Textual criticism and Old Norse philology

• Published in: Studia neophilologica 2023-05, Vol.95 (2), p.180-204
• Main Author: Males, Mikael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Eddic poetry; Old Norse; stemmatics; Textual criticism
• ISSN: 0039-3274; 1651-2308
• DOI: 10.1080/00393274.2023.2205888

Old Norse editors typically apply the principles of textual criticism with moderation, mainly correcting obvious errors. The exception is poetry, where the introduction of variant readings and emendations is often necessary. This two-pronged and overall restrictive approach is based on the characteristics of the corpus, but in recent decades, some scholars have called its premises into question, either in theory or in practice. In most examples discussed in this article, arguments against textual criticism are paired with disregard for or misrepresentation of its aims and methods. In other instances, scholars who attempt a reconstructive approach neglect the epistemological preconditions of textual criticism, even when drawing on its assumptions. In order to address these issues, the present article discusses the goals and principles of textual criticism with reference to examples from Old Norse scholarship. Specifically, it explores how scholars relate to scribal errors.