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The Einang stone (''Einangsteinen'') is a
The generally accepted reading of the inscription was proposed by Erik Moltke in 1938. He conjectured that there had been four runes in the original inscription, before the first rune which is visible today. The reading is:
:
Which translates as:
:''(I, Go)dguest painted/wrote this runic inscription.''
As the stone is placed on a grave mound, it is natural to interpret it as a tombstone. Why the inscription does not name the buried person, but only the carver of the runes, remains an open question.
runestone
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 began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones da ...
located east of the Einang Sound
The Einang Sound ( no, Einangsundet) is a small sound in the middle of Slidre Fjord in Oppland county, Norway, about wide. It is crossed by Norwegian County Road 261 via the Einang Sound Bridge ( no, Einangsundet bru), which was built in 1963. ...
near Fagernes, in Oppland
Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. Th ...
, Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
, notable for the age of its runic inscription. The Einang runestone is located within the extensive Gardberg site. It is placed on a grave mound on a ridge overlooking the Valdres valley. There are several other grave mounds nearby. Today the runestone is protected by glass walls and a roof.
Description
The Einang stone bears anElder 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 Pe ...
inscription in Proto-Norse that has been dated to the 4th century. It is the oldest runestone still standing at its original location, and it may be the earliest inscription to mention the word ''runo'' ' rune'. Here the word appears in the singular. Additionally, the verb used in the inscription for the act of inscribing is ''faihido'', which literally means 'painted'. This may mean that the inscription was originally highlighted with paint.
Inscription
The generally accepted reading of the inscription was proposed by Erik Moltke in 1938. He conjectured that there had been four runes in the original inscription, before the first rune which is visible today. The reading is:
:
Which translates as:
:''(I, Go)dguest painted/wrote this runic inscription.''
As the stone is placed on a grave mound, it is natural to interpret it as a tombstone. Why the inscription does not name the buried person, but only the carver of the runes, remains an open question.
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 is found in Sweden, estimated at between 1,700 and 2,500 (depending o ...
References
{{Coord, 61, 5, 28.55, N, 9, 0, 15.06, E, display=title Proto-Norse language Runestones in Norway Elder Futhark inscriptions 4th-century inscriptions