The scribes of the Gráskinna manuscript of Njáls saga. Observations on scribal contact and social identity

Abstract

The Gráskinna manuscript of Njáls saga, GKS 2870 4to, dated to around 1300, is the work of four contemporary scribes, Scribe B, who is responsible for writing the bulk of the text, and three others, Scribes A, C, and D, who wrote shorter sections. The Gráskinna manuscript thus offers an opportunity to study the collaboration of four seasoned scribes and compare different aspects of scribal practice. In this paper, one orthographic feature, the denotation of the dental fricative /þ/ in non-initial position, is used as a case study exploring scribal contact and social identity. The scribes differ in the denotation of the dental fricative, and it is suggested that among scribes and readers these differences may have had social and cultural connotations at the time, contrasting at once conventional against modern scribal practice and Icelandic as opposed to Norwegian scribal tradition. It is proposed that contact with Scribes C and D motivated Scribe B to alter his orthographic practice midway in his work, effectively dissociating himself with Scribes C and D and identifying instead with the exemplar from which they copied the text.