Södermanland Runic Inscription 109

Last updated February 26, 2019

Sö 109 is the Rundata designation for a runic inscription on a Viking Age memorial runestone that is located in Gredby, which is near Eskilstuna, Södermanland County, Sweden, which was in the historic province of Södermanland.

The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future research. The database is freely available via the Internet with a client program, called Rundata, for Microsoft Windows and ASCII text files for other operating systems.

The Viking Age is a period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, following the Germanic Iron Age. It is the period of history when Scandinavian Norsemen explored Europe by its seas and rivers for trade, raids, colonization, and conquest. In this period, the Norsemen settled in Norse Greenland, Newfoundland, and present-day Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Normandy, Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, Isle of Man, the Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and Italy.

A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for the memory of something, usually a deceased person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains and parks.

Description

This inscription consists of runic text in the younger futhark carved within two serpents that surround a Christian cross. The stone is 3.27 meters in height and composed of granite. The inscription is classified as being carved in runestone style Pr2, which is also known as Ringerike style.

The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus, is the best-known symbol of Christianity. It is related to the crucifix and to the more general family of cross symbols, the term cross itself being detached from the original specifically Christian meaning in modern English.

The runestone was described in 1686 as being part of a bridge at Gredby.^[1] Before the historic significance of runestones was recognized, they were often re-used as materials in the construction of churches, bridges, and roads. In 1864 the stone was rediscovered and setup alongside the road, and then moved to its current location in 1931.^[1] It stands alongside two of the Ingvar runestones, Sö 107 and Sö 108.

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 runic text states that a couple named Ormarr and Véfríðr and blood relatives raised the stone as a memorial to Þólfr.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

ormar auk × uifriþ ¤ auk × hulmriþ ¤ auk × kal ¤ auk ¤ þolfr auk ¤ (s)krim(i) ¤ þu ¤ hui ¤ --(s)keni ¤ litu (r)(s)(a) × stin × aftir þolf ×^[2]

Transcription into Old Norse

Ormarr ok Véfríðr ok Holmfríðr ok Káll(?) ok Þólfr ok Skrimi(?) þau hjún(?) [ok] [sy]stkin(?) létu reisa stein eptir Þólf.^[2]

Translation in English

Ormarr and Véfríðr and Holmfríðr and Káll(?) and Þolfr and Skrimi(?), this married couple(?) and siblings(?), they had the stone raised in memory of Þólfr.^[2]

Runestone details

Serpent head with nose flap and start of text
Central cross
Endless serpent knot at top of stone
Lower section of stone

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References

1 2 Riksantikvarieämbetet - Swedish National Heritage Board record for Sö 109.
1 2 3 Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk - Rundata entry for Sö 109.

Coordinates: 59°22′30″N16°32′44″E / 59.37500°N 16.54556°E / 59.37500; 16.54556

Geographic coordinate system Coordinate system

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[SNHB-1] 1 2 Riksantikvarieämbetet - Swedish National Heritage Board record for Sö 109.

[Rundata-2] 1 2 3 Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk - Rundata entry for Sö 109.