Kragehul I ( DR 196 U) is a

migration period The Migration Period ( 300 to 600 AD), also known as the Barbarian Invasions, was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories ...

lance The English term lance is derived, via Middle English '' launce'' and Old French '' lance'', from the Latin '' lancea'', a generic term meaning a wikt:lancea#Noun">lancea'', a generic term meaning a spear">wikt:lancea#Noun">lancea'', a generi ...

-shaft found on

Funen Funen (, ), is the third-largest List of islands of Denmark, island of Denmark, after Zealand and North Jutlandic Island, Vendsyssel-Thy, with an area of . It is the List of islands by area, 165th-largest island in the world. It is located in th ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. It is now in the collection of the

National Museum of Denmark The National Museum of Denmark (Nationalmuseet) in Copenhagen is Denmark, Denmark's largest museum of cultural history, comprising the histories of Danish and foreign cultures, alike. The museum's main building is located a short distance from S ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Denmark. The spear shaft was found in 1877 during the excavation of the classic

war booty Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...

sacrificial site Kragehul on southern Funen. The site holds five deposits of military equipment from the period 200 to 475 AD. The spear shaft probably belongs to the latest deposit.

Inscription

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 Per ...

inscription reads: :ek e=rila=z asugisalas m=uh=a h=aite g=ag=ag=a ginu g=ah=e … lija … hagala wiju big– … The first part is normalized as: :''ek erilaz āsugīs^alas muha haitē, gagaga'' Interpreted as "I, the erilaz of Āsugīsalaz, am called Muha, ga-ga-ga!", where "ga-ga-ga" may be some sort of ritual chant or battle cry. ''Āsugīsalaz'' is a Germanic compound name, consisting of '' ansu-'', "god", and ''gīs^alaz'', "hostage".Antonsen, 2002, p.14 ''Muha'' also appears to be a personal name. The runes of gagaga are displayed as a row of three

bindrune A bind rune or bindrune () is a Migration Period Germanic typographic ligature, ligature of two or more Runic alphabet, runes. They are extremely rare in Viking Age inscriptions, but are common in earlier (Proto-Norse) and later (medieval) inscri ...

s based on the X-shape of the g-rune with sidetwigs attached to its extremities for the a. A similar sequence gægogæ is found on the Undley bracteate.

Interpretations

The ''gagaga'' and the remaining part of the inscriptions have prompted varying interpretations.

Schneider

Schneider (1969) opts for bull sacrifice, reading ''g-a'' as "gift, god!" and the remaining as :''Ginugahelija Hagala wiju bi g ia '' :"the mighty roarer he sacrificial bull the Hagal, I dedicate to the spear".

Düwel

Düwel (1983) reads the thrice repeated ''g-a'' as '' g bua ja' "I give good fortune". For the second part of the inscription, he has :'' ginu-ga he

mat A mat is a hard or soft floor covering that generally is placed on a floor or other flat surface. Mats serve a range of purposes including: * serving to clean items passed over it, such as a doormat, which removes dirt from the soles of shoe ...

ija ... hag?l(a) wi u bi g ia'' :"magical-"ga", the helmet-destroying hail I dedicate to the spear"

Pieper

Pieper (1999) reads ''g-a'' as ''g bua su' "gift to the god

din DIN or Din or din may refer to: People and language * Din (name), people with the name * Dīn, an Arabic word with three general senses: judgment, custom, and religion from which the name originates * Dinka language (ISO 639 code: din), spoken ...

, with following :''ginu-ga hellija hag?la wiju bi g bu'' :"magical-god-gift, hellish hail I dedicate upon this gift"

MacLeod and Mees

MacLeod and Mees (2006) read ''gagaga'' as an

onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetics, phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as Oin ...

related to forms like the Undley bracteate's ''gægogæ'', and read the expression as a metrical charm :''gagaga ginu gahellija, hagala wiju bi g ize'' :"''gagaga'' I yell resoundingly, hail I dedicate in the s

ear In vertebrates, an ear is the organ that enables hearing and (in mammals) body balance using the vestibular system. In humans, the ear is described as having three parts: the outer ear, the middle ear and the inner ear. The outer ear co ...

Notes

References

* Düwel, Klaus, ''Runenkunde'' 2nd ed., Stuttgart 1983. * MacLeod, Mindy, and Bernard Mees,
Runic Amulets and Magic Objects
', Woodbridge 2006. * Pieper, Peter, ''"Fluchweihe" oder "Weihefluch": Imitative Kampfesmagie bei den Germanen nach dem Zeugnis von Runeninschriften'' in: Studien zur Sachsenforschung, 13, 1999, 303-324. * * Schneider, Karl, ''Runische Inschriftenzeugnisse zum Stieropferkult der Angelsachsen'' in: Festschrift für Edgar Mertner, (hg.) Fabian, Bernhard, Suerbaum, Ulrich. München 1969, 9-54. * {{refend

External links

runenprojekt.uni-kiel.de entry
Archaeological discoveries in Denmark Elder Futhark inscriptions Proto-Norse language