Laeborg Runestone
TheLæborgorLaeborg Runestone,listed asDR 26in theRundatacatalog, is aViking Agememorialrunestonelocated outside of the village hall orForsamlinghusin Læborg, which is about 3 kilometers north ofVejen,Denmark.The stone includes two depictions of the hammer of theNorse pagangodThor.
Description
[edit]
The inscription on DR 26 consists of two lines of runic text designated as lines A and B in theyounger futharkwritten inboustrophedonfashion on the granite stone, which is 2.36 meters in height. After each line is a depiction of a hammer, which has been interpreted as being Thor's hammerMjöllnir.Thor's hammer was used on several memorial runestones in Sweden and Denmark, perhaps as a parallel to or apaganreaction to the use of thecrossby Christians.[1]Other surviving runestones or inscriptions depicting Thor's hammer include runestonesU 1161 in Altuna,Sö 86 in Åby,Sö 111 in Stenkvista,Vg 113 in Bjärby,Öl 1 in Karlevi,DR 48 in Skjern,DR 120 in Spentrup,andDR 331 in Gårdstånga.[2][3]The depiction of the hammers on DR 26 are very similar to the hammer on DR 48.[3]The inscription is classified as being carved inrunestone styleRAK, which is considered to be the oldest style. This is the classification for runic text bands with straight ends that do not have any attached serpent or beast heads. The stone was noted byOle Wormas having been discovered around 1638 in a field north of Læborg.[4]A portion of the top of the stone is damaged. A small fragment of the stone was discovered in 1888 and is inserted into the top of the B line of the text.[4]
The runic text states that the stone was raised by a man named Tófi in memory of a woman named Þyrvé, which isnormalizedas Thyrve and sometimes as Thorvi. Thyrve is described as being histrutnik,a word meaning the wife or descendant of atrutinor "lord," which istranscribedintoOld Norseasdrotningand often translated as "lady."[5]This same word is also used on DR 134 in Ravnkilde and translated as "lady." Tófi and Thyrve are also associated with Danish runestone DR 29 in Bække, which records that Tófi created a mound in honor of Thyrve, and DR 40 in Randbøl is a stone raised by Tófi in memory of his assistant named Þorgunnr.[6]Thyrve was a common name of the period, and a different woman of that name is recorded on the Danish runestoneDR 97in Ålum.[7]Because DR 26 is dated based upon stylistic and linguistic analysis from 900 to 950 C.E.,[4]it may also be possible that the Thyrve of DR 26 might also be the same woman that is recorded onDR 41andDR 42in Jelling, which describe aThyrawho is the wife of kingGorm the Old.[3][4]If these Thyrve are the same woman, then the runestones may be a record of a dispute regarding inheritance between two competing Danish families.[5]However, most scholars believe that it is more likely that DR 26 along with DR 29 refer to a different woman with the same name than the Thyra noted on the Jelling Stones DR 41 and DR 42.[7]
The stone is known locally as theLæborgsten.
Inscription
[edit]rhafnukatufi
Hrafnunga-Tofi
÷
hiau
hio
÷
runaʀ
runaʀ
:
þasi
þæssi
aft
æft
Tófi, of Hrafn's lineage, made these runes in memory of
References
[edit]- ^DuBois, Thomas Andrew (1999).Nordic Religions in the Viking Age.University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 158–159.ISBN0-8122-3511-8.
- ^Holtgård, Anders (1998). "Runeninschriften und Runendenkmäler als Quellen der Religionsgeschichte". In Düwel, Klaus; Nowak, Sean (eds.).Runeninschriften als Quellen Interdisziplinärer Forschung: Abhandlungen des Vierten Internationalen Symposiums über Runen und Runeninschriften in Göttingen vom 4-9 August 1995.Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 715–737.ISBN3-11-015455-2.p. 727.
- ^abcMcKinnell, John;Simek, Rudolf;Düwel, Klaus (2004). "Gods and Mythological Beings in the Younger Futhark".Runes, Magic and Religion: A Sourcebook(PDF).Vienna: Fassbaender. pp. 116–133.ISBN3-900538-81-6.
- ^abcd"Læborg-sten".Danske Runeindskrifter.Danish National Museum.Retrieved25 August2011.
- ^abSawyer, Birgit;Peter, Sawyer(2003). "A Gormless History? The Jelling Dynasty Revisited". In Heizmann, Wilhelm; van Nahl, Astrid (eds.).Runica Germanica Mediaevalia.Walter de Gruyter. pp. 689–706.ISBN3-11-017778-1.p. 699.
- ^Nielsen, Michael Lerche (2000). "Swedish Influence in Danic Runic Inscriptions". In Düwel, Klaus (ed.).Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde.Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 127–148.ISBN3-11-016978-9.p. 141.
- ^abJesch, Judith (1991).Women in the Viking Age.Boydell & Brewer. p. 52.ISBN978-0-85115-360-5.
- ^Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk-Rundataentry for DR 26.
