The Arguel inscription () is an
Elder Futhark inscription
A runic inscription is an inscription made in one of the various runic alphabets. They generally contained practical information or memorials instead of magic or mythic stories. The body of runic inscriptions falls into the three categories of E ...
of uncertain authenticity, dated to the 5th or 6th century. It was claimed to have been discovered by a student of law, Robert Milliat, next to a
spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season), a season of the year
* Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy
* Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water
* Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...
at the foot of a cliff at
Arguel in the French
Doubs department
Doubs (, ; ; ) is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Eastern France. Named after the river Doubs, it had a population of 543,974 in 2019.[Besançon
Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland.
Capi ...]
. It was first presented at the ''Rhodania'' archaeological congress of 1921.
Description
The stone is a piece of chalk, measuring 6 cm in length, weighing 75 grams, bearing an inscription in four lines on one side, plus a single line on the reverse side, reading
in Michel's 1921 drawing and transcription rendered as:
Readings
The precise reading is uncertain. The first line has been read as either ''arbitan'', ''arbitah'' or ''arbitam''. Michel's ''luugowhaŋ'' has also been read as ''liuhophang'' or ''luihophang''. The ''res'' has also been read as ''rei'' or ''rej'', ''r'' transcribing a
ᛉ
Algiz (also Elhaz) is the name conventionally given to the "''z''-rune" of the Elder Futhark runic alphabet. Its transliteration is ''z'', understood as a phoneme of the Proto-Germanic language, the terminal ''*z'' continuing Proto-Indo-Europe ...
(''z'') rune, while the ''s'' in Michel's drawing has the shape of the later
Younger Futhark ᛋ rune.
The inscription has no generally accepted translation, but all scholars who have commented agree that the second line is an attestation of the theonym
Wodan
Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Emp ...
.
Suggestions for readings and translations include:
*''Arbitan Wodan luug ow hangr eikim'', meaning either "Arbitan, Wodan, has closed the battlefield with spears" or "Wodan has hidden Arbitan on the hill of oaks" (M. Perennot 1922)
*''arbitah Wodan liuhophang rej kim'' "seize the heritage, Wodan; take the light from the mighty" (J.-A. Bizet)
*''arbi tah Wodan luihop hang reikim'', interpreted as a
defixio or curse of a dispossessed heir (G. Bizet, 1964); Bizet further identifies the inscriptions as
East Germanic
East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that eas ...
, confirming the probably association with the
Burgundians
The Burgundians were an early Germanic peoples, Germanic tribe or group of tribes. They appeared east in the middle Rhine region in the third century AD, and were later moved west into the Roman Empire, in Roman Gaul, Gaul. In the first and seco ...
.
Looijenga (2003) states that in her opinion the inscription is a falsification.
["I have not inspected these items, but find-histories and photographs were self-evident." ]
See also
*
List of runestones
There are about 3,000 runestones in Scandinavia (out of a total of about 6,000 runic inscriptions). p. 38.
The runestones are unevenly distributed in Scandinavia:
The majority are found in Sweden, estimated at between 1,700 and 2,500 (depending ...
References
*Lydie Joan, ''Carte archéologique de la Gaule. Le Doubs et le territoire de Belfort'', vol. 25/90, Editions MSH (2003), {{ISBN, 978-2-87754-082-7 (with Michel's 1921 drawin
Carte archéologique de la Gaule: 25/90. Le Doubs et le territoire de Belfort.
*H. Michel, ''Rhodania'' 3e congrès (1921), 481-482.
*R. Milliat, 'L'inscription runique d'Arguel', ''Archéologia'' 12 (1966).
*R. Milliat, 'Le caillou d'Arguel', ''Archéologia'' 13 (1966).
*G. Bizet, 'Die runische Inschrift von Arguel', in: ''Jahrbuch des Marburger Universitätsbundes'' (1964), 41-52.
Elder Futhark inscriptions
Odin