Tune stone

The Tune stone is an important runestone from about 200–450 AD. It bears runes of the Elder Futhark, and the language is Proto-Norse. It was discovered in 1627 in the church yard wall of the church in Tune, Østfold, Norway. Today it is housed in the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. The Tune stone is possibly the oldest Norwegian attestation of burial rites and inheritance.[1]

Tune stone
Created200–450 AD
DiscoveredTune, Østfold, Norway
Rundata IDN KJ72 U
RunemasterWiwaz
Text – Native
See article.
Translation
See article.

Inscription

The stone has inscriptions on two sides, called side A and side B. Side A consists of an inscription of two lines (A1 and A2), and side B consists of an inscription of three lines (B1, B2 and B3),[2] each line done in boustrophedon style.[3]

The A side reads:

A1: ekwiwazafter`woduri
A2: dewitadahalaiban:worathto`?[---

The B side reads:

B1: ????zwoduride:staina:
B2: þrijozdohtrizdalidun
B3: arbijasijostezarbijano

The transcription of the runic text is:

A: Ek Wiwaz after Woduride witandahlaiban worhto r[unoz].
B: [Me]z(?) Woduride staina þrijoz dohtriz dalidun(?) arbija arjostez(?) arbijano.[4]

The English translation is:

I, Wiwaz, made the runes after Woduridaz, my lord. For me, Woduridaz, three daughters, the most distinguished of the heirs, prepared the stone.[4]

The name Wiwaz means "darter" while Woduridaz means "fury-rider."[3] The phrase witandahlaiban that is translated as "my lord" means "ward-bread" or "guardian of the bread."[5][6] (The English word "lord" similarly originated from Old English hlāford < hlāf-weard literally "loaf-ward", i.e. "guardian of the bread".)

Interpretations

The runic inscription was first interpreted by Sophus Bugge in 1903 and Carl Marstrander in 1930, but the full text was not interpreted convincingly until 1981 by Ottar Grønvik in his book Runene på Tunesteinen.

See also

Notes
  1. Online entry on the Tune stone in Store norske leksikon.
  2. Inscription provided from this site's entry on the Tune stone. Slightly adapted to fit Wikipedia.
  3. Antonsen (2002:126–127)
  4. Projektet Samnordisk runtextdatabas – Rundata
  5. Page (1987:31).
  6. Nielsen (2006:267).

References
  • Antonsen, Elmer H. (2002). Runes and Germanic Linguistics. Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-017462-6.
  • Grønvik, Ottar (1981). Runene på Tunesteinen: Alfabet, Språkform, Budskap. Universitetsforlaget ISBN 82-00-05656-2
  • Nielsen, Hans Frede (2006). "The Early Runic Inscriptions and German Historical Linguistics". In Stoklund, Marie; Nielsen, Michael Lerche; et al. (eds.). Runes and Their Secrets: Studies in Runology. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 87-635-0428-6.
  • Page, Raymond Ian (1987). Runes. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-06114-4.
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