In a message dated Mon, 25 Jun 2001 20:10:01 -0400 (EDT),
Birgit001@... writes:
>In a message dated 6/22/01 6:26:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
>tim@... writes:

>> Völuspá, verse 1, from site of Jón Júlíus Filippusson (and I use it
>> on my site too, from his permission):
>> ...þau er fremst of man.
>>
>> All another internet sources give:
>> ...þau er fremst um man.

>> Is this OF incorrect?
>> What do you advice me?
>>
>>
>
>Greetings, Tim,
>
>Koningsbok (Codex Regius, Gl.kgl.sml. 23365, 4to.) manuscript has:
>þaI (looks like a capital "I") er Fremst um man
>
>Haukssbok (Cod. AM. 554, 4to.) manuscript has:
>þau er ek fremz vm man
>(v often equals u in old manuscripts)
>
>These are the two main sources of Voeluspa. I have never seen an OF.
>
>Normalized Spelling and Modern Icelandic:
>þau er fremst um man

Hi Birgit,
Finnur Jónsson, the great Icelandic expert on Old Norse poetry,
has Vo,luspó,, verse 1, line 8 as "þaus fre,mst of man."
(a comma after the vowels e and o, indicates a "hook" that
in Finnur's book has been printed *underneath* the vowel)

I do not really know why Finnur chose to write "of", if
the Mss. said "um". But the following dictionary entry
might perhaps give a clue:

"of" = preposition, which is later replaced by "um" and
sometimes by "yfir".

Finnur writes:
Hovedhåndskriftet af eddakvadene har fået navnet codex regius ...
codex regius er nr. 2365 4'o' i den gamle samling og består af
45 blade.

Best regards
Keth