Runic transliteration and transcription

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Runic transliteration and transcription are part of analysing a runic inscription which involves transliteration of the runes into Latin letters, transcription into a normalized spelling in the language of the inscription, and translation of the inscription into a modern language. There is a long-standing practice of formatting transliterations in boldface and transcriptions in Italic type , as the two forms of rendering a runic text have to be kept distinct. [1]

Contents

Overview

By not only showing the original inscription, but also transliterating, transcribing and translating, scholars present the analysis in a way that allows the reader to follow their interpretation of the runes. Every step has its challenges, but most Younger Futhark inscriptions are quite easy to interpret. Most Scandinavians can learn to read runic inscriptions with a little training. The Elder Futhark inscriptions, however, are much more challenging and they demand a great deal of knowledge in historical linguistics. Standard works such as Sveriges runinskrifter contain extensive presentations of the ways inscriptions have been interpreted throughout the centuries. [2]

Runes

The a and the th rune in ligature on the Rok runestone Rathulf.jpg
The a and the þ rune in ligature on the Rök runestone

It is practically impossible to render the runes in all the various ways that they appear in the inscriptions, and so the way they look has to be presented in pictures and in drawings. [2]

Transliteration

Variations of the ansuz rune. They are all transliterated as a. Forasrun.svg
Variations of the ansuz rune. They are all transliterated as a.
The i NG bindrune. Ing bindrune.png
The i ͡ŋ bindrune.

Transliteration means that the runes are represented by a corresponding Latin letter in bold. No consideration is given to the sound the rune represented in the actual inscription, and a good example of this is the ansuz rune, which could vary greatly in shape. In the oldest Younger Futhark inscriptions, it always represented a nasal a, as in French an, but later it came to represent other phonemes such as /o/. However, some runemasters continued to use the ansuz rune for an a phoneme. The ansuz rune is always transliterated as o from the Younger Futhark, and consequently, the transliteration mon represents Old Norse man in a runestone from Bällsta, and hon represents Old Norse han in the Frösö Runestone, while forþom represents Old Norse forðom in an inscription from Replösa. [2]

Sometimes the runes are "dotted" which means that a dot has been added, and in transliterations dotted runes are treated differently from ordinary runes. Dotted u, k and i are transliterated as y, g and e though they are rather variations of the non-dotted runes than runes in their own right. [2]

Bind runes are marked with an arch. Some bind runes look in a way that makes it impossible to know which rune preceded the other, and then the scholar has to test the various combinations that give a comprehensible word. Thus all transliterations of bind runes are scholarly interpretations. [2]

Runes that are known from older depictions but that have since disappeared are rendered within square brackets. [2]

Transcription or normalization

The runes are transcribed into normalized spellings of the languages the runes were written in, and normalizations are rendered with italics. Since a single rune may represent several different phonemes, normalizations can differ greatly from transliterations. The þ rune can represent both the Old Norse letter ð (as in English the) or þ (as in English thing). [2]

See also

Notes and references

  1. Antonsen, Elmer H. (2002). Runes and Germanic Linguistics. Mouton de Gruyter. p. 85. ISBN   3-11-017462-6.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Att läsa runor och runinskrifter on the site of the Swedish National Heritage Board, retrieved May 10, 2008.

Related Research Articles

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The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet and a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, with only 16 characters, in use from about the 9th century, after a "transitional period" during the 7th and 8th centuries. The reduction, somewhat paradoxically, happened at the same time as phonetic changes that led to a greater number of different phonemes in the spoken language, when Proto-Norse evolved into Old Norse. Also, the writing custom avoided carving the same rune consecutively for the same sound, so the spoken distinction between long and short vowels was lost in writing. Thus, the language included distinct sounds and minimal pairs that were written the same.

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Runology

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Uppland Runic Inscription Fv1946;258

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Södermanland runic inscription 140 Viking Age runic inscription in Sweden

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Danish Runic Inscription 380

The Nylarsker stone 2, Ny Larsker stone I or DR 380 is a Viking Age runestone engraved in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark runic alphabet on Bornholm. The runestone was discovered in 1643 and first mentioned in Ole Worm's Monumenta Danica. It was to be found outside the entrance of Nylars Church until 1855. It is securely dated to the period 1075–1125, and belongs to a group of Bornholm runestones that were made during the transition from the Viking Age to the Nordic Middle Ages. It made in sandstone and it is 186 cm tall, 146,5 cm wide and 17 cm thick, and the style of the runestone is the runestone style RAK.

The Uppland Runic Inscription 925 is a Viking Age runestone engraved in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark runic alphabet. It is located under the wall between the De Geer and the Oxenstierna crypts, in Uppsala Cathedral, in Uppsala. The style is Pr4, and it was made by the runemaster Öpir.

Uppland Runic Inscription 948

The Uppland Runic Inscription 948 is a Viking Age runestone engraved in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark runic alphabet. It is in reddish grey granite and is located at the Fålebro bridge, sunk into the ground, near Danmark Church in Uppsala Municipality. The style is Pr4.

Uppland Runic Inscription 1028

The Uppland Runic Inscription 1028 is a Viking Age runestone engraved in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark runic alphabet. It was found by Johannes Bureus outside the church door of Lena Church and it nowadays visible in the wall inside of the church porch. Lena Church is in Uppsala Municipality.