MancJicstcr Memoirs, l^o/. xliv. (1899), No. %. 9 



Bugge' from Helgi, none are peculiarly British (e.g., the 

 eagles on the ash tree, the bear-hunt, the ash tree and the 

 thorns, etc.). The Icelanders visited many countries 

 where these could have been seen ; most of them could 

 be seen in Norway ; and none are called by Celtic or 

 English names. 



An instance of so-called local colour given with great 

 confidence by Dr. Vigfusson and his co-editor, is vignistmg'^- 

 which he translates "a wicker shield " (presumably deriving 

 it from the \x\s\\ figiiii, I weave) ; he quotes this word as a 

 striking and characteristic Irish touch. It does not how- 

 ever occur in Codex Regius/ which has vcf-nistingo (woven 

 texture, the sails), as also have all the editions, including 

 Dr. Vigfusson's own.^ This is an example of the same 

 curious literary morality as that which permits Professor 

 Bugge to quote in support of a theory lines which he 

 omits in his own edition of the texts in question. 



IV. Gcogi'aphical Allusions. 



British place-names are rare in the Edda. Dr. Vig- 

 fusson points out two. One, Sii^r a Fivi (South in Fife), 

 Gic'Srunar-kvi^a in fonia, 16, is genuine. The other 

 Pcttlandfjor^r (Pentland Firth), is given as from the prose 

 introduction to Grotta-s'dngr ; this prose introduction does 

 not belong to the poetic Edda, and is not taken from the 

 MS. (Codex Regius), but from Snorra Edda ; it is inserted 

 by Munch in his edition of Sa^mundar Edda as an intro- 

 duction to the poem. 



Even if the above instances were perfectly sound, the 

 utmost that they prove is that Icelanders had visited and 

 observed Gaelic countries ; this we knew already from the 



■^ Helgedigteiie, ]i. 1 1 S. 



^ Corpus Poeticitin, p. Ixi. 



^ Facs., p. 41, 1. 5. 



* Corpus PoeticHiii, I., p. 134. 



