Eggja stone

The so-called Runestone Eggja (also Eggjum ) is a Norwegian runic stone. He wears the longest known runic inscription of the elder Futhark.

Location and date

The 160 cm long stone was found in 1917 near the farm in the Sognefjord in Sogndal Eggja when plowing. The stone -covered, judging by the offerings, a man's grave, where the runes were directed downward. The site is located on a natural hill, which can be seen from all over the fjord.

The grave goods and the style of the horses drawing on the stone can be approximately dated the year 700, which is confirmed by the language of the inscription. The latter is at the transition between Urnordisch and Old Norse. The inscription is written in Old Norse, but still contains some urnordische twists. The runic alphabet used is the Elder Futhark, shortly before the transition into the Younger Futhark. The stone is now in mountains, in the " Historisk Museum ".

Inscription

The inscription consists of 192 runes in three lines. According to today's habit of reading the line II comes first, followed by line III counter-clockwise and standing on his head and last line I, passes through a horse drawing. It has caught the rows according to their content, bottom, top, middle to read in order. Some runes are weathered and therefore unreadable ( in the following text by x marks ).

Transfer into German by Krause:

Interpretation of history

The first Runologe who tried on the interpretation of the inscription, Magnus Olsen was. Since him many Runologen (including Lis Jacobsen, Gerd Høst, Ottar Grønvik ) have presented some very different interpretations. The interpretation here reproduced by Wolfgang Krause is just one of many.

The words even more inscription contains (especially in row II) many illegible runes. These gaps can only be filled when to set the inscription into a context that is different from Runologe to Runologe. About the first line (ni 's solo sot ... ) is widely accepted, both in reading and in the interpretation. The second line is expected to never be interpreted unanimously.

Roughly speaking, the inscription can be understood as a warning, which is turned against both possible Grabfrevler as well as against the deceased himself. The stone slab was with the runes face down, so that the dead person is prevented, as a revenant to haunt the living. This form of use of runes is particularly encouraged by the ALU formula that frequently comes up in tombs, for example, the stone of Elgesem, often counter-clockwise.