| 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]
 | This section possibly contains original research .(October 2024) |
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 1,064 inhabitants as of 2024, it is the twelfth-largest town in Greenland. It contains the Upernavik Museum.
The Kensington Runestone is a slab of greywacke stone covered in runes that was discovered in central Minnesota, United States, in 1898. Olof Ohman, a Swedish immigrant, reported that he unearthed it from a field in the largely rural township of Solem in Douglas County. It was later named after the nearest settlement, Kensington.
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 of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but the majority of the extant runestones date from the late Viking Age. While most of these are located in Scandinavia, particularly Sweden, there are also scattered runestones in locations that were visited by Norsemen. Runestones were usually brightly coloured when erected, though this is no longer evident as the colour has worn off.
The Rök runestone is one of the most famous runestones, featuring the longest known runic inscription in stone. It can now be seen beside the church in Rök, Ödeshög Municipality, Östergötland, Sweden. It is considered the first piece of written Swedish literature and thus it marks the beginning of the history of Swedish literature.
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.
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 Skåäng Runestone, designated as Sö 32 under Rundata, is an Iron Age runestone located in Skåäng, Södermanland, Sweden, which is inscribed in Proto-Norse with the elder futhark. During the Viking Age, a second runic inscription was added in Old Norse using the younger futhark.
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 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.
This runic inscription, designated as Sm 99 in the Rundata catalog, is on a Viking Age memorial runestone located in Nederby, which is about two kilometers northwest of Myresjö, Jönköping County, Sweden, and in the historic province of Småland.
The Kyrkogården Runestones are three Viking Age memorial runestones located at the cemetery of St. Mary's Church in Sigtuna, Stockholm County, Sweden, in the historic province of Uppland. One of the runic inscriptions documents the existence of a Viking Age mercantile guild in Sweden.
DR 110, or the Virring stone, is a runestone made of granite that measures 155 cm (61 in) in height, 120 cm (47 in) in width and 27 cm (11 in) in thickness. It is written in Old East Norse in the Younger Futhark, and the runestone style is in a form called RAK.
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.
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.