The Icelandic Homily Book was written around 1200, possibly at the Benedictine monastery at Þingeyrar in Northern Iceland, and is probably the oldest manuscript to have survived in its entirety from this first period of Icelandic literacy. In the late 17th century the manuscript was acquired by the Swedish Antiqvitetskollegium, whereupon it came into the possession of the Royal Library in Stockholm.

The sermons contained in the Homily Book introduced Icelanders to the teachings of the Christian Church in the first centuries after the conversion in the year 1000. They reveal the vitality of the language of that time and often demonstrate an independence in relation to their Latin sources, and thus have an important place in Icelandic literature.

A facsimile edition of the manuscript with a diplomatic transcription of the text and an extensive introduction in English was prepared by the author of this lemmatized index to the Icelandic Homily Book, and published by the Institute in the series Íslensk handrit in 1993. The present work is based on an independent morphological analysis of the text in that edition, and all references are to page and line in the diplomatic transcription and correspond to the manuscript itself.

Bókin er gefin út í ritröðinni Rit Árnastofnunar (Rit 61).