The Stentoften Runestone, listed in the

Rundata The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base ( sv, Samnordisk runtextdatabas) 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 ...

catalog as DR 357, is a runestone which contains a curse in

Proto-Norse Proto-Norse (also called Ancient Nordic, Ancient Scandinavian, Ancient Norse, Primitive Norse, Proto-Nordic, Proto-Scandinavian and Proto-North Germanic) was an Indo-European language spoken in Scandinavia that is thought to have evolved as ...

that was discovered in Stentoften,

Blekinge Blekinge (, old da, Bleking) is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's sec ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

Inscription

Transliteration

:AP niuhAborumz ¶ niuhagestumz ¶ hAþuwolAfz gAf j ¶ hAriwolAfz (m)A--u snuh-e ¶ hidez runono fe(l)(A)h ekA hed¶erA :AQ niu hAborumz ¶ niu hagestumz ¶ hAþuwolAfz gAf j ¶ hAriwolAfz (m)A--u snuh-e ¶ hidez runono fe(l)(A)h ekA hed¶erA :B ginoronoz :C herAmAlAsAz ¶ ArAgeu we(l)Aduds, , sA þAt :D bAriutiþ

Transcription

:AP borumz gestumz Haþuwulfz gaf j r Hariwulfz ... ... haidiz runono, felh eka hedra :AQ niu habrumz, niu hangistumz Haþuwulfz gaf j r Hariwulfz ... ... haidiz runono, felh eka hedra :B ginnurunoz. :C Hermalausaz argiu, Weladauþs, sa þat :D briutiþ.

Translation

This is the English translation provided by

: :AP(To the) dwellers (and) guests Haþuwulfar gave ful year, Hariwulfar ... ... I, master of the runes(?) conceal here :AQ nine bucks, nine stallions, Haþuwulfar gave fruitful year, Hariwulfar ... ... I, master of the runes(?) conceal here :B runes of power. :C Incessantly (plagued by) maleficence, (doomed to) insidious death (is) he who this :D breaks.

Interpretation

In lines AP and AQ, in the phrase "gaf j" ("gave j"), the j-rune may be an

ideogram An ideogram or ideograph (from Greek "idea" and "to write") is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept, independent of any particular language, and specific words or phrases. Some ideograms are comprehensible only by famili ...

standing for its rune name ''jara'', meaning "harvest" or "bountiful or fruitful year."MacLeod (2006:112-113). One author suggests that line AQ is describing an

animal sacrifice Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of one or more animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until th ...

in return for a good harvest as part of a fertility ritual.

History

The Stentoften runestone was discovered in 1823 by the dean O. Hammer. It was lying down with the inscription facing downwards, surrounded by five sharp larger stones forming a

pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be sim ...

or a

pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle arou ...

. Consequently, the stone has been part of a larger monument like the

Björketorp Runestone The Björketorp Runestone ( DR 360 U) in Blekinge, Sweden, is part of a grave field which includes menhirs, both solitary and forming stone circles. It is one of the world's tallest runestones measuring 4.2 metres in height, and it forms an imposi ...

further east. In 1864, the runestone was moved into the church of

Sölvesborg Sölvesborg (old da, Sølvesborg) is a locality and the seat of Sölvesborg Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden with 10,024 inhabitants in 2013. Sölvesborg is, despite its small population, for historical reasons normally still referred t ...

. Most scholars date the inscription to the 7th century and it is carved with a type of runes that form an intermediate version between the

Elder Futhark The Elder Futhark (or Fuþark), also known as the Older Futhark, Old Futhark, or Germanic Futhark, is the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Peri ...

and the

Younger Futhark 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 ...

. A characteristic example of this is the a-rune which has the same form as the h-rune of the younger futhark. This is the rune that is transliterated with A. The k-rune, which looks like a Y is a transition form between and in the two futharks. There are quite few intermediary inscriptions like this one. Three more are known from

, i.e. the

, the Istaby Runestone and the Gummarp Runestone, which were moved to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

and lost in the

Copenhagen Fire of 1728 The Copenhagen Fire of 1728 was the largest fire in the history of Copenhagen, Denmark. It began on the evening of 20 October 1728 and continued to burn until the morning of 23 October. It destroyed approximately 28% of the city (measured by cou ...

. The Stentoften, Istaby Runestone and Gummarp Runestone inscriptions can be identified with the same clan through the names that are mentioned on them, and the names are typical for chieftains. The

lacks names and is raised some tens of kilometers from the others. However, it is beyond doubt that the Björketorp runestone is connected to them, because in addition to the special runic forms, the same message is given on the Stentoften Runestone. These runestones are probably not carved by the same person, and so it appears that they reflect a specific runic tradition in the

area during the 7th century. Runologist Michael Schulte suggests that the archaic text of the Stentoften stone is more effective from a dramatic perspective than the younger and more explicit version on the Björketorp stone. The name Hariwulfa is a combination of ''hari'' meaning "warrior" and ''wulafa'' "wolf," while the ''haþu'' of Haþuwulfz means "battle." It has been suggested that the assignment of such lycophoric names may have been related to ritualistic practices and religious wolf-symbolism used in the initiation of young warriors.Gräslund (2006:125). A shortened form of the name Hariwulfa survived into the

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

and is attested in the inscription on the Hærulf Runestone.Sundqvist & Hultgård (2004:585).

References

Sources

*Jacobsen, Lis & Moltke, Erik (1941). ''Danmarks Runeindskrifter''. 3rd tome. * * * *Schulte, Michael. 2008. Stylistic variation in runic inscriptions? ''ANF'' 123:5-22. *Thorngren, Karl-Gösta: ''Runstenar i Blekinge. Blekingeboken 1942''. pp. 63–96. *

{{runestones

External links

The Runestones of Sölvesborg
7th-century inscriptions 1823 archaeological discoveries Runestones with curses Haþuwulf's runestones Proto-Norse language Runestones in Blekinge