7th of December

Det bevarede smukke oprindelige initial ”B” (Klik på billedet for en større version.)

AM 618 4to contains the Book of Psalms and other hymns from the Old Testament. The manuscript was made in France in the 12th century. It was written in two columns: The left contains the psalms in Latin (the Vulgate translation by St Jerome) while the right contained a parallel translation in Old French.

In the 16th century the French text was scraped off and has been replaced with an Icelandic translation. The French text has not been entirely removed, however, and can still be seen in some places. 

On f. 1r the beginning of Psalm 1 is marked by two beautifully decorated gold flourished initials "B". The Latin text on the left side reads "Beatus uir qvi non abiit in consilio impiorum" (Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly), while the Icelandic translation reads ”Bæll er Saa madur huer ad eigi geingur j ʀadi omilldra”. Whoever scraped the French text off chose to keep the beautiful initial rather than changing it to an "S", which is the first letter of the word "sæll" ("blessed"). This has presumably not caused too many problems for the Icelandic reader, as the two initials "B" and "S" would look quite similar anyway. 

Psalm 52 begins on f. 37r with the words ”Qvid gloria[ris in] malitia, qui potens [es] iniqvitate” (Why do you boast of evil, you mighty hero?), which have not been translated into Iceland, and instead the French text remains on the right side: ”Qv[…] malice, ki puissant ies enfelunie.”

As always, you can leaf through the manuscript on Handrit.org