An Icelandic Christmas hymn: Hljómi raustinn barna best

Born from the Arnamagnæan Summer School in Manuscript Studies, six of the initial members of the Master Class of 2010 decided to work together on a project, referred to as the Personent Hodie Text Edition project. This article is the result of this project and seeks to make a contribution to manuscript studies by using the Icelandic Christmas hymn Hljómi raustinn barna best as a case study. This Icelandic hymn has its roots in the Latin hymn Personent Hodie and is copied in at least one extant Icelandic manuscript ÍB 525 8vo. Around the same time, this short Latin hymn was translated to Icelandic by Bjarni Gissurarson (1621-1712) and it was completed with thirteen original stanzas ascribed to the Icelandic poet Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614-1647). While the Icelandic translation of the hymn Hljómi raustinn barna best closely follows the Latin original Personent Hodie, the extra stanzas of the longer Icelandic version extend the scope of the hymn from the Nativity of Jesus to the Resurrection, the Last Judgment and the Afterlife. This initial division into two groups based on length of the hymn could be further refined. A comparison of the twenty-six manuscripts with the Icelandic translation Hljómi raustinn barna best shows that they fall into four groups according to date and location of origin, scribal and provenance information. Furthermore, this division is supported by the fact that these findings correspond nicely with the four variant readings of the phrase “barni kæru / reykelsi skæru”. Additionally, based on an analysis of the hymn's rubrics, the various witnesses of the hymn Hljómi raustinn barna best show a lot of cross contamination that was perhaps based on oral transmission or common knowledge. All the aspects discussed in the analysis of the extant manuscript witnesses of the hymn come together in the so-called ‘academic’ manuscript, Lbs 238 8vo. This academic manuscript notes many variants that also correspond to the manuscript groups established by a comparison and close examination of the extant manuscripts. The article ends with an edition of the Latin Personent Hodie (ÍB 525 8vo), of the short version (JS 386 8vo) and of the long version of the Icelandic Hljómi raustinn barna best (Lbs 238 b 8vo)