Localizing Scribal Practices and Language in Fourteenth Century Northern Iceland
Patrick Farrugia, PhD-candidate in Old Norse philology at LLE, presents his PhD project on scribal practices in 14th-century Northern Iceland.
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Fundamentally, this project involves the analysis and comparison of paleographic and orthographic features of several Icelandic听manuscripts from the fourteenth century, namely 搁别测苍颈蝉迟补冒补谤产贸办听AM 764 4to, AM 573 4to, Holm. Perg 8vo nr. 10 IX,听贬补耻办蝉产贸办听AM 544 4to, and听惭枚冒谤耻惫补濒濒补产贸办听AM 132 fol.
These manuscripts contain much of the same material, namely, similar religious, didactic, and heraldic texts. Additionally, with the听exception of AM 544 4to, each of the manuscripts is thought to originate from one of the two centres of manuscript production in Northern Iceland, 脼ingeyrar and M枚冒ruvellir. While common scribal hands have been suggested in the past, a thorough comparative analysis of these manuscripts has yet to be undertaken.
Using digital transcriptions to the MENOTA standard and a subsequently constructed database, this project will attempt to identify common scribal hands across the manuscripts, and subsequently map paleographic and orthographic trends that may have reflected the local language in听脼ingeyrar or M枚冒ruvellir. Some early findings suggest that these scribal communities may have had unique dialects (consistently reflected in the orthography of multiple scribes), which in turn may have retained 鈥楴orwegianisms鈥� almost half a century beyond the decline of Norwegian cultural and linguistic influence in the region (when the Black Death reached Norway).
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Guests and interested parties are welcome!听