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compiled together than an Antiphonal.27 It may equally be that söngr here
refers to musical notation. In any case, it is very unlikely that such usage
of söngr/les corresponds neatly with the meaning of söngbók/lesbók. More
detailed and complete research would be needed to better explore the rela-
tionships between these terms.
In at least one case, aspiciensbœkr seem to be presented as a sub-category
of söngbœkr. The 1360 máldagi for the church of Víðimýri, although in-
complete, does record the beginning of a book list, which finishes with
“Aspiciens Bok. aunnur saung Bok per anni circulum.”28 No söngbók ap-
pears before this, and önnur (second) thus appears to be referring back the
aspiciensbók as the first söngbók. With this in mind, in lists that seem fairly
complete, where there are Graduals and söngbœkr but no aspiciensbœkr, it
may be that the söngbœkr are in fact Antiphonals.29
Söngbók has a broad and complex meaning that requires more research
to be better understood. For now, it seems best to follow Gneuss in taking
söngbók as referring at the very least to both Graduals and Antiphonals;
the term must therefore have sometimes overlapped in meaning with
aspiciensbók. There were thus at least three terms, and minor variants of
each, that could refer to an Antiphonal in medieval Iceland: aspiciensbók,
antiphonarius, and söngbók. This surplus of terminology likely reflects the
usage of liturgical books in Iceland before the compilation trends of the
thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the undoubtedly slow process of
adapting to new liturgical trends in this peripheral region.
Not all of these Icelandic Antiphonals were exactly the same book,
however, with identical structure and organization.30 Antiphonals in gen-
eral were large books, often divided into two volumes, with summer and
27 There are hints, however, that even such Noted Breviaries present in Icelandic library may
have been broken up in some idiosyncratic ways. The brefér at Holt undir Eyjafjöllum is
said to “tekur til ad paskum oc til aduentu. oc er syngiandi ad hatijder” (DI VI, 330) which
indicates a summer book, from Easter to Advent. However, the final clause suggests that
it is only syngjandi on hátíðir, i.e. that it only includes musical notation on feast days, and
thus that the sung parts of the daily, ferial Office are not included, the sections of the Office
that would normally be in a Choir Psalter. So while the book has characteristics of a Noted
Breviary, it is far from a comprehensive collection of Office texts and music.
28 DI III, 175.
29 As at Möðruvellir in Eyjafjörðr and Breiðibólstaðr in Vesturhóp (DI II, 449, 479).
30 For the layout and structure of the medieval Antiphonal, see Hughes, Medieval Manuscripts
for Mass and Office, 161–97.