| Kingittorsuaq Runestone | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Writing | Medieval runes |
| Created | Middle Ages, c. 1300 |
| Discovered | 1824 Greenland |
| Culture | Norse |
| Rundata ID | GR 1 M |
| Runemaster | Unknown |
The Kingittorsuaq Runestone (old spelling: Kingigtorssuaq), listed as GR 1 in the Rundata catalog, is a runestone that was found on Kingittorsuaq Island, an island in the Upernavik Archipelago in northwestern Greenland.
The Kingittorsuaq Runestone was found in 1824 in a group of three cairns that formed an equilateral triangle on top of the mountain on Kingittorsuaq Island in the south-central part of the Upernavik Archipelago. The stone is now located at the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.
The stone has been dated to the Middle Ages. The Catholic Encyclopedia states the date as April 25, 1135. William Thalbitzer dates the stone to 1314 using pentadic numerals.[ citation needed ] Others have dated the stone between 1250 and 1333. [1] However, as the historian Finn Gad has pointed out, the date given on the stone can be interpreted in various ways. As such, it cannot, as previously thought, be taken as evidence for the three hunters named on the stone in this region. [2]
⁓
el^likr
Erlingr
·
sikuaþs
Sighvats
:
so^n:r
sonr
·
ok
ok
·
baan^ne
Bjarni
:
torta^r
Þórðar
son
sonr
:
¶
⁓
ok
ok
:
enriþi
Eindriði
·
os
Odds
son
sonr
:
laukardak·in
laugardagin
:
fyrir
fyrir
·
gakndag
gagndag
¶
hloþu
hlóðu
·
ua^rda
varða
te
þe[ssa]
·
ok
ok
rydu
…
:
??????
…
Erlingr Sighvatrs son and Bjarni Þorðr's son and Eindriði Oddr's son, constructed these cairns the Saturday before Rogation Day, and … [3]
The six runes following the translated text are undeciphered, though they do have very close single-character components. The first two and final runes appear to have two components, a Sowilō (ᛋ) with a Mannaz (ᛘ) and/or Algiz (ᛉ) on the top and bottom. The following three runes appear also to have the top and bottom Mannaz or Algiz, just with a Jēran (ᛄ) instead. [4]
Some believe that they are meaningless, while others believe that it contains a secret message. [1]
Upernavik is a small town in the Avannaata municipality in northwestern Greenland, located on a small island of the same name. With 1,092 inhabitants as of 2020, it is the twelfth-largest town in Greenland. It contains the Upernavik Museum.
A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones date from the late Viking Age. Most runestones are located in Scandinavia, but there are also scattered runestones in locations that were visited by Norsemen during the Viking Age. Runestones are often memorials to dead men. Runestones were usually brightly coloured when erected, though this is no longer evident as the colour has worn off. The vast majority of runestones are found in Sweden.
The Jelling stones are massive carved runestones from the 10th century, found at the town of Jelling in Denmark. The older of the two Jelling stones was raised by King Gorm the Old in memory of his wife Thyra. The larger of the two stones was raised by King Gorm's son, Harald Bluetooth, in memory of his parents, celebrating his conquest of Denmark and Norway, and his conversion of the Danes to Christianity.
The two Sigtrygg Runestones, designated as DR 2 and DR 4 in the Rundata catalog, are two of the Hedeby stones that were found in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, which during the Viking Age was part of Denmark. The runestones were raised after the Danish king Sigtrygg Gnupasson by his mother Ásfriðr. Together with the account of Adam of Bremen, the two inscriptions constitute evidence for the House of Olaf on the Danish throne.
The Glavendrup stone, designated as DR 209 by Rundata, is a runestone on the island of Funen in Denmark and dates from the early 10th century. It contains Denmark's longest runic inscription and ends in a curse.
Tryggevælde Runestone, designated as DR 230 under Rundata, is a runestone housed in the National Museum of Denmark, in Copenhagen. It is classified as being carved in runestone style RAK, and is dated to about 900 CE.
The Ingvar runestones is the name of around 26 Varangian Runestones that were raised in commemoration of those who died in the Swedish Viking expedition to the Caspian Sea of Ingvar the Far-Travelled.
The Hagby Runestones are four runestones that are raised on the courtyard of the farm Hagby in Uppland, Sweden. They are inscribed in Old Norse using the Younger Futhark and they date to the 11th century. Three of the runestones are raised in memory of Varangians who died somewhere in the East, probably in Kievan Rus'.
The Varangian Runestones are runestones in Scandinavia that mention voyages to the East or the Eastern route, or to more specific eastern locations such as Garðaríki in Eastern Europe.
The Sigurd stones form a group of eight or nine Swedish runic inscriptions and one picture stone that depict imagery from the Germanic heroic legend of Sigurd the dragon slayer. They were made during the Viking Age and constitute the earliest Norse representations of the matter of the Völsung cycle that is the basis of the Middle High German Nibelungenlied and the Sigurd legends in the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, and the Völsunga saga.
The Viking runestones are runestones that mention Scandinavians who participated in Viking expeditions. This article treats the runestone that refer to people who took part in voyages abroad, in western Europe, and stones that mention men who were Viking warriors and/or died while travelling in the West. However, it is likely that all of them do not mention men who took part in pillaging. The inscriptions were all engraved in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark. The runestones are unevenly distributed in Scandinavia: Denmark has 250 runestones, Norway has 50 while Iceland has none. Sweden has as many as between 1,700 and 2,500 depending on definition. The Swedish district of Uppland has the highest concentration with as many as 1,196 inscriptions in stone, whereas Södermanland is second with 391.
The Runestones at Aspa are a set of four runestones located at Aspa, about six kilometers north of Runtuna, Södermanland, Sweden, where a road has passed a creek since prehistoric times. One of the stones, Sö Fv1948;289, is the oldest surviving native Scandinavian source that mentions the Kingdom of Sweden beside the runestones DR 344 and DR 216. Another stone, Sö 137, was apparently raised in memory of a Viking who had spent time in the west.
Greenlandic Norse is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the Norse settlements of Greenland until their demise in the late 15th century. The language is primarily attested by runic inscriptions found in Greenland. The limited inscriptional evidence shows some innovations, including the use of initial t for þ, but also the conservation of certain features that changed in other Norse languages. Some runic features are regarded as characteristically Greenlandic, and when they are sporadically found outside of Greenland, they may suggest travelling Greenlanders.
The Manx runestones were made by the Norse population on the Isle of Man during the Viking Age, mostly in the 10th century. Despite its small size, the Isle of Man stands out with many Viking Age runestones, in 1983 numbering as many as 26 surviving stones, which can be compared to 33 in all of Norway. So many of them may appear on the Isle of Man because of the merging of the immigrant Norse runestone tradition with the local Celtic tradition of raising high crosses.
The Stenkvista runestone, designated as runic inscription Sö 111 in the Rundata catalog, is a memorial runestone located near the church at Stenkvista, which is two kilometers east of Skogstorp, Södermanland County, Sweden, which was formerly part of the historic Södermanland, and which features a depiction of Thor's hammer, Mjöllnir. This runestone is one of several runestones in Scandinavia that has a dedication to Thor. While the tradition of carving inscriptions into boulders began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, most runestones in Scandinavia date from the late Viking Age.
Sö 86 is the Rundata catalog number for a Viking Age memorial runic inscription located in Åby, which is about one kilometer north of Ålberga, Södermanland County, Sweden, and in the historic province of Södermanland. The inscription features a depiction of the hammer of the Norse pagan god Thor named Mjöllnir and a facial mask.
The Björklinge runestones are five Viking Age memorial runestones designated in the Rundata catalog as U 1045, U 1046, U 1047, U 1048, and U 1050 that are located at the church in Björklinge, Uppsala County, Sweden, which is in the historic province of Uppland. In addition, there is a small fragment of a runestone with a partial runic text i * lit * rita * meaning "had erected" that has been given the catalog number U 1049.
Södermanland runic inscription 140 is a Viking Age runestone inscribed in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark runic alphabet. It and Sö 139 stand close together on the south side of the road next to the brook at Korpbro, between Lid and Aspa in Ludgo parish, Nyköping Municipality, in Södermanland, but Sö 140 was found broken and has been re-erected. A cross in the centre of the stone formed by five bind runes has been variously interpreted as an invocation of Thor or as part of the inscription.
The Sønder Vinge stone 2 or DR 83 is a Viking Age runestone engraved in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark runic alphabet. The stone is in granite and was discovered in 1866 as a corner stone of Sønder Vinge Church, positioned with the runic inscription outwards. It is presently located in the porch of the church. It is probably from the period 970-1020 due to runic and linguistic features. It is 180 cm tall, 132 cm wide and 35 cm thick. Parts of the runic inscription have eroded which makes some runes hard to read. The style of the runestone is the runestone style RAK.
Runestone DR 120, MJy 51, known as Spentrup stone 2 and the Jennum stone, is a Viking Age runestone engraved with the Younger Futhark and a Thor's hammer.