Note to Arn Frag 5III
[All]: The fragment is among additions to LaufE found in ms. 742x (first half of C17th). The additions are of uncertain origin but are believed to have been introduced by the writer of 742x, Björn Jónsson of Skarðsá, rather than originating in a further, now lost version of Magnús Ólafsson’s LaufE (Jón Helgason 1966a, 175; LaufE 1979, 106-7, 176). The fragment is included here among the oeuvre of Arnórr, following the ms. attributions, but there are reasons to doubt its authenticity. The couplet is not among the core material common to most mss of LaufE, and even within the shared material much is of unknown origin and of doubtful attribution. Mss 742x and the C18th 1496x, moreover, may not have independent value but may have obtained their common supplementary fragments from closely related exemplars (Jón Helgason 1966a, 175). Further, the Haðarlag metre, with its five-syllable line, is not otherwise used by Arnórr, and the couplet would also be stylistically anomalous if interpreted according to (b) above.
References
- Bibliography
- LaufE 1979 = Faulkes, Anthony, ed. 1979. Edda Magnúsar Ólafssonar (Laufás Edda). RSÁM 13. Vol. I of Two Versions of Snorra Edda from the 17th Century. Reykjavík: Stofnun Árna Magnússonar, 1977-9.
- Jón Helgason. 1966a. ‘Verse aus der Laufás-Edda’. In Rudolph et al. 1966, 175-80.
- Internal references
- (forthcoming), ‘ Unattributed, Laufás Edda’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=10928> (accessed 20 April 2024)