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Abstract

In the Arnamagnean Collection in Copenhagen there are two vellum leaves, AM 687b 4to, the remnants of a book of song (free organum for 2 and 3 voices). The manuscript is written by an Icelander. Its first known owner was Porleifur Bjornsson, minister at Reykhólar (16th century). Fol. lv—2v contain scores, but on Fol. lr there are eight riddles, three verses and one Pula (fragment?), written in the 16th century. These rhymes are printed here in orthography of the manuscript, but riddles nr.1—7 have previously been printed (inexactly) from a copy by Hallgrímur Scheving (JS 289 8vo) in Islenzkar gátur (Icelandic Riddles), collected by Jón Árnason, Copenhagen 1887, and riddle nr. 4 also in Almanak hins íslenzka pjóðvinafelags 1876.It is clear from errors owing to misreadings that the writer of 687b has copied the riddles from a book, and from the beginnings of nr. 6: Hverr er sá inn priði (Who is the third one), nr. 7: Hverr er sá inn ellejti (Who is the eleventh one) and nr. 8: Mggr er sá inn nítiándi (The nineteenth is a son) it may be deduced that they come from a collection of riddles. The riddles are in the Ijóðaháttr metre but the lines are unusually long and all the stanzas are more than 6 lines (9, 12 and 15). They contain a few words that are either rare or otherwise unknown in Icelandic and a few with unusual meanings: 2.9 rauf, fem. ó-stem, used tomean the same as Da. røv, Sw. rov. — 2.10 hjassi, masc. an-stem, meaning the same as Da. isse, Sw. hjásse; this is also found in rímur. — 3.7 sauðafeitt, where feitt is obviously the same as Da. fat, Sw. Dial. fatt, Old Sw. ulla fætter, ought to be "'fætt in Icelandic, here used to mean uncombed wool or a sheep's woolen coat. — 4.6 knapaldr, neutr., unknown from other sources, here probably used for a block of wood. — 6.2 pari (or parri), masc. an-stem, the same as Sw. tarre. — 8.4 vígnýra, neutr., thesame word as Old Gotlandic 'vigniauri', i. e. testicle. The solution of the riddles is: No. 1: a steelyard. — No. 2: a mouldfor forging nails. — No. 3: wool combs. — No. 4: a footstool. — No. 5: a pot-hook. — No. 6: a bell clapper. — No. 7: a fish-hook, probably one with a bent stem. — No. 8: a stalk of angelica. Dating the riddles is problematic, but in all probability they are fromthe 12th or 13th century. They have probably been written down in the same place as the verses, which are of different ages, no. 9 probably oldest and no. 12 youngest. East Nordic words suggest that the riddles have not been composed in Iceland and che verses are obviously not Icelandic. The author does not feel competent to pronounce whether the riddles and the verses were composed in the eastern part of Norway, or perhaps in Sweden. In the above-mentioned work by Jón Árnason the riddles no. 1060, 535 and 777 are orally transmitted fragments derived from the riddles here numbered 3, 5 and 8.