MAL VIKINGA - Viking Age Runes

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http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/1327/runengvik.html

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· The younger futhark ·

When the viking age began there were only 16 runes, of which some had quite a different appearance. This new futhark is called the younger futhark. Since the same number of runes had disappeared in each third, the same ætt division could be used. There were 3 varieties of the futhark, though – long branched (top), short branched (middle) and staffless runes (bottom): —————— the 1:st ætt: —————— fê 'wealth' ûrr 'aurox' or ûr 'rain; slag' þurs 'giant' âss 'god' ræiþ 'waggon', 'journey' kaun '' f initially – v elsewhere u, o, open o, y, ø, w th as in 'thing' initially – as in 'they' elsewhere ã before 1040 – thereafter o, å, u, ø (vowels with lip rounding) r k, g, nk, ng The 4th rune denoted a nasal /ã/ in the early viking age (more about this on the CHANGES page), but rounded vowels after about 1040, since the long /a/ in this word turned into an /o/ (âss became ôss). —————— the 2:nd ætt: —————— hagl 'hail' nauþr 'need' îss 'ice' âr 'year' sôl 'sun' h, gh n i, e, j(y) a, æ s The h-rune lost one of its main staffs and had an extra branch to be separated from the a-rune —————— the 3:rd ætt: —————— tŷr '(the god) Tyr' or 'god' biarkan 'birch' maþr 'man' lagR 'water' ŷR 'yew' t, d, nt, nd b, p, mb, mp m l R (or r) The 16th rune that's translitterated with a capital R, was probably pronounced like a voiced sh-sound, like in genre (more about this on the CHANGES page). These are the "stung" runes (see below): y, ø g e The names of the viking age runes are recorded in medieval runic poems, see THE NAMES OF THE RUNES.

· Long branch runes, short brach runes and staffless runes ·

Why the different kinds of runes are called what they are called isn't difficult to understand if one looks at their shapes. The short branch runes have simplified, and shorter, branches than the long branch runes, and the staffless ones have been simplified even more and have no staffs. The long branch runes are also called normal runes since they are the more common ones, and danish runes, since almost all runes found in Denmark are of this type. The short branch runes are mostly found in Norway and Sweden and are therefore called swedish-norwegian runes, but they only make out a very small part of the findings; the "danish" runes are in majority there too. The staffless runes are also called Hälsinge-runes because they were first found in the province of Hälsingland in Sweden, but since then they have been found in other parts of Scandinavia, so the name Hälsinge-runes is misleading too. It has been claimed that the three futharks had different uses, the long branch runes being used for monuments, the short branch runes for wooden tablets, and the staffless runes for quick notes. This is not impossible, but it's hard to prove, since only a few wooden inscriptions have been preserved. Something that contradicts it is the fact that two of the short branch runes – the h- and m-runes – have horisontal branches. As mentioned the main staffs are either vertical or diagonal not to disappear in the venation of the wood. That the runes with horisontal lines were used primarily on wood is therefore not so likely.

· Several sounds a rune ·

Eventhough the massive language changes during the proto-viking-age period gave rise to several new phonemes, the runes got fewer. This of course means that more sounds than before had to be assigned to the same rune. As seen in the table above the u-rune denotes both /u/, /o/, /y/, /ø/, /w/ and the open /o/-sound, and the i-rune both /i/, /j/ and /e/. Then why did they have two runes for /a/-sounds – not the same /a/:s, that's true, but still /a/:s? This is probably so because it was important to spell the endings correctly. In the endings only the vowels /i/, /a/, /u/ and /ã/ could appear. That also explains the two /r/-runes; both /r/ and /R/ occured in endings.

· Spelling ·

Because there were more phonemes than graphemes – more sounds than letters – the runic inscriptions aren't really easy to read for people who are used to strict spelling rules. Such were not needed by the viking age rune carvers. Some things – rules or not – that must be known about their spelling will be mentioned though: The spelling can be very irregular! Vowel length is not marked, and consonant length was marked only in the middle ages, by doubling. A word like þætta 'this' is thus spelled þita or þata. When a word ends with the same rune as the next word begins with, the words are often written together – hans sal 'his soul' can be written hansal in stead of hans sal. This also applies even when the runes are not pronounced the same – ræisa æftiR 'raise after' can be written raisaftiR as well as raisa aftiR. The use of punctuation signs is very irregular. There are lots of different signs, but they only have one function – to separate words. Sometimes they are found between all words, sometimes between some words, sometimes between no words. Sometimes they are also found inside words. Inscriptions usually start at the head of a "rune animal", and are usually written from left to right, but there are exceptions.

· Stung runes ·

In about 1000 the rune carvers finally realised that the inscriptions were difficult to read when each rune could denote several sounds. Therefore they began to "sting" some runes, i.e. give them a dot, to make two runes from one. Originally only u, k and i could be stung. A stung u-rune thus denoted /y/ or /ø/ whereas the unstung denoted the other sounds; the stung k-rune had the sound values /g/ and /ng/ and the unstung /k/, and a stung i-rune was used for /e/ or /æ/, while /i/ and /j/ was written with an unstung rune. A century later, in the middle ages, other runes could be stung too. First t that had the value /d/ when stung, and b that was pronounced /p/ when stung.

· a- och o-inskrifter ·

An other measure made to make inscriptions easier to read was giving the runes R and ã new phonetic values. The ã-rune changed from having denoted a nasal /a/ to denoting rounded vowels like /o/, /u/, /ø/ and the open /o/-sound. The name of the rune âss, with a long nasal /ã/, became ôss during the viking age, and since the name and the sound value were intimately connected to each other the sound value also changed. This change can be used to date certain inscriptions (see the CHANGES page).

· Viking age inscriptions ·

The most typical viking age runic inscriptions are without doubt the rune stones that was erected in the 11th century in memory of dead relatives and friends. Most of them follow the pattern "A raised this stone after B, his good father. C carved the runes", and often a formula like "God help his soul!" follows, because contrary to what most people probably think, most rune stone raisers were christians, and many rune stones are ornamented with crosses. Sometimes something about the life or death of the deceased is also mentioned, sometimes in metre. The text was arranged either in straight lines or in serpent windings.

· The Rök stone (Ög 136) ·

The inscription on the Rök stone in Östergötland in Sweden is the longest runic inscription in the world. It was made by a man called Varinn in memory of his son Væmoþr, probably in the 9th century. The inscription covers the entire stone – even the top. Some of it it made with secret runes, so secret that parts of the inscription have not been interpreted. ...

· The Jelling stone (Dr 42) ·

This stone was erected by the 10th century king Haraldr Blatann (old icel. Blátönn, engl. Bluetooth) of Denmark in memory of his father king GormR. : haraltr : kunukR : baþ : kaurua kubl : þausi : aft : kurm faþur sin auk aft : þãurui : muþur : sina : sa haraltr : ias : sãR · uan · tanmaurk ala · auk nuruiak · auk tani karþi kristnã This means: 'King Haraldr had these monuments made after GormR, his father, and after Þorwi, his mother, that Haraldr who for himself won all of Denmark and Norway, and made the danes christian.'

· The Nora stone (U 130) ·

In Nora in Uppland in Sweden this inscription can be found. This stone is not only a monument over a dead brother, but it also tells everyone who owns the land that surrounds it. Before christianity the brother's burial mound would have been enough to claim ownership for the land, but a christian had to be buried in the semitary, so a stone was erected in stead. At least that is one explanation to why the raising of rune stones became so common. This inscription has some archaic features. The 4th rune still denotes a nasal /a/, which tells us that it was probably made before 1040, and the word swikwinn still has its second /w/ which is lost in other (later) inscriptions. biurn · finuiþaR sun lit · haukua · hili þisa · aftiR ulaif bruþur sin · hãn uarþ suikuin o finaiþi · kuþ hialbi ãn hãns · iR þisi biR · þaiRa uþal uk atrfi · finuþaR sun ã ilhiastaþum Which means 'Biorn, son of Finnwiþr, had this flat rock carved, after OlæifR, his brother. He was betrayed on the Finnhæiþr. God help his spirit. This farm is their estate and family heritage, Finnwiþr's sons' at ÆlgiastaþiR.'

· The Gripsholm stone (Sö 179) ·

The Gripsholm stone was erected in memory of Haraldr who died in Byzans with his brother, the famous Ingwarr the wide-travelled, in about 1040. · tula · lit · raisa · stain · þinsat · sun · sin · haralt · bruþur · inkuars · þaiR furu · trikila · fiari · at · kuli · auk · a·ustarlar·ni · kafu · tuu · sunar·la · a sirk·lan·ti The first part is the standard formula – Tola let ræisa stæin þænsa at Harald broþur Ingwars – then follows a verse: ÞæiR foru drængila, fiarri at gulli, auk austarla, ærni gafu. Dou sunnarla, i Særklandi, i.e. "They manly went, far away for gold, and in the east, gav the eagle (food). Died in the south, in Arabia". There is a fuller analysis of this inscription on page 3 of the language course.

© Peter Pettersson hem2.passagen.se/peter9/

MAL VIKINGA - The runes in non-scandinavian litterature

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· The runes in non-scandinavian litterature ·

In about 100 A.D. the roman historian Tacitus wrote in his book Germania about the teutonic peoples. He tells us that the teutons used to cut branches off fruit bearing trees, cut them into pieces and carve signs on them. These pieces were spread out on a piece of cloth and from the pattern they formed one could read the gods' will. There is no way to know, though, if the signs that they carved were runes. According to Caesar the celts too seem to have used a similar divination method. Hymiskviða in the old icelandic Edda says that the gods themselves "shook twigs" and "looked into blood" to see who would be a suitable host for a party, but no signs are mentioned on the twigs. Elsewhere too drawing of lots are mentioned when decisions must be made, but that can very well be done without signs. 500 years after Tacitus the poet and bishop Fortunatus of Poitiers (later S:t Fortunatus) wrote to a friend of his that if he wouldn't write to him with roman letters, he could in stead use persian, hebrew, greek or teutonic letters, which he said were painted on ash tree tablets. In the 9th century the frankish abbott Hrabanus/Rabanus Maurus of Fulda in Germany (later bishop of Mainz) says that the heathens in the north wrote poems, spells and prophecies with their letters.

· The runes in scandinavian literature ·

A little later the scandinavians themselves tell us about the runes. In the edda, which was written in the 13th century but is believed to have been composed in the four previous centuries, the word rún 'rune' is mentioned in several places, for example in Rúnatal in Hávamál where we are told that Óðinn sacrificed himself to himself by hanging himself pierced by a spear. He hanged in the tree Yggdrasill for nine days without eating and drinking, and that way he could "take up" runes, with which he could cure sorrows and suffering, heal wounds and cure diseases, paralyse enemies and make their swords blunt and stop their arrows in their flight, damp hatred, clam waves, make witches get lost, make warriors invulnerable, make the dead talk, afford success in battle, knowledge and strength, awaken and keep women's love, and other things. Similar qualities are ascribed to the runes that the valkyrie Sigrdrífa (Brynhildr) taught Sigurðr Fáfnisbani in the eddic poem Sigrdrífumál. Here the word rune can hardly mean 'letter', but must have kept its older meaning 'secret'. In a story in which Sigurðr is one of the main characters - Völsungasaga - Sigurðr's widdow Guðrún carves runes on a ring to warn her brothers Gunnarr and Högni of an ambush. The messenger Vingi changed the runes, and the brothers were ambushed and captured. Here rune means 'letter'. In Gesta Danorum the danish 12th century historian Saxo Grammaticus writes that the ancient danes wrote down the deeds of their forefathers on rocks using the letters of their own language ("linguae suae litteris"). Saxo also wrote down the story about Amled (whom Shakespeare called Hamlet) and says that a message from Amled's uncle to the king of England was carved on wood, which he says was a very common writingmaterial in ancient times ("litteras ligno insculptas – nam id celebre quondam genus chartarum erat"). The icelandic poet Egill Skallagrímsson had, according to the saga, learnt runes from a slave woman. When Egill was in Norway to claim an inheritance, king Eiríkr and his queen Gunnhildr tried to kill him with poison ale. But Egill carved some runes on the drinking horn, coloured them with blood from his wrist and spoke a conjuration, and then the horn broke. Later, when Egill was in Värmland he visited a man whose daughter was ill. He found a whale bone under her pillow, and a neighbour had carved runes on this bone in order to awaken her love, but the runes had made her ill in stead. Egill replaced the runes with new ones, and the girl became well. He also said that one shall not carve runes without the proper knowledge how to use them right: Skal-at maðr rúnar rísta, nema ráða vel kunni, þat verðr mörgum manni, es of myrkvan staf villisk; sá'k á telgðu talkni tíu launstafi ristna, þat hefr lauka lindi langs ofrtrega fengit. In the same saga there is evidence for an other way of using runes. When Egill had lost his son he made the poem Sonatorrek ('The loss of a son') that his daughter Þorgerðr according to the saga wrote down with runes. Both the scandinavians themselves and foreign sources tell us that runes were used both for writing magical formulas and spells and for writing down poems and everyday messages.

· Physical remains ·

Most inscriptions that have been preserved, and those that are most known, are the runic stones. They are hardly mentioned at all in the contemporary literature, though, eventhough there are thousands of them, so one has to assume that the old scandinavians wrote quite a lot of poems and letters on wood. For a long time there was no physical evidence for this everyday rune carving, but in the 50ies hundreds of pieces of wood and bone with runes on them were found at Bryggen in Bergen in Norway (see the MEDIEVAL RUNES page), and since then pieces of wood and bone are examinated more thoroughly at archaeological excavations, and lots of inscriptions on bone and wood of an everyday nature have been found in other places. Birch-bark was probably a common metarial for letters; in the Russian city of Novgorod, that was founded by swedish viking, about 700 letters have been found, written on birch-bark, the oldest from the mid 11th century, the youngest from early 15th century. All are in russian, though, and none are written with runes. The shape of the runes also tells us that they were created to be carved on wood. Their staffs are all straight and carved either vertically or diagonally. Horisontal lines would be difficult to see because of the grain of the wood, and round shapes are more difficult to carve on wood than angular ones. Round shapes do occur, though, on other materials.

· The origin of the runes ·

The oldest runes were used in the entire germanic language area. The oldest found inscription is a spear head with the name (?) "raunijaR" carved into it. It's believed to be from the late 2nd century, and was found in Øvre Stabu in southern Norway. Eventhough most other inscriptions from the following centuries are also from Scandinavia, this doesn't mean that the runes were created here; the origin of the runes is shrouded in fog, and there are lots of theories about it. Several of the runes can be read with no certain previous knowledge, for example the r-, i- and b-runes, since they look almost exactly like the corresponding roman letters. The latin alphabet is one of the alphabets suggested to be the ancestor of the runic alphabet, together with etrurian and greek alphabets, and others related to them (the hebrew alphabet has also been suggested, and some have even claimed that the other alphabets have sprung from the runic one). ... more to come ... The order of the runes is not at all like the order of the latin, etrurian or greek alphabet. They all begin with the letters a and b, and are therefore called alfabets (a is called alpha in greek, b is called beta), whereas the runic alphabet begins with f, u, þ, a, r and k, and are therefore called the "futhark". Eventhough the 16 runes of the younger futhark where used a long time after the viking age the exakt order of the 24 runes of the older futhark was forgotten, but it was rediscovered in 1903 when the Kylver-stone (G88) was found on Gotland. It made out one of the walls in a 5th century grave. Since then other futhark-inscriptions have been found, with (almost) the same rune order.

© Peter Pettersson hem2.passagen.se/peter9/

Webs de Referencia (79) :: M a l · v i k i n g a

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W e l c o m e !
This is a rapid course in Runic Swedish; the language that was spoken in Sweden about 1000 years ago, in the viking age.
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