskinna, but the writing has another, less regular character, some
letters have a different shape (for instance the n, the last stroke of which,
especially at the end of a word, is carried down below the line and turned to
the left) and the orthographic peculiarities characteristic of the Morkin-
18 Unger 1894, p. 191.
19 Hreinn Benediktsson 1965, p. xxxviii.
20 Finnur Jónsson 1886-8, p. xvii (but cf Finnur Jónsson 1932, p. iv).
Jón Helgason 1934, pp. 8-9.
' Jón Helgason 1934, p. 8: “The latter addition is obviously erroneous.”
Jón Helgason 1934, p. 9: “Nevertheless, in spite of the obvious analogies in the shape of the
letters and in the spelling, the two handwritings do not appear to be identical.”