--- In norse_course@yahoogroups.com, LM <lavrans@...> wrote:

> I've gone to this website:

http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/skindex/skin13.html -

> and downloaded this particular poem. But at this point, I'm not

clear on

> whether this is the original Old Norse, or modernized.

There are two versions of the poem here. Neither follow the
standard spelling of modern Icelandic. Nor does either quite match
the spelling used in the Norse Course lessons. They each use a
slightly different standard. Both of them spell earlier oe as æ
(e.g. in 'fádæmi'); I've read that these two sounds fell together
towards the end of the 13th century. The version on the left, has
the more archaic reflexive ending -sk, while that on the right uses
the modern -st.

In spite of the differences, both of them use a spelling standard
adopted by their modern editors, rather than the spelling of the
manuscripts. Ironically, the language of late medieval manuscripts
often shows more modern features than standardised editions. I
don't have a critical edition of Bósa saga, but compare this verse
from Hálfs saga, first in the spelling of Guðni Jónsson and Bjarni
Vilhjámsson's edition, then in the 15th manuscript spelling:

Kalt vatn augum,
en kvett tönnum,
lérept líki,
lát mik aptr í sjó!
Dregr mik engi
í degi síðan
maðr upp í skip
af mararbotnum.

kallt uatn augum
en kvett taunnum
lerept liki
lat mig aptur j sío
dregur mig eíngí
j degí sidaN
madr up j skip
af mara bottnum

Cold water for eyes
and meat for teeth,
linen for a body,
let me back in the sea!
No man will pull me
after this
up into a ship
off the sea bottom.