Ofann í Sortann

Egils Saga í Möðruvallabók

Abstract

Page 69v of Möðruvallabók (AM 132 fol), which forms a part of Egils saga, is now almost entirely illegible to the naked eye, and judging from early transcripts the page must already have been badly worn by the 17th century. Nevertheless, in the late 19th century, Finnur Jónsson was able to read most of the text, moistening the page in order briefly to unveil hidden letters, a method which later scholars chose not to employ. The present article presents new infrared images of pages 69v and 70r, which render much of the text legible. Using these images we are able to check the accuracy of Finnur’s readings, which proves to be surprisingly reliable. In addition, we can now also read parts of lines 69v:1–9, which Finnur was unable to decipher. These results bring us a step closer to a complete Möðruvallabók text of Egils saga and establish a more secure basis for discussion of the remaining lacunae.